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Having A Fit!
Jun 23, 2008 | 3:19 PM PST
Category:
Traffic
Having a car literally die on you in the middle of nowhere around midnight can really give you a fit! Well, that happened to me one night in May, when I worked an event for a radio station. My trusty old first generation '78 Honda Accord overheated on me one night just outside of Chino Hills on the Corona Expressway, while I was heading home into Orange County. My engine overheated, and then blew the head gasket, while I was trying to pull over to cool the car down. A few days later, my mechanic told me that it was time to get a new car. RIP trusty old reliable Honda!
So I went on a search to get the best price possible on a new Honda, roughly the same size as the old Accord, which fit nicely in my garage space. I looked at the Civics, but the car's body was a bit bloated and big, while the inside just didn't have enough leg room in the back seat. Also, they didn't have a color that I really liked. I had also noticed the new Honda Fit, and the size came very close to the first generation Honda Accord Hatchbacks. This car had some pleasant surprises: the back seat had more leg room than the Civic sedans; the car had at least as much interior room as the old Accord, and it came well equipped with a sticker price lower than the Civic.
However, I faced some big obstacles: this car has become so popular, that the dealers would quickly sell the cars. Also, it was nearly impossible to find a Fit in the bottom "base" model in Vivid Blue Pearl with a 5 speed stick. But sometimes, miracles happen! I got an email from a friend that told me to forward it to 8 people other than myself and the one who sent it. This email became my previous blog on this site instead, since more than 8 people would read it. On the day I posted that blog. I got a call from a dealer, saying that they had 1 car in their shipment equipped the way I wanted it! Now that was heaven sent!
I'm having a Fit now! But it's a fit of a great kind! And this Fits my family well!
As for the picture, the car shown is of the higher priced package: the "sport" package. The blue is more vivid in person, just like an old Schwinn bicycle.
Any other Fit owners here?
Think of this: you are driving through the streets of Montebello, Pasadena, Cerritos, Long Beach, Hawthorne, Gardena, Santa Ana, Garden Grove...you see that the light is green. As you come closer to the intersection, the light turns yellow, yet you still have some distance before you get to the intersection. You had just passed a sign with a picture of a traffic light on it. But that sign had a white background, and says Photo Enforced on it. A half second earlier, you just passed a point where you could have stopped easily just in time, but now you're not able to, unless you nearly skid, and even then, you're likely to cross when the light turns red. At the point your bumper is 6 inches away from the limit line, you've managed to slow your car down to 10 miles per hour, the light just turns red, and you cross the line. When you crossed, your late time was less than .1 seconds, and you see a flash trigger off.
You just got caught running a red light, according to the red light camera. But were you caught fair and square? If you are cited, you just might have some ways to fight it, and win. You can do some research to see if you have the following factors in your favor: 1: Were you warned in advance that the intersection in question is photo enforced? Unless the city has Photo Enforced signs at all Town Entrances, the city is required to post a Photo Enforced sign that meets Cal Trans requirements at all approaches to an intersection that is enforced, ahead of the intersection.
2: Is the camera a new camera that has been there less than 30 days? If the city has just installed the camera at an intersection either as a newly enforced intersection, or as a replacement to an old camera, or to enforce another approach at an intersection that was enforced in one direction only previously, the city has to have a 30 day grace period by state law. For example, if the intersection is only enforced for the southbound traffic, and the city adds cameras to start enforcing the northbound, eastbound and westbound traffic, the city must have a 30 day grace period at the intersection at all approaches.
3: Was your ticket issued for a turn on red? Sometimes the camera can be a bit sensitive. That has become an issue in the city of Montebello, for example. Some of you have seen the report that Jeff Michael did, when he compared the cities of Montebello and Pasadena, and how they use the cameras to catch red light runners. This issue has also popped up in Hawthorne at the Intersection of Rosecrans & Hindry, in Santa Ana, and in a number of other cities in the southland. In some of these cities, the yellow light on the turn lights stay on for only 3 seconds, no matter what the speed limit is. This makes you wonder if the cities are using the cameras to bring in more revenue for the city at the expense of safety. To be fair, Pasadena does not enforce the right turns at its camera enforced intersections; Montebello and Hawthorne do.
I learned about how to fight some of these issues on this website: www.highwayrobbery.net
This website has a wealth of information on how to fight a red light camera ticket, and photo enforced stop sign tickets. A while back, I did a blog on photo enforced stop signs. I hope this helps you guys.
One more thing: did the initial notice get mailed to you in less than 15 days after the initial violation? If you're not the car's owner, did the owner get the notice in less than 15 days? If the first notice got mailed after 15 days from the violation, that could be grounds for dismissal.
Also, check with a traffic lawyer to see what is legal and not legal...this blog is not legal advice for a traffic citation.
Rick Dickert's Birthday!
Feb 8, 2008 | 12:57 PM PST
Category:
Traffic
HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICK DICKERT!
Today is your day big guy! All thanks to the 5 A.M. crew, we now know it's your big day! And the 5 AM crew enjoyed the MAMAs donuts, from what I could tell by the expression on Jean Martirez's face today!
Any special plans? Surfing @ Redondo?
"Mr. E" from Cypress
P.S. Maybe I'll see you at the polar bear plunge!
So the chase begins! Britney leaves the hospital, and the PooPooRazzi start going after her in droves. They swarm her like a bunch of birds waiting to take a dump on some poor unsuspecting person...but unlike birds, these fat oinkers endangered many people with their reckless driving and stalking. And now, as a result, Los Angeles city councilman Dennis Zine has seriously considered proposing some kind of law to further restrict the selfish fat oinkers from wreaking further havoc on the public.
Hey you big fat dumb poppy oinkers: WE DON'T WANT YOUR STUPID OPIATE PICTURES! Go back to your filthy pig pens and clean up your act! Leave Britney alone before you end up murdering her in public! Yes, that means you guys at TMZ if you have the brains to read this! The streets are not a trough for you to eat out of; eat out of you own little pig sty!
You're turning the streets into a slaughter house with innocent victims getting caught in the path, so get your fat ugly carcasses out of here!
The last thing we need is a law that stems from the results of a few greedy pigs out in a free for all buffet feeding frenzy. And Zine is ready to write one, with the public as its victim. Let's hope no one dies in a car accident as a result of these brainless porkers!
I have been reading things on various websites, and I've come across a report on something that started during the summer for the first time in California: Photo Enforced Stop Signs. This started in early July this year in Los Angeles County, when a little known organization Mountain Recreation & Conservation Authority decided it was a necessity. Their little beef was that people were not quite coming to a full stop at certain intersections when exiting out of the mountains to the main boulevards in the city of Los Angeles; therefore they "needed" a camera that would detect any motion when crossing the limit lines at a stop sign. These cameras take an infrared photo of the car and driver (NO FLASH UNITS), and before you come to a stop, they will be shooting a 12 second video prior to your arrival at the stop sign when they detect your car approaching the stop. If the sensor detects a vibration of sorts, such as the car body shaking, it might trigger off without your knowledge. If it appears like your car was even creeping very slowly at the stop sign when the police look at the video, you might be subject to getting a moving violation ticket...the camera detects any motion even under 5 miles per hour. On the website which had this information, I saw a picture of one of the enforced intersections off Sunset Boulevard...from what I saw, traffic engineers could have installed a traffic signal instead of a camera to make the intersection safer. Currently, California has no provision or guidelines for photo enforcing stop sign intersections. There are laws that all California cities must abide by when photo enforcing traffic signal intersections, and they must meet a certain criteria before they can photo enforce an intersection.
Also, in Oakland...home of the left wing extremist Attorney General Jerry Brown, they are thinking of ways to use their red light cameras as 24 hour surveillance cameras too. Currently, California law makes such uses illegal, but the left wing extremists in Oakland are lobbying to overturn the law so that they can use those cameras, instead of investing in legal 24 hour surveillance cameras. Earlier, California legislators had fought against using red light cameras as surveillance cameras, in order to avoid governmental abuses against the public.
Now what do you think about these things?
Mr. E from Cypress
