The Truth About Cars reports that the California state Senate last week gave preliminary approval to legislation giving local governments the green light to install automated ticketing machines on street sweepers to generate parking tickets. The legislation would go to the Governator upon a final vote by the Senate and an Assembly vote to approving the upper chamber’s amendments.
The Truth About Cars comments,
Under the program, a private company would install and maintain the cameras set up on streetsweepers to prey on the owners of vehicles who may be confused by unclear signage or otherwise unaware of the sweeping restrictions. The private company would mail tickets to owners two weeks after the photographs are taken. A similar program failed in Chicago, Illinois after officials realized that the camera photographs needed to capture images of the vehicle and the parking restriction signs together for the ticket to hold up in court. For the California program, the for-profit vendor will have the final say when a motorist contests a ticket.
