Red-light cameras spark negative reactions

Marisa O’Neil

Use of red-light cameras at three intersections will be temporarily

suspended as a “precaution” following a court ruling, city officials

said Friday.

The decision came after a driver successfully appealed a ticket he

received as he turned left from southbound Newport Boulevard onto

19th Street, City Manager Allan Roeder said. The driver had argued

that the yellow light for the turn lane in that intersection was too

short, Roeder said.

The city is reissuing a public notice of the cameras’ presence at

that intersection and those at Newport Boulevard and 17th Street and

Bristol Street and Anton Boulevard, Roeder said.

“As a precautionary measure, not forfeiting any right to appeal,

based on the court’s ruling, we decided to reissue another posing and

discontinue issuance of citations for the next 30 days,” Roeder said.

Legally, the city has to notify the public about the cameras,

which it initially did last year, City Atty. Kim Barlow said. Issuing

it again is a precaution to go “over and above anything the court

requires,” Roeder said.

A fourth camera, at Harbor Boulevard and Adams Avenue received

separate notice and is not included in the temporary suspension,

Roeder said.

The temporary suspension, effective immediately, is not an

admission by the city that it did anything wrong, Barlow said. The

city doesn’t plan on issuing refunds for tickets based on the ruling,

Roeder said.

“Just because there’s one adverse court ruling, doesn’t mean we

would go back and talk about refunds,” he said. “We haven’t even

agreed the court had standing or merit.”

The city issued refunds last year to drivers who received $306

tickets at Newport Boulevard and 17th Street because the yellow cycle

was to short. That, Roeder said, was a different situation because

the light was for through traffic, which moves more rapidly than

traffic in a left-turn lane.

One driver said the latest move doesn’t go far enough.

“They want to do this temporarily?” said Huntington Beach resident

Steve Stafford, who tried to file a claim with the city over the

cameras. “They should do it for good. They never educated people,

they just threw [the cameras] in.”

Roeder said the City Council will discuss the possibility of an

appeal during closed session at their Feb. 22 meeting.