Bennnnnd Over, Santa Monica!
If you live in Southern California, Santa Monica is cracking down for the month of June on stop sign violations. Be sure you come to a full stop at the white line -- not the crosswalk --or you could pay about $400 in ticket and court costs and get a point on your record.
How great! Now taxpayers will be ponying up money to pay for all those programs their local elected panderers voted in -- but without seeing it as a raise in taxes!
And yes, it's the law that you should stop at a stop sign, but this is a terrible economy and $400 is more than some people make in a week. People need to connect with why ticket prices are so high -- especially as they're on their way to cast their votes.
They are announcing their Focus of the Month, and letting people know that it'll sting.
Is the four bills fine mandatory, or is it just the maximum? Does the judge have discretion in cases like these? Are prior offences, or the lack thereof, taken into account?
The SMPD might not be quite the gestapo you seem to think it is, is what I'm sayin'.
Steve Daniels at June 5, 2012 10:49 PM
This was maybe the funnest election ever! I got to vote against a Judge who'd compelled his jury (including this freelance-working blog commenter) to sit out a day of a five-day trial while he attended to personal business. 14 jurors, the State, and of course the defendant. Since he didn't come out and SAY his beloved wife of X years was having a terrifying, neurologically-dicey cranial resection, I assume we were delayed for some lesser purpose.
'Bye now!
(Internet quotation: "As an incumbent I didn’t expect to be fighting for my seat in this election...")
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at June 5, 2012 10:49 PM
I still remember the last time I was driving in SoCal and hit a four-way stop sign just before another driver to my right. I came to a full and complete stop and clearly confused the hell out of him because then he couldn't tell if I was going to go or not.
Astra at June 6, 2012 5:15 AM
As one who frequently bikes or walks, I think this is a good law. The white line is there for a reason. Too many people treat the crosswalk like it's the white line.
Patrick at June 6, 2012 7:45 AM
The fines are so high because we've turned the police into revenue collectors, instead of law enforcement and public safety agents.
Conan the Grammarian at June 6, 2012 10:55 AM
I live near LAX, so thanks for the heads up. I'll be avoiding Santa Monica for a while.
Kevin at June 6, 2012 11:34 AM
When I took driver's ed I learned that merely slowing down for a stop sign is called a California Coast.
Insufficient Poison at June 6, 2012 1:09 PM
The fines are so high because we've turned the police into revenue collectors, instead of law enforcement and public safety agents.
Yes. This might be a fabulous source of revenue for the city, but it creates needless hostility between the police and civilians. When generally law-abiding citizens have to worry that the police are going to help the city steal hundred of dollars from them, it makes them less inclined to be generous toward the police.
MonicaP at June 6, 2012 5:12 PM
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