Judiciary braces for
possible deluge of
traffic cam cases

Feb. 19 is the first day traffic
court will hear photo citation pleas

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By Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.com

As many as 420 people could appear in traffic court on the first day they can challenge speeding citations issued by the company operating the new traffic enforcement laser cameras.

The first day the state Judiciary will hear challenges to the photo citations is Feb. 19.

"We don't think that 420 cases will actually be heard. Unfortunately, we won't have a good idea of how many cases we will be dealing with until a couple of days prior to the court date," said Marsha Kitagawa, Judiciary spokeswoman.

That is because people can challenge their citations without showing up in court, declare that someone else was driving their registered vehicle or simply pay the fine.

As of Friday, only about one-tenth of the people issued speeding citations via the new laser cameras have paid their fine, according to statistics compiled by the state Judiciary.

From Jan. 2, the first day registered owners of vehicles caught speeding on camera could expect to be cited, to last Friday, Affiliated Computer Services, the vendor operating the cameras for the state Department of Transportation, issued 1,551 citations. So far the state has received payment for 158.

Forty-one people have submitted written statements either challenging their citation or offering explanations or extenuating circumstances. Those cases will be considered by a judge on their assigned court date.

An extra 70 registered owners have submitted declarations that someone else was driving the vehicle.

If the registered owners provide the name, address, driver's license number and signature of the driver, ACS will issue a new citation to the driver.

For car rental companies the declaration qualifies them for a flat $77 fine no matter how fast the vehicle was speeding. The fine for everybody else is $27 plus $5 for every mile per hour the vehicle was traveling over the speed limit. It goes up to $52 plus $5 for every mile per hour over the limit if the fine is not paid within 15 days.

The Judiciary usually schedules 200 cases per half-day session in traffic court and will be able to handle that many photo citation cases, Kitagawa said.

"If there appears to be an unusually large amount, however, we are working on a contingency plan," she said.