California
'California Stop' Is Costing Californians Millions In Tickets
The “California Stop,” also known as the “California Roll,” is the act of not coming to a full and complete stop at a stop sign. Whatever it’s called where you live, it’s illegal and can get you a $200+ ticket and can land you in hot water with your driving record when it’s issued by an agency with authority. One California agency however, with no type of traffic authority has been issuing thousands of rolling stop tickets by secretly recording drivers.
KTLA reports that California’s Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority issues around 17,000 rolling stop tickets each year, bringing in over $1.1 million in revenue annually. What exactly is the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority? According to the agencies site, it’s described as “a local public agency dedicated to the acquisition, preservation and protection of open space, wildlife habitat, and urban, mountain and river parkland that is easily accessible to the public.”
So how exactly does a state park agency that oversees over 75,000 acres of park lands in Southern California issue that many tickets? In secret, as KTLA described:
At 12:15 p.m. on a warm, sunny day last July, Andrew Rice’s adult kid did a rolling stop in a Prius while leaving the Temescal Canyon parking lot near Pacific Palisades.
What Rice’s kid didn’t know was that he was being filmed as he did so. And the recording would result in a $100 “administrative citation” from the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, or MRCA…
The problem with these tickets — aside from being issued by a state park agency with no real authority to issue them — is that they’re technically not citations. It seems their sole purpose is to bring in revenue for the MRCA as one Prius driver who was ticketed discovered. “They’re engaged in a deceptive practice of pretending to enforce the motor vehicle code when they don’t have the authority to do that, and they’re tricking people into paying these tickets,” they told KTLA.
Jamie Court, president of the Los Angeles advocacy group Consumer Watchdog says even though they’re not actually tickets with no legal consequence, they can still hurt drivers financially. And that’s what forces people to pay them. “But it could go on your credit score and hurt your chances of getting a mortgage or a loan, and no one wants to deal with that. So people just pay it rather than fight it.”
What’s worse is that nothing has been done to stop it. A spokesperson for the agency told KTLA that the cameras and citations are about “public safety.” It seems though it’s more about collecting money with no oversight. “This is a program that is meant to make income for the park system. It’s a terrible abuse. And the fact that it’s gone on for a decade or more without anyone doing anything is really shameful,” Court said.
A 17-year-old suspect has been arrested in Texas in connection with the deadly shooting after a high school graduation ceremony in Fairfield, California last month, police said.
Fairfield police said U.S. Marshals, accompanied by department detectives, served search and arrest warrants Friday morning at a home in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area.
The teen was taken into custody without incident on suspicion of murder and related offenses.
Investigators said the suspect fled California and traveled to Texas within days of the June 3 shooting. He will remain in custody while awaiting extradition to Solano County.
The shooting happened after Sem Yeto Continuation High School’s graduation ceremony, which was held on the Fairfield High School campus.
Police said 18-year-old graduate Jamario Baker died at the scene. Three others – an 11-year-old child and two adults, ages 20 and 25 – were wounded.
Authorities have not released the suspect’s name because he is a minor.
Although an arrest has been made, police said the investigation remains active and detectives continue to pursue additional leads.
“While today’s announcement may provide a measure of relief to some, it does not lessen the pain felt by our community,” the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District said in a statement.
Police plan to hold a news conference Monday at 4 p.m. to discuss the case and arrest.
Fairfield is a Northern California city about 40 miles northwest of San Francisco.
A California bill would let insurers monitor customers’ driving data in exchange for discounted premiums.
Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, the author of AB 311, said the digital monitoring, known as telematics, rewards good driving and would improve safety. In real time, telematics technology would track data such as speed, location and how a vehicle is being driven.
“We have to slow people down,” McKinnor said. “That is the whole purpose for this bill, is driver safety.”
A voter-approved law from 1988, Prop 103, required insurance rates to be based mainly on driving record, miles driven and experience. It made California the only state in the country to prohibit telematics.
McKinnor believes the law is outdated. She argued that her bill would also help good drivers who pay higher rates because of where they live.
“Where I live definitely brings my insurance up,” McKinnor said. “If we both drive the same way, we’ll get charged the same way, instead of by our ZIP code.”
California’s Department of Insurance and consumer groups oppose the bill, citing privacy concerns.
“We can’t look behind the algorithm and see what weight it’s giving to different criteria, which is a big problem,” said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog. “Auto insurance, otherwise, is transparent. This is why the Department of Insurance is opposed, because of the lack of transparency in the algorithm.”
The proposed savings in exchange for good driving might not be guaranteed. Telematics data from the Maryland Insurance Administration showed that 31% of drivers who opted into the program saw a drop in rates, 24% saw an increase and 45% saw no change to their premiums.
“This collects an awful lot of data about people, more than they know, and it’s like having Big Brother in your back seat,” Court said.
McKinnor insisted that drivers will not be forced to enroll in the program.
“It’s still opt-in in the other 49 states,” she said. “We’re not going to make this mandatory. It’ll be a per-volunteer situation.”
McKinnor’s bill passed through the legislature’s insurance committee. It’s expected to be presented to the full Senate in August.
Huntington Beach police are vowing to prevent a potential “takeover” event being promoted across social media that they believe could get out of control.
Police said they became aware of the event from a flyer online advertising an “end of summer beach bash” in the city.
“Dear ‘Beach Bash’ organizers…” police said in an Instagram post Thursday. “Thanks for the flyer. We’ve seen it too.”
They continued, “We have no intention of allowing that to happen here.”
No further details were provided about when the event was planned to take place or the exact location.
Police and the city of Huntington Beach said they’re working to prevent the event following similar events in Southern California that resulted in violence, vandalism and other criminal activity.
One chaotic event that was held in Newport Beach on the Fourth of July ended with more than 400 people being arrested, according to police. Some partygoers were seen fist fighting, while others allegedly vandalized property and local businesses, including a Pavilions grocery store.
Newport Beach police said social media posts drew a large influx of people to Newport Pier in a short amount of time, and the event got out of control.
Huntington Beach PD warned that anyone who organizes, promotes or participates in criminal activity associated with a takeover event may be arrested or prosecuted. Charges may include incitement to riot, vandalism, theft, assault, reckless driving, unlawful assembly, conspiracy or other applicable offenses.
They also warned that juveniles would not be exempt from punishment, and parents or guardians may also be liable for damages caused by their child’s actions.
The HBPD Special Investigations Bureau has already identified individuals believed to be involved in organizing and promoting the event, according to police.
If you have information regarding this event, you are urged to contact Huntington PD’s Special Investigations Bureau at 714-536-5991.
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