BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1725
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Date of Hearing: March 14, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Jim Frazier, Chair
AB 1725
(Wagner) - As Amended March 7, 2016
SUBJECT: Vehicles: automated traffic enforcement systems
SUMMARY: Explicitly provides that traffic control signals at
places other than an intersection, including freeway or highway
on ramps, must be obeyed.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Authorizes the California Department of Transportation to
erect any traffic control signal or other official traffic
control device on any state highway.
2)Makes it generally unlawful for any driver to fail to obey any
sign, signal, or other traffic control device. Violations
carry a base fine of $35.
3)Makes it unlawful to fail to stop a red light at an
intersection. Because of the potential severity of crashes
resulting from failing to stop at an intersection, the base
fine for violations of this provision is $100.
AB 1725
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FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: According to the author, this bill is intended to
ensure that failing to stop at a ramp meter does not carry the
same penalty as the justifiably higher fine for the far more
dangerous act of running a red light through an intersection.
The base fine for most traffic violations is $35 and the total
penalty, with court fees and surcharges, can range from about
$250 to nearly $300, depending on the county in which the
violation occurred. Fines for more egregious violations, such
as running a red light, carry a $100 base fine, with total costs
amounting to nearly $500.
It is unclear how pervasive the problem is that this bill
attempts to remedy-that is, how often a driver is cited with a
violation for running a red light at an intersection when the
red light was actually at a freeway on ramp. The author's
office could offer only minimal anecdotal evidence that the
problem exists. (According to the California Highway Patrol,
its officers are trained to cite the lesser violation of
ignoring traffic control devices at places other than an
intersection when citing a driver for failing to stop at a
freeway ramp meter.) To the extent that there is ambiguity in
the field as to which code provision should be cited for failing
to stop at a ramp meter, this bill will provide clarification.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
AB 1725
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Conference of California Bar Associations
Safer Streets L.A.
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093