Oakland Docs - Main Page - Red Light Cams - Illegal Red Light Cameras

Some of Oakland's tickets can possibly be ignored. If your "ticket" does not have the Superior Court's name and address on it, it is a fake ticket, what I call a "Snitch Ticket." In 2009, Snitch Tickets were 42% of everything Oakland mailed out. For more details about Snitch Tickets, see the heading below and the Snitch Ticket section on the Your Ticket page.

If you have an Oakland red light camera ticket, be sure to look at the Countywide Information section, below.

Oakland's red light cameras were shut down in May 2014.
For more info, see Set # 4, below.

This table made by highwayrobbery.net, using official reports provided by the City under the California Public Records Act.

Official reports, Aug08 to Jul10
Official reports, Aug09 to Aug10
Official reports, Aug10 to Oct11
Official reports, Oct11 to Jan12
Official reports, Feb12 to Aug12
Official reports, Sep12 to Dec12
Official report, Jan13
Official reports, Feb13 and Mar13 [9]
Official reports, Mar13 and Apr13
Official reports, May13 to Feb14
Official report, Aug13
Official reports, to June 2014

[ ] indicates a footnote.
[1] Totals are as provided by the City.
[2] These annual totals, or annual projections, are by highwayrobbery.net. The 2014 projection is based on Jan. - Apr. 2014.
[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] Data was requested on (date):
[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] Includes enforcement of posted "no turn on red" signs.
[8] The title bar has been repeated solely for the convenience of the reader - there is no difference between it and the one at the top of the table.
[9] This report was produced during the month or less than ten days after the end of the month, so may not include all tickets issued.

Oakland's Internal Battle Over Yellow Lengths & the Resulting Ups and Downs of Ticketing (Mainly Ups)

In December 2009 Oakland's traffic engineers - without formally warning the police brass - added one second to the length of the yellows at the camera enforced intersections. As a result, ticketing dropped by almost half. The police quickly noticed the drop, got upset, and then by complaining to everyone in sight forced the traffic engineers to remove the extra second; the ticketing was back up, by mid-2010.
Read the report heard by the Council's Public Safety Committee, take the time to watch the video of that meeting (at the end of the red light camera item activist Sanjiv Handa slams the City's efforts at traffic control), read Matthew Artz' article (archived copy) ("Ticket Revenue Factored Heavily in Oakland Red Light Cameras"), and read the in-depth study by SaferStreetsLA.

More recently, beginning in May 2012 ticketing was a lot higher. In 2012 there were 4317 more more tickets than in 2011, costing the public an additional $2.1 million in fines. At 27th & Northgate, ticketing rose 43% from 2011 to 2012. During a 9-25-12 study session there was no discussion of the increase in ticketing, except that Councilmember Nancy Nadel seemed to be pleased with the very heavy ticketing at 27th & Northgate. She said (at 36:10 on the video), "Maybe more than one ticket will get them to realize that it's (turning right without making a full stop) not OK."
In 2013 ticketing at 27th & Northgate was 49% higher than in 2011 and ticketing citywide was also 49% higher.

Oakland's Snitch Tickets

A table received in Nov. 2012 revealed that Snitch Tickets (fake tickets which can be ignored) have been as much as 42% of everything the City sent out.

Oakland Docs Set # 2
"Late Time" Graphs

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

The picture above is an example from another city.

07JA-Jul09
07JA-Jul10
07JA-Jul11

27NO-Jul10
27NO-Jul11
27NO-Various Months

35MA-Jul10
35MA-Jul11

36MA-Jul10
36MA-Jul11

66SL-Jul09
66SL-Jul10
66SL-Jul11

BEMA-Jul10
BEMA-Jul11

FOHI-Jul10
FOHI-Jul11

HIBR-Jul10
HIBR-Jul11

MC82-Jul09
MC82-Jul10
MC82-Jul11

MCOA-Jul10
MCOA-Jan10 - Oct11 (Graph)
MCOA-Jan10 - Oct11 (Table)
MCOA-Jul11

NO27-Jul10
NO27-Jul11

REMO-Jul10
REMO-Jul11

SL66-Jul09
SL66-Jul10
SL66-Jul11

All Cameras-Jan10 (Table)
All Cameras-Jul10 (Table)
All Cameras-Aug10 (Table)
All Cameras-Oct10 (Table)
All Cameras-Nov10 (Table)
All Cameras-Dec10 (Table)
All Cameras-Mar13 (Table)

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

The City signed a contract with RedFlex on Aug. 31, 2007.

The contract is "flat rate" - it does not include an illegal "cost neutrality" clause.

The contract also says: Definitions. "Warning Period" means the period of thirty (30) days after the Installation Date of the first intersection approach. (Emphasis added.) See Defect # 6.

On Sept. 25, 2012 the City Council Public Safety Committee ("PSC") held a study session to decide whether to recommend to the full Council to extend the camera program for another three years. They received a 17-page report which recommended that the City pay a reduced rent (down from $5855) of $4625 per month for the thirteen existing cameras, for three more years.
At the $4625 price the City would pay $760,500 too much over the three years (when compared with a $3000 target price). See FAQ # 17.
After a more than 40 minute discussion (the video is available at the Oakland City website) the Committee asked for more information and for the matter to be brought back to the Committee on Oct. 9.

The report prepared for the Oct. 9, 2012 meeting contained a table of accidents 2008 - 2012 showing increases at some intersections. The Committee took no action, and put off the matter until Feb. 2013.

In February 2013 the matter was not on any of the agendas, and as of Jan. 2014 it still had not been agendized. If you hear about a tentative date, keep in mind that the date and/or time may change; so before driving to the meeting, check with the City, at (510) 238-3226 or 238-3266.

At the Jan. 28, 2014 meeting of the Oakland city council's Public Safety Committee, they heard a report on Councilmember Desley Brooks' request for the installation of speed cameras (photo radar). They voted 3 - 0 to take no action.

In early June 2014 we found out that the cameras had been shut off on May 20.
A June 13 article said that the police want to revive the program. The article quoted the police chief's official explanation for the May 20 shut off - that a spending cap had been reached.

We hope that the city council will continue to refuse to allocate more money to be spent on this abuse of the public.

We also hope that the City's traffic engineers take this opportunity to provide longer yellows, as they did for a few months beginning in Dec. 2009. See "Ups and Downs" in Set # 1, above.

There is extensive program info at the police department's website.
If the link does not work, try drilling down:
oaklandnet.com > Government > Police Dept. > Vehicle Services/Traffic >
Traffic Operations Website (oaklandpolicetraffic.com) > red light camera

Oakland Docs Set # 6
Countywide Information

The info in Set # 6 is applicable throughout Alameda County - including tickets from Emeryville, Oakland, San Leandro, Hayward, Newark, and Fremont.
But only in Alameda County.

Some judges are much fairer than others. As examples of that, here are some articles about past judges (none is still working for the Court).

If you want to know how to get away from a bad judge, go to my Challenges page and read about Peremptory Challenge ("PC").

Oakland Docs Set # 7
Prevailing Wage Action

RedFlex' construction work in Oakland was the subject of a Prevailing Wage action by the California Department of Industrial Relations.

Oakland Docs Set # 8
More Coming

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

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RED LIGHT CAMERAS
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