Amended in Assembly April 14, 2015

Amended in Assembly April 6, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1160

Introduced by Assembly Member Harper

(Coauthor: Assembly Member Gatto)

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(Coauthor: Senator Huff)

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February 27, 2015

An act to amend Section 21455.5 of the Vehicle Code, relating to vehicles.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1160, as amended, Harper. Vehicles: automated traffic enforcement systems.

Existing law authorizes the limit line, intersection, or other places where a driver is required to stop to be equipped with an automated traffic enforcement system, as defined, if the system meets certain requirements. Existing law authorizes a governmental agency to contract out the operation of the system under certain circumstances, except for specified activities, that include, among other things, establishing guidelines for selection of the location of the system.

This bill would, beginning January 1, 2016, prohibit a governmental agency from installing an automated traffic enforcement system. The bill would authorize a governmental agency that is operating an automatic traffic enforcement system on that date to continue to do so after that date only if the agency begins conducting a traffic safety study on or before February 28, 2016, at each intersection where a system is in use to determine whether the use of the system resulted in a reduction in the number of traffic accidents begin insert involving failing to stop at a red light or failing to stop at a red light when making a right turn end insert at that intersection. begin insert The bill would require the traffic safety study to be completed on or before January 1, 2017. end insert The bill would require the governmental agency to terminate the use of an automated traffic enforcement system at an intersection no later than January 1, 2018, if the traffic safety study shows that the use of the system did not reduce the number of traffic accidents that occurred at that intersection begin insert by a statistically significant number end insert .

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 21455.5 of the Vehicle Code is amended
to read:

21455.5.  

(a) Except or provided in subdivision (k), the limit
line, the intersection, or a place designated in Section 21455, where
a driver is required to stop, may be equipped with an automated
traffic enforcement system if the governmental agency using the
system meets all of the following requirements:

(1) Identifies the system by signs posted within 200 feet of an
intersection where a system is operating that clearly indicate the
system’s presence and are visible to traffic approaching from all
directions in which the automated traffic enforcement system is
being used to issue citations. A governmental agency using a
system does not need to post signs visible to traffic approaching
the intersection from directions not subject to the automated traffic
enforcement system. Automated traffic enforcement systems
installed as of January 1, 2013, shall be identified no later than
January 1, 2014.

(2) Locates the system at an intersection and ensures that the
system meets the criteria specified in Section 21455.7.

(b) Prior to issuing citations under this section, a local
jurisdiction using an automated traffic enforcement system shall
commence a program to issue only warning notices for 30 days.
The local jurisdiction shall also make a public announcement of
the automated traffic enforcement system at least 30 days prior to
the commencement of the enforcement program.

(c) Only a governmental agency, in cooperation with a law
enforcement agency, may operate an automated traffic enforcement
system. A governmental agency that operates an automated traffic
enforcement system shall do all of the following:

(1) Develop uniform guidelines for screening and issuing
violations and for the processing and storage of confidential
information. Establish procedures to ensure compliance with those
guidelines. A governmental agency that operates an automated
traffic enforcement system installed on or before January 1, 2013
shall establish those guidelines by January 1, 2014.

(2) Perform administrative functions and day-to-day functions,
including, but not limited to, all of the following:

(A) Establishing guidelines for the selection of a location.
Commencing January 1, 2013, before installing an automated
traffic enforcement system the governmental agency shall make
and adopt a finding of fact establishing that the system is needed
at a specific location for reasons related to safety.

(B) Ensuring that the equipment is regularly inspected.

(C) Certifying that the equipment is properly installed and
calibrated, and is operating properly.

(D) Regularly inspecting and maintaining warning signs placed
pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a).

(E) Overseeing the establishment, change, and timing of signal
phases.

(F) Maintaining controls necessary to ensure that only those
citations that have been reviewed and approved by law enforcement
are delivered to violators.

(d) The activities listed in subdivision (c) that relate to the
operation of the system may be contracted out by the governmental
agency, if it maintains overall control and supervision of the
system. However, the activities listed in paragraph (1) of, and
subparagraphs (A), (D), (E), and (F) of paragraph (2) of,
subdivision (c) shall not be contracted out to the manufacturer or
supplier of the automated traffic enforcement system.

(e) The printed representation of computer-generated
information, video, or photographic images stored by an automated
traffic enforcement system does not constitute an out-of-court
hearsay statement by a declarant under Division 10 (commencing
with Section 1200) of the Evidence Code.

(f) (1) Notwithstanding Section 6253 of the Government Code,
or any other law, photographic records made by an automated
traffic enforcement system shall be confidential, and shall be made
available only to governmental agencies and law enforcement
agencies and only for the purposes of this article.

(2) Confidential information obtained from the Department of
Motor Vehicles for the administration or enforcement of this article
shall be held confidential, and shall not be used for any other
purpose.

(3) Except for court records described in Section 68152 of the
Government Code, the confidential records and information
described in paragraphs (1) and (2) may be retained for up to six
months from the date the information was first obtained, or until
final disposition of the citation, whichever date is later, after which
time the information shall be destroyed in a manner that will
preserve the confidentiality of any person included in the record
or information.

(g) Notwithstanding subdivision (f), the registered owner or any
individual identified by the registered owner as the driver of the
vehicle at the time of the alleged violation shall be permitted to
review the photographic evidence of the alleged violation.

(h) (1) A contract between a governmental agency and a
manufacturer or supplier of automated traffic enforcement
equipment shall not include a provision for the payment or
compensation to the manufacturer or supplier based on the number
of citations generated, or as a percentage of the revenue generated,
as a result of the use of the equipment authorized under this section.

(2) Paragraph (1) does not apply to a contract that was entered
into by a governmental agency and a manufacturer or supplier of
automated traffic enforcement equipment before January 1, 2004,
unless that contract is renewed, extended, or amended on or after
January 1, 2004.

(3) A governmental agency that proposes to install or operate
an automated traffic enforcement system shall not consider revenue
generation, beyond recovering its actual costs of operating the
system, as a factor when considering whether or not to install or
operate a system within its local jurisdiction.

(i) A manufacturer or supplier that operates an automated traffic
enforcement system pursuant to this section shall, in cooperation
with the governmental agency, submit an annual report to the
Judicial Council that includes, but is not limited to, all of the
following information if this information is in the possession of,
or readily available to, the manufacturer or supplier:

(1) The number of alleged violations captured by the systems
they operate.

(2) The number of citations issued by a law enforcement agency
based on information collected from the automated traffic
enforcement system.

(3) For citations identified in paragraph (2), the number of
violations that involved traveling straight through the intersection,
turning right, and turning left.

(4) The number and percentage of citations that are dismissed
by the court.

(5) The number of traffic collisions at each intersection that
occurred prior to, and after the installation of, the automated traffic
enforcement system.

(j)  If a governmental agency using an automated traffic
enforcement system has posted signs on or before January 1, 2013,
that met the requirements of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of
this section as it read on January 1, 2012, the governmental agency
shall not remove those signs until signs are posted that meet the
requirements specified in this section, as it reads on January 1,
2013.

(k) (1) Commencing January 1, 2016, a governmental agency
shall not install an automated traffic enforcement system.

(2) A governmental agency that is operating an automated traffic
enforcement system on January 1, 2016, may continue to operate
the automated traffic enforcement system after that date only if
the agency begins conducting, on or before February 28, 2016, a
traffic safety study at each intersection where an automated traffic
enforcement system is in use to determine whether the use of the
system resulted in a begin insert statistically significant end insert reduction in the number
of traffic accidents begin insert when the primary collision factor was a
violation of subdivision (a) or (c) of Section 21453 end insert at that
intersection. begin insert The traffic study shall also determine whether
rear-end collisions occurring within 100 feet of the intersection
have increased. The methodology of the traffic safety study shall
account for factors other than the automated traffic enforcement
system that could have caused any reduction in red-light running,
including, but not limited to, engineering countermeasures
employed at the intersection, changes in traffic volume, effects of
weather, collisions caused by impairment, statistical regression
to the mean, and overall trends in red-light running collision rates.
The study shall use, at a minimum, three years of data collected
before the installation of the automated traffic enforcement system,
and the entire period after installation, up to the date the study
commences, if that data is available, and shall adjust for any
differences between the two periods. end insert The traffic safety study shall
be conducted according to standards consistent with the analysis
of data approved by the federal National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration for automated traffic enforcement systems. begin insert All raw
data used for, and referenced in, the study shall be clearly listed
within the study to allow peer review. The study shall be completed
on or before January 1, 2017. end insert

(3) If the traffic safety study begin delete shows end delete begin insert does not definitively show end insert
that the use of an automated traffic enforcement system begin delete did not
reduce end delete begin insert reduced end insert the number of traffic accidents begin insert caused by red-light
running end insert that occurred at an intersection begin insert equipped with an
automated traffic enforcement system by a statistically significant
number, or the study shows that there was an increase in rear-end
collisions end insert , the governmental agency shall terminate the use of the
system at that intersection no later than January 1, begin delete 2018. end delete begin insert 2018,
and no violation captured by the system after that date shall be
used for prosecution. end insert

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(4) If the governmental agency uses an automated traffic
enforcement system to cite motorists for right-turn violations, the
agency shall, using the same criteria listed in paragraph (2),
include in the study, an analysis of collisions caused by motorists’
failure to stop before turning right on a red light in violation of
subdivision (a) or (c) of Section 21453. If the traffic safety study
does not definitively show that the use of the automated traffic
enforcement system reduced the number of traffic accidents caused
by motorists’ failure to stop before turning right on a red light in
violation of subdivision (a) or (c) of Section 21453 at an
intersection equipped with an automated traffic enforcement system
by a statistically significant number, the governmental agency
shall terminate the use of the system to cite motorists for right turn
violations at that intersection on or before January 1, 2018, and
no violation captured by the system after that date shall be used
for prosecution.

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