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If you haven't already done so, please read the Corona section on the Camera Towns page

City of Corona Documents (Program Closed)
(and Information)

It may be possible to ignore some of Corona's "tickets."  If your "ticket" does not have the Superior Court's name and address on it, it is what I call a "Fake Ticket" or "Snitch Ticket."  For more details, see the Fake Ticket section on the Your Ticket page.

 
  City of Corona Docs Set # 1
Ticket Counts

New 7-29-09, updated 11-17-12

Total Violations Recorded, Notices Printed [1] [4]

Cam #
CAGO-01
MARI-01
MCGR-01
ONCA-01
RIMA-01




Cajalco
Ebd @
Grand
Oaks


Magnolia
&
Rimpau
[6]

McKinley
&
Griffin
[6]
Ontario
&
California
[6]
Rimpau
&
Magnolia
[6]
Total
Citations
Issued
as %
of Events
Re-
corded
Total
Violations
Recorded/
Notices
Printed
[1] [4]

Mar09








Apr09
(est.) [5]
804
529
700
447
630
346
435
311
256
168

2829
1801

May09
940
518
445
275
612
301
438
260
305
176

2740
1530

Jun09
845
441
1100
713
520
287
322
198
260
193

3047
1832

Jul09
[8]
635
281
745
403
514
263
315
163
204
136

2413
1246

Aug09















[1]

May & Jun
2009
1764
1011
1547
1046
1116
700
741
477
553
437

5721
3671

Jul & Aug
2009
1318
662
1365
866
1036
635
600
349
402
288

4721
2800

Sep & Oct
2009
1160
664
1171
833
1063
727
492
325
324
256

4210
2805

Nov & Dec
2009
1510
1120
944
638
809
483
440
256
284
218

3987
2715

Jan & Feb
2010
1017
703
761
553
749
506
345
201
218
177

3090
2140

Mar & Apr
2010
764
570
726
498
771
494
391
216
239
176

2891
1954

May & Jun
2010
746
468
643
389
849
450
331
179
235
178

2804
1664

Jul & Aug
2010
542
372
756
441
922
453
416
232
295
215

2931
1713

Sep & Oct
2010
602
424
757
413
1020
610
341
235
238
189

2958
1871

Nov & Dec
2010 [7]
416
289
652
493
826
574
316
204
229
191

2439
1751

Jan & Feb
2011
297
214
514
374
799
578
337
205
215
182

2162
1553

Mar & Apr
2011
382
190
565
351
818
451
362
176
232
188

2359
1356

May & Jun
2011
417
271
639
399
698
389
382
246
245
174

2381
1479

Totals:
26 Months
May2009 -
Jun2011






42654
27472
[7]

Jul11
216
109
361
207
442
262
116
55
180
118

1315
751

Aug11
255
129
375
241
474
252
153
75
154
108

1411
805

Sep11
236
138
366
266
395
234
158
80
142
108

1297
826

Oct11
232
138
394
268
351
204
169
91
139
108

1285
809

Nov11
226
155
265
193
475
310
161
80
188
141

1315
879

Dec11
283
183
284
199
492
369
223
100
183
142

1465
993

2011








Jan12
220
134
201
142
422
311
156
82
121
86

1120
755

Feb12
237
145
228
163
391
234
183
87
77
64

1116
693

Mar12
246
147
279
202
510
312
174
79
192
133

1401
873

Apr12
277
172
288
202
618
369
251
99
174
125

1608
967

May12
317
196
372
247
622
402
199
93
200
150

1710
1088

Jun12
351
213
375
248
640
448
245
133
211
145

1822
1187

Jul12






1689
1058

Aug12






1727
989

Sep12






1623
958

Oct12
301
163
394
277
630
436
198
94
166
138

1689
1108

Nov12






251
114

Dec12








2011








Cam #
CAGO-01
MARI-01
MCGR-01
ONCA-01
RIMA-01




Cajalco
Ebd @
Grand
Oaks


Magnolia
&
Rimpau
[6]

McKinley
&
Griffin
[6]
Ontario
&
California
[6]
Rimpau
&
Magnolia
[6]
Total
Citations
Issued
as %
of Events
Re-
corded
Total
Violations
Recorded/
Notices
Printed
[1] [4]


This table made by highwayrobbery.net, using official documents obtained under the California Public Records Act.

Official RedFlex reports, Mar. - Jul. 2009, individual months [8]
City's table, two months-at-a-time, prepared for 7-27-11 city council study session [7]
Official RedFlex reports, Nov. & Dec. 2010, Jul. - Nov. 2011
Official RedFlex reports, Dec. 2011 - July 2012
Official RedFlex reports, July - Sept. 2012
Official RedFlex reports, Sept. - Nov. 2012

[  ] indicates a footnote.
[1]  Single-month totals are as provided by the City.  Totals for two months-at-a-time, and the totals for 26 months, were calculated by highwayrobbery.net.  See also [7], below.
[2]  YTD = Year-to-date total.
[3]  Un-used columns are to allow for later expansion of City's system.
[4]  Except where noted otherwise, the figures given in the table are for the single calendar month indicated.  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.  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). Due to time limitations data may have been posted to the table only for selected months or locations.  If there is sufficient public interest, the remaining months or locations will be posted.  Full official data has been received and is available at one of the links given above.
[5]  April data was requested but not received.  highwayrobbery.net estimated the figures shown above for April as follows:  Starting with figures from an available official report covering March 30 to July 28, 3% of the July figures above was added to increase the span of the report by one day, and then the total of the May, June and July figures above was subtracted.
[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]  For Nov. and Dec. 2010 the figures provided by the City in its Jul. 2011 table contained an error which affected that table's totals for those two months and the totals for 26 months.  We later requested copies of the official Redflex reports which were the source for the City's table, and used those to correct the Nov. - Dec. 2010 figures and the 26-month totals.
[8]  July 2009 figures are for a partial month.






City of Corona Docs Set # 2
"Late Time" Graphs

The City provided
bar graphs
of Late Times, etcetera, for all five cameras. 
These graphs track violations recorded, not tickets issued.
Where there is a large number of long Late Time violations in a curb lane (as in the example below), it is believed to indicate heavy ticketing on right turns.
(The curb lane will be the lane with the highest lane number.)


Grand Terrace late times bar chart
This example is from another city.


Cajalco & Grand Oaks April 2009
Cajalco & Grand Oaks May 2009
Cajalco & Grand Oaks June 2009
Cajalco & Grand Oaks July 2009

Magnolia & Rimpau April 2009
Magnolia & Rimpau May 2009
Magnolia & Rimpau June 2009
Magnolia & Rimpau July 2009

McKinley & Griffin April 2009
McKinley & Griffin May 2009
McKinley & Griffin June 2009
McKinley & Griffin July 2009

Ontario & California April 2009
Ontario & California May 2009
Ontario & California June 2009
Ontario & California July 2009

Rimpau & Magnolia April 2009
Rimpau & Magnolia May 2009
Rimpau & Magnolia June 2009
Rimpau & Magnolia July 2009


All intersections, June 2012


Bar graphs are available for more than fifty other cities - see the list in the expanded version of Defect # 9.



City of Corona Docs Set # 3
The City's Coercive Website

Until Oct. 2012 the City's website said that you "must" identify the person who was driving your car.

Corona site 9-23-09: You must ID driver!
Corona website as of Sept. 23, 2009.  Emphasis added.

Remember:  You don't have to!

In July 2012 LibertyFight.com wrote an
article about Corona's deception, and that article was picked up by WhatReallyHappened.com.  In October 2012 LibertyFight.com reported that the City had removed the misleading sentence.




City of Corona Docs Set # 4
Proposed "Administrative" Citations

  In 2009 the city council studied whether the City could process red light camera tickets "administratively" (at the City) instead of through the state courts.  (If you decided to fight your "administrative citation," the "judge" would be a City employee!)  In a Oct. 28-29, 2009
article about the council's Oct. 28 study session, the Press Enterprise wrote:
"Legally, the state vehicle code allows the City to consider red-light camera citations a violation of its municipal code, according to information presented at the meeting.  But that interpretation of state law could be challenged."
Here is a challenge:  What Corona proposes violates State law.  A City cannot declare something unlawful when the State Legislature has already declared it unlawful and has provided not only enforcement procedures but also the penalties for such violations.  The State law is CVC 21:
"Except as otherwise expressly provided, the provisions of this code are applicable and uniform throughout the State and in all counties and municipalities therein, and no local authority shall enact or enforce any ordinance on the matters covered by this code unless expressly authorized herein."
What they propose also violates case law:
"Local legislation in conflict with general [State] law is void. Conflicts exist if the ordinance duplicates, contradicts, or enters an area fully occupied by general law, either expressly or by legislative implication." (Morehart v. County of Santa Barbara (1994), 7 Cal.4th 725, 747.)
Before Corona dives even deeper into this mudhole, it should try to get rid of the giant - and increasing - financial liability posed by its cost-neutral contract with Redflex.  (See Defect # 10 - B.)

Recommended listening in highwayrobbery.net's copy of the
audio from Oct. 28 (no audio or video of the study session is available on the City's website) -

The discussion of red light cameras begins at 0:39:10.

At 0:53:40 a staff member, believed to be Public Works Director Kip Field, told the council,

"In Corona we meet or exceed all of the minimum standards, and if we were to extend yellow times, right now what we would expect to happen if we extend that clearance time is there might be a short term drop or a short term reduction in the number of red light violations for that particular move.
Unfortunately driver behavior is such that they will eventually adjust to that clearance time, and the violations for the red light would ultimately / probably rise back up to the same level
over a period of time, which we really don’t necessarily have an idea of how long that time is." (Emphasis added.)

The staff member is flat wrong - After a yellow is lengthened, violations drop but do not rebound over time.  See FAQ # 6.  The Corona city council is entitled to better advice from city staff.

At 1:10:40, Mayor Steve Nolan told the police chief,
"Only 10% of the crashes in the intersections you’ve chosen [for the installation of cameras] have got… a primary collision factor attributed/due to violation of a signal.  So we’ve put... 85% of violations are not where collisions are occurring."
At 1:45:40 Mayor Nolan said,

"I believed in the program from the start, because it would make our streets safer.
My problem is, I didn’t ask some of the questions at the time:  Where are they [the tickets] gonna go?
85% of these are low speed violations.
Again, and I’ll make a point about the yellow:  If everybody starts slowing on the yellow - the reality is we all drive here, everybody in this room - if that thing goes yellow, and we start hitting brakes, as they found across the country, without going into studies, people start crashing more.
And that’s why they’ve increased crashes at intersections with cameras, because people stop on the yellow."





Corona Docs Set # 5
The Contracts and Amendments (Program Closing)

2008 Contract

At their meeting of Aug. 17, 2011 the city council voted 3 - 2 (Nays:  Nolan, Skipworth) to renew the contract for another year, as it was due to expire in Nov. 2011.
Documents from 7-27-11 Study Session
Pre-meeting Article
Staff Report Prepared for 8-17-11 Meeting (big file)
Post-meeting Article

There is no indication, either in the articles or in the staff report, that the police tried to get a better price, upon renewal, than the $5995 the City has been paying for each camera, monthly, since 2009.
Many cities have negotiated hard, and now pay significantly less than $6000.

Examples:  Bakersfield $3133, Del Mar $1500, El Cajon $3344, Escondido $2833, Gardena $3500, Hawthorne $2800, Oceanside $3052, Oxnard $2733, South Gate $2829, Solana Beach $2225, and Ventura $1800.
Had the City negotiated the price down to what Escondido pays, it would have saved $180,000 in just one year, or $360,000 if the contract is extended for another year.


Closing

During an Aug. 22, 2012 study session (staff report), the city council voted 3 - 2 to close the program, effective Nov. 5.  They finalized that vote at the council meeting of Sept. 4. 


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





City of Corona Docs Set # 6
More Coming

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




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