Redwood City Docs - Main Page - Red Light Cams

If you have a ticket from Redwood City - even one you already have paid - be sure to read the "San Mateo County Information," which is Docs Set # 4 on the San Mateo Documents page - and contact me!

Some of Redwood City's tickets can possibly be ignored. If your "ticket" does not have the Superior Court's name and address on it, it is what I call a "Snitch Ticket." For more details, see the Snitch Ticket section on the Your Ticket page.

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

2008 - 2009 Official Reports
2009 - 2010 Official Reports (3-Month Intervals)
May09, Jun09, Nov10, Dec10 Official Reports
2010 - 2012 Official Reports
2013 Official Reports

[ ] indicates a footnote.
[1] Totals are as provided by the City.
[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.
Figures in red type and not enclosed in parentheses (or, if you are looking at this table in black and white, the upper figure when there are two or more rows of figures in a cell) are what RedFlex calls Total Processed Incidents or Total Violations, and represent Total Detections (all incidents flashed by the camera) minus Nonprosecutable incidents.
Any figures in (red) type enclosed in parentheses are Total Detections. and come from the official report entitled RTS Management Report (example) which, beginning in 2013, highwayrobbery.net will be requesting from all cities.
The figures in black type are what the city 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, complete figures have been posted only for selected months or cameras. If there is sufficient public interest, the remaining months or cameras will be posted.
[5] Data has not yet been requested.
[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] Report covers first 10 days of April. See Set # 5, below.

Redwood City Docs Set # 2
"Late Time" Graphs

The City 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.

Bar Graphs, 2008 & 2010
Bar Graphs, 2012

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

City of Redwood City Docs Set # 3
Response to Grand Jury

In June 2010 the San Mateo County Grand Jury issued a report on red light cameras, and the cities in the County were required to reply to the questions raised by the report. In this draft of Redwood City's reply, the responses to Findings # 6 and # 7 are interesting.

Redwood City Docs Set # 4
Encroachment Permits

Some of the City's cameras are located on CalTrans right-of-ways, so are operated under an encroachment permit obtained from CalTrans. HighwayRobbery.net obtained these documents from CalTrans, via a public records request.

Permit Application, Jul. 2008
Justification Correspondence, Oct. 2008
Issued Permit, Jul. 2009

Some other cities operate cameras under encroachment permits. For more information about those cities and about CalTrans' criteria for the issuance of an encroachment permit, see the CalTrans section on the Links page.

Redwood City Docs Set # 5
The Contracts and Amendments

Program Shut Down in 2013

Contract
2010 Amendment, staff report
2010 Amendment, signed
2013 Extension, not yet signed
Letter about Bribery and Chicago

Until an amendment effective Dec. 13, 2010 the contract included an illegal "cost neutrality" clause, whereby the city did not have to pay RedFlex the full rent if revenue from fines was insufficient to cover it. See Subsection B. of Defect # 10.

As of early April 2013, the City had been offered an extension to the contract - at a way-too-high price (see FAQ # 17) - but had not yet signed it. Because they had not signed the new contract, the cameras were shut off. In his Roadshow column in the April 8 Mercury News, Gary Richards reported, "You won't have to curse over hefty red-light camera tickets in Redwood City anymore. The city has ended its camera program and joins Hayward as one of two towns in the Bay Area to turn cameras off." Richards was accurate: On May 20 the city council received and filed a report detailing the enforcement efforts that will replace the cameras.

A remaining question is: Will the camera housings be taken down? If you see a technician removing the cameras, let me know!

This list of contracts and amendments was up-to-date as of Apr. 16, 2013.

Redwood City Docs Set # 6
How Do Much They Get

To see how much fine money the Court sends to the City, go to Docs Set # 4 on the San Mateo Docs page.

Redwood City Docs Set # 7
Info on City's Website

There is brief red light camera program info at the police department's website.
If the link does not work, try drilling down:
www.redwoodcity.org > police department > information > red light photo enforcement.

Redwood City Docs Set # 8
Prevailing Wage Action

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

Redwood City Docs Set # 9
More Coming

There may be some more Redwood City 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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