Fun in Fremont

If it were not for the $500 price tag, some of these red light camera tickets are ridiculously funny. The other day in traffic court there was a defendant who was cited for being 1/10th of a second late to the limit line. He asked Fremont's camera cop, a 27-year retired FPD veteran, "Is there any grace period involved before you issue a ticket?" RLC Cop replies, "Yes. 1/10th of a second." (chuckle, here).

He went on to explain the camera is not activated at .099 seconds. It only is activated after being red for 1/10th. second. Now for those of us who live in the real world, the chance of a collision for such a violation is exactly the same as for a driver who is 1/10th of a second "early." Cross traffic does not start up in that instant. Jesse Owens has not left the blocks and Parnelli Jones has not left the line in the first tenth. Not to mention that there is a one-second "all-red" interval.

On an added note, the yellow light is actually a full 1/2 second short of what it should be. Therefor, instead of the grace period being 1/10th of a second, it is actually -4/10ths (negative 4/10ths).

Also, the officer testifying about the ticket and answering questions about when he issues them and if there was any grace time was not the actual officer who issued the ticket. The issuing officer was actually another retired officer who does not come to court to testify. This only matters to those who care about those legal niceties, such as being able to confront your accuser.