BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2729
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Date of Hearing: April 19, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 2729 (Ammiano) - As Amended: April 26, 2010
SUBJECT : Automated traffic enforcement: San Francisco
SUMMARY : Allows San Francisco to utilize an automated traffic
enforcement system on a particular roadway. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Allows the City and County of San Francisco, until January 1,
2014, to utilize an automated traffic enforcement system to
enforce the prohibition against disobeying official traffic
control devices from Market Street onto the Central Freeway
located at the intersection of Market Street and Octavia
Boulevard, if the system meets existing statutory requirements
for such systems.
2)Requires the City and County, if it chooses to exercise that
authority, to report to the Senate Committee on Transportation
and Housing as well as the Assembly Committee on
Transportation, prior to January 1, 2014, on the safety and
traffic flow impacts that have resulted from the use of the
automated traffic enforcement system described above.
3)Finds and declares that this bill cannot be crafted as a
general statute due to the unique circumstances concerning
traffic enforcement in the City and County of San Francisco.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Includes traffic signs within the meaning of "traffic control
devices."
2)Allows a limit line, intersection, or other place with a
traffic signal where a driver is required to stop, to be
equipped with an automated enforcement system if the
governmental agency utilizing the system meets all of the
various statutory requirements for such systems, including:
identifying the system by signs that clearly indicate its
presence; commencing a program to issue only warning notices
for 30 days; allowing only a governmental agency, in
cooperation with a law enforcement agency, to operate the
AB 2729
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system (except that the operation can be contracted out if the
agency maintains overall control and supervision); keeping
photographic records confidential; and permitting the
registered owner or any individual identified by the
registered owner as the driver of the vehicle at the time of
the alleged violation to review the photographic evidence of
the alleged violation.
3)Prohibits a contract between a governmental agency and a
manufacturer or supplier of automated enforcement equipment
from including 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Existing law provides authority for automated
enforcement at places where a driver is required to respond to
an official traffic control signal. Existing law does not
identify specific violations for which automated enforcement can
be used but implies that automated enforcement is intended for
red-light violations.
The author points out that the Market Street/Octavia Boulevard
intersection is one of the most dangerous traffic spots for
cyclists in the San Francisco, since automotive traffic
routinely makes illegal right turns off Market Street to access
the Highway 101 freeway ramp. At this intersection, which is
controlled by a traffic signal, vehicles are never permitted to
turn right from Market onto the Central Freeway, even when the
traffic light is green. This prohibition is marked by signage.
Collisions occur when vehicles make the prohibited right turn
and collide with bicyclists using the bike lane. From 2002
through 2006, this intersection was ranked among the top five
locations with the highest incidents of automobile and bicycle
collisions in the City. According to the sponsor, in 2005,
there were 13 collisions involving automobiles and bicyclists at
this intersection, as compared to an average of three collisions
at various intersections throughout the City.
Consequently, this bill expands the authority to use automated
traffic enforcement systems to include the enforcement of
unlawful turns.
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The effectiveness of using automated traffic enforcement to
deter drivers from making specific turns has not been evaluated.
Nevertheless, the effectiveness of such systems to reduce
collisions due to red light running has received much research
attention and may provide some insight into the potential effect
of using this system to enforce other traffic laws. In general,
red light cameras have been associated with reductions in
violations of red light running and in front-to-side collisions,
the type of collision most closely associated with red light
running. It should be noted that red light cameras have also
been associated with increases in rear-end collisions (from
people stopping at the intersection), though rear-end collisions
are generally less severe than front-to-side collisions.
The auto clubs have expressed a concern with the significant
expansion of automated enforcement represented by this bill.
They cite a history of abuse surrounding the use of automated
enforcement and a growing objection by the public for this form
of enforcement. Consequently, they suggest that engineering
solutions be used on an expedited basis to remedy what they
acknowledge to be a significant safety problem, rather than
expanding the use of automated enforcement.
There has traditionally been a high degree of discomfort among
legislators as well as the public at large with automated
traffic enforcement technology in general. Nevertheless, its
clear benefit in reducing red light violations has led the
Legislature to approve its use in that limited circumstance.
Although this bill represents an expansion of that authority, it
is restricted to one specific location, a location with a
well-deserved reputation for dangerous conditions, and the
authority granted by this bill will sunset three years after its
effective date.
Legislative history : AB 23 (Ma) of 2007, would have provided
the San Francisco with the explicit authority to automatically
enforce an illegal right turn violation at the intersection of
Market Street and Octavia Boulevard. That bill passed Assembly
in 2007, but failed in the Senate Transportation and Housing
Committee and was ultimately gutted and amended to deal with a
different subject.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
AB 2729
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Walk San Francisco (sponsor)
Delores Neighborhood Association
Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association
North Mission Neighborhood Alliance
San Francisco Bicycle Coalition
Opposition
Automobile Club of Southern California
California State Automobile Association
Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093