Marysville Docs - Main Page - Illegal Red Light Cameras

If you haven't already done so, please read the Marysville section on the Camera Towns page

City of Marysville Documents
(and Information)

Marysville, pop. 13,000, is 42 miles north of Sacramento.

Some of Marysville's tickets can possibly be ignored. If your "ticket" does not have the Superior Court's name and address on it, it is what I call a "Snitch Ticket." For more details, see the Snitch Ticket section on the Your Ticket page, and read this Aug. 19, 2011 article from the Appeal-Democrat.

In May 2012 the City installed its seventh camera, at 10th and Ramirez. Article.

Photo of 3rd & F Camera Courtesy of Local Resident

Marysville Docs Set # 1
Misleading Info on the Court's Website

On Oct. 12, 2006 I noticed that the court's website ( http://www.yubacourts.org ) said:

"If you receive a photo-enforced red light citation or notice of violation and you were not the driver, you must follow the instructions on the citation or notice of violation and complete the accompanying form to identify the driver who committed the violation. If you need further assistance contact Marysville Police Department. Failure to respond to the citation or notice of violation may result in further penalties such as additional fines or driver's license holds."
[Emphasis (bolding) added by highwayrobbery.net.]

I then called them and pointed out that the mandatory "must" was incorrect and should not be on a court website, because no defendant is required to tell anyone who was driving their car.
( It is OK for such a misleading/false statement to be on a document sent to you by the police - they are allowed to lie to you! But not so for the court. If you do not understand why that is, see the "It's Not Me!" section on the Your Ticket page.)

By Oct . 16 they had changed the website to read:

"If you were not the driver, complete the appropriate section on the citation and mail it immediately to the address on the citation. The agency will contact the court regarding your information. If you fail to complete the required information and return it to the address on the citation and do not appear or contact the court by your assigned date, additional penalties will be added to your case and your driver’s license will be suspended."

While the court personnel removed the "must" and added a mention of appearing in court, the paragraph still is misleading. In fact, in one way they made it even worse. The new wording gives the impression that in addition to filling out the form, you must also ("and") appear in court or contact it, by the due date.
The new wording still fails to make it clear that if you do not want to fill out the form and give the name of the driver, appearing in court is an alternative.

A Feb. 2011 review of the website revealed that they have again removed any mention of the option to appear in court. The site says only:

"If you were not the driver, complete the appropriate section on the citation and mail it to the address on the citation."

Marysville Docs Set # 2
The Illegal/Spendthrift Contracts - and New Cameras

The original contract was signed in Dec. 2004 and contained, in the Business Assumptions section of its Exhibit D, a cost neutral clause. See Defect # 10 - B for more information about cost neutrality.

On Dec. 16, 2008 the Appeal Democrat had an article about the effect of a recent appellate court decision on the contract.

In July 2009 the city council agreed to a renewal. The renewal reduced the previous monthly fee of $6030 fee for each of the four existing cameras to $5700, a 5% decrease.

Had the council negotiated a $4000 fee like that in the 2008 contract of the City of Santa Clarita, it could have saved $1700 per camera per month, or $408,000 for the four cameras over the 60 months of the contract.

Or, had the council negotiated a $2500 fee like that in the 2009 contract of the City of Davis, it could have saved $768,000.

Or, had the council negotiated a $2225 fee like that in the 2009 contract of the City of Solana Beach, it could have saved $834,000.

In Feb. 2011 the city council agreed to a five-year extension. They got a 3.5% lower price, $5500, but that still was way too much. When compared to a $3000 target price, the City will overpay by $600,000 for the four original cameras over the five years. See FAQ # 17.

Further problems with the 2011 contract extension:

1. It has no escape clause (Termination for Convenience), something commonly found in other cities' contracts.
2. The contract adds a Halo (collision avoidance) system. See Set # 6, below.

By a 3 - 2 vote at their May 21, 2013 meeting, the city council rejected the addition of two more cameras. The item could come back to the council at a later date.

Marysville Docs Set # 3
Ticket Counts

Total Violations, Notices Printed [4]

New 10-7-09, updated 5-21-13.

This table made by highwayrobbery.net, using official reports provided by the City under the California Public Records Act.

[ ] indicates a footnote.
[1] Totals are as provided by the City.
[2] YTD = Year-to-date total.
[3] Un-used columns are to allow for later expansion of City's system.
[4] Any figures in red type (or, if you are looking at this table in black and white, the upper figure when there are two or more figures in a cell) are what RedFlex calls Total Violations, or all incidents recorded by the cameras, and due to time limitations may have been posted here only for selected months or locations. If there is sufficient public interest, the remaining months will be posted. The figures in black type are what RedFlex calls Notices Printed, and represent the sum of genuine citations issued (those filed with the court) plus any Nominations mailed (not filed with the court, a.k.a. Snitch Tickets).
[5] Monthly data for Jan. 2008 - Jul. 2009 has been received but not all of it has been posted yet, due to time constraints. 2008-2009 source data.
[6] The camera enforcement is believed to be on traffic on the first-named street, but the direction of enforcement (north, south, east, west, thru, left, right) is not yet available.
[7] Includes enforcement of posted "no turn on red" signs.
[8] Data was requested on:
[9] Source data received 11-17-09. (2005-2007 data was requested for the months of Jan. and July only.)
[10] 2005 and 2010 source data received Jan. 2011.
[11] 2011 - 2012 source data received July 2012.
[12] Source data for these months was received 10-5-12 and 11-21-12. The citywide totals are by highwayrobbery.net.
[13] Source data for these months was received on 12-20-12.
[14] The report for this month was generated a few days before the end of the month, so it is likely that not all tickets (for violations which occurred during the month) had been approved and counted by that time.
[15] Source data for this month was received on 1-18-13.

Marysville Docs Set # 4
"Late Time" Graphs

The City provided bar graphs of Late Times, etcetera, for all four cameras.
These graphs track violations recorded, not tickets issued.
Where there is a large number of long Late Time violations in a curb lane, it is believed to indicate heavy ticketing on right turns.
(The curb lane will be the lane with the highest lane number.)

The example pictured above is from another city.

Bar graphs are available for more than fifty other cities - see the list in the expanded version of Defect # 9.

Marysville Docs Set # 5
Taking Action

Think the yellows are too short - even though they meet the legal minimum? (You're probably right.) Call CalTrans! The City runs the cameras, but CalTrans owns the street and operates the signals at 3rd & E, 9th & E, and 10th & G. So they set the length of the yellow. CalTrans doesn't get a share of the fine, so they are inclined to be fair, and logical, about signal timing - if a problem is brought to their attention. In other cities their engineers have increased the yellow, above the minimum, after citizens complained. Examples are Willow/Bayfront in Menlo Park, 120/29 in Napa, and Mission/Mohave in Fremont. At each of those locations, violations dropped, a lot, after the lengthening. And have stayed down. You can see the data, on those cities' pages here at highwayrobbery.net. CalTrans is at (530) 741-4318 (in Marysville). Or email mike(underscore)bauer(at)dot.ca.gov. Also call your state legislators. Senator LaMalfa at (916) 651-4004, Assemblyman Logue at (916) 319-2003.

At intersections where CalTrans owns the street, a City must obtain an encroachment permit in order to install red light cameras. In 2012, CalTrans refused to renew the encroachment permits in the cities of Riverside and Victorville, and refused to issue a new permit at Colusa/Plumas in Yuba City. (For more details about encroachment permits, see the CalTrans section at the top of the Links/Ref page.

Another avenue. Complain to the Yuba County Grand Jury. (530) 749-7341. It was effective in Napa - the Napa County Grand Jury ended up recommending that 1000 tickets be dismissed.

Marysville Docs Set # 6
The Collision Avoidance System

On June 7, 2011 the city council approved the installation of RedFlex' collision avoidance system at Third and F streets - Redflex' first collision avoidance installation anywhere in the US.
Article

On Dec. 6, 2011, in a TV news piece aired in Phoenix, a RedFlex spokesman described the Marysville collision avoidance system as "very successful." But had that station contacted Marysville to verify that claim, they would have been told that it was too soon to tell if the program was a success.

It still was too early, six months later. In May 2012 I filed a public records request, for "All writings, presentations or communications concerning the City's collision avoidance system." The Marysville city clerk replied:

"There is not any information regarding the Collision Pre-emption System."

And even after another six months, it was still too early to tell anything about the program. In Jan. 2013 the city clerk wrote:

"You are correct in assuming that there is no further information regarding the Collision Avoidance System."

The 2009 and 2011 contracts (available in Set # 2, above) require the City to pay $250 per month for the collision avoidance system.

Marysville Docs Set # 7
More Coming

There may be some more information posted in the next few weeks. Mark your calendar to remind you to come back here and look!