“A car can be a privilege or a liability–depending on the driver.”
As a photographer, I like to photograph others—often without asking their permission. This time, I was on the other side of the lens. As you know, I love photography. That is partially why I wanted to share this photograph of my car taken by the $300,000 photo equipment taken by the city of San Francisco. This is how much I was told the City paid for two cameras located on the diagonal corners of some city streets with a warning sign on the pole in-front of them. I was making a right turn from Van Ness onto Bush Street, apparently on a red light. I did not remember this and only found out when a citation with four images of my car was mailed to me. To deal with this matter, I had to go to the Superior court.
In the courtroom, we were given an option to pay the $490 fee with a discount, and for those who are eligible (no traffic school for at least 18 months) to spend 8 hours in a classroom or in front of a computer, or to protest in front of a judge—losing the opportunity to get a discount and enrollment into traffic school. Being stubborn and stupid, I decided to meet the judge. (I have done this in the past when policemen had mistakenly cited me and I successfully got the citation dismissed.) But this also meant another trip to court.
The judge simply explained to me what I did wrong. She also told me that if I will insist on the court hearing, there would be a technician present, who would testify that all of the photography equipment was functioning and tested. There was also a sensor under the surface of the road. I was told that I did not stop completely and turned right at the speed of about 16.4 mph, 4.2 secs after the light changed to red. The judge also pointed out, a complete stop is defined as when the wheels stop rolling at the intersection and the body leans back after the stop vs. a “California” roll when the wheels continue rolling.
Perhaps because I was not arrogant and was smiling as I spoke to the judge, she gave me a discount anyway and sent me to traffic school. After the administrative fee of $52, my total bill came out to $337. I did not want to stand in the long line to pay the fee and decided to come back at the end of the next day. I arrived at 4:30pm, only to find out that they close at this time. Thus, I had to take yet another (fifth) trip to settle this matter—every time struggling to find parking. And there was still traffic school about which I will write about next week.
Instead of my regular photos, I decided to show you the work of the city. The technology is amazing, but the qualities of my images are much better, which you will be able to see next week.
Do Not Keep Me As A Secret!
Smile And Please SHARE It With A Friend!