AB 827

Under current law, the governing body of a city, village, or town (municipality)

may not enact a traffic ordinance unless the ordinance strictly conforms to current

state traffic law or the ordinance is expressly authorized by law. State law imposes

liability on the owner of a vehicle that is observed violating certain laws or local

ordinances, including laws or local ordinances that prohibit fleeing a traffic officer,

failing to yield the right-of-way to an emergency vehicle or funeral procession,

passing a fire truck or school bus, and parking in a parking space designated for

vehicles with special registration plates.

This bill authorizes the governing body of a county or municipality to enact an

ordinance that permits the use of a traffic control photographic system (TCPS) on

highways under the jurisdiction of the county or municipality to detect and identify

motor vehicles that fail to stop at red traffic signals at intersections and to wait for

a green signal (red light violations). A TCPS is defined as an electronic system that

consists of a photographic, video, or electronic camera and a vehicle sensor that work

in conjunction with a traffic control signal to automatically produce photographs,

stamped with the time and date, of motor vehicles traveling through an intersection.

With exceptions, the vehicle owner is subject to a forfeiture for the red light violation

detected by a TCPS, but if the vehicle owner successfully asserts certain defenses,

the lessee or operator of the vehicle is subject to a forfeiture for the violation. The

bill requires the ordinance to include a provision that allows a traffic officer employed

by the county or municipality to issue a citation to the owner of a vehicle for a red light

violation that is detected by a TCPS or, in limited circumstances, to the operator of

such a vehicle. The ordinance must require the local authority to provide to the

owner, or in limited circumstances the lessee or operator, of the vehicle, by personal

service or certified mail, the traffic citation and a duplicate of the photograph, video,

or digital image of the vehicle failing to stop at a red traffic signal. The ordinance

also must require that any photograph or other image produced by the TCPS be

focused on the rear license plate of the vehicles moving through an intersection. The

governing body of a county or municipality that uses a TCPS is required to place

signs near the limits of the county or municipality on all county trunk highways and

connecting highways under its jurisdiction informing motorists that intersections in

the county or municipality may be monitored by traffic control photographic

systems.

If an owner is issued a traffic citation for a violation of the local ordinance, it

is not a defense that the owner was not in control of the vehicle at the time of the

violation, except that the owner may assert the following defenses:

1. The vehicle was reported stolen before the violation occurred or within five

business days after the violation occurred.

2. If the vehicle is owned by, and registered in the name of, a lessor, a lessee who

is identified by the lessor had possession of the vehicle at the time of the traffic signal