Walnut Docs - Main Page - Red Light Cams - Illegal Red Light Cameras

It may be possible to completely ignore a Walnut ticket.
1. If your "ticket" does not have the Superior Court's name and address on it, it is a fake ticket, which I call a "Snitch Ticket." For more details about Snitch Tickets, see the Snitch Ticket section at the top of the Your Ticket page.
2. The LA County Superior Court does not report ignored red light camera tickets to the DMV. More info is in "Countywide Information," which is Docs Set # 2 on the LA County Documents page.

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

Official reports, 2006 - 2009
Official reports, 2009 - 2010, recd Jan. 2013
Official report, Jun. 2009 - Jan. 2012 (32 months)
Official reports, 2011

[ ] 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] Month-by-month data was requested on 1-30-12 but the City provided a 32-month grand total and a 6-month grand total. In the table above, highwayrobbery.net averaged those grand total over those 32 and 6 months. For comparison, highwayrobbery.net also averaged the Notices Printed in the ten months of 2008 for which information has been made available. The 245 average for the 2009 - 2012 period represents a 44% increase over the 174 average for 2008.
[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] Month-by-month data was requested on 1-30-12 and on 11-29-12.

Walnut Docs Set # 2
"Late Time" Graphs

The City provided bar graphs of Late Times, etcetera, for both 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 picture above is an example from another city.

Walnut Docs Set # 3
The Contracts

The city council heard a staff report in late 2005 and approved Walnut's first contract with RedFlex in Aug. 2006.
Then, in Feb. 2009 - two years before the expiration of the first contract - the council approved a new five-year contract.
The new contract provided for a slightly lower rent for the cameras - $5750 per camera per month vs. the former $6000.

Both contracts included, in Exhibit D, an illegal "cost neutrality" clause, whereby the city will not have to pay RedFlex the full rent if there aren't enough fines to cover the cost. See Subsection B of Defect # 10.

Section 11.14 of the 2009 contract penalizes the City if:
"...the City or Police waives more than 10 percent of valid violations forwarded to the Police for acceptance...."
(See Subsection A of Defect # 9, about quotas.)

Section 11.14 also penalizes the City if:
"...the City elects not to enforce illegal right turn on red violations...."

The rent reduction in the 2009 contract will save the City $30,000 over the 60 month term of the contract.

But had the council negotiated a $2225 rent like that in the 2009 contract of the City of Solana Beach, it could have saved an additional $423,000.

Or, had the council negotiated a $2500 rent like that in the 2009 contract of the City of Davis, it could have saved $390,000.

This list of contracts and amendments may not be up-to-date - there could be a contract or amendment later than the ones linked above.

Walnut Docs Set # 4
More Coming

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

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