Beverly Hills, CA is considering the use of photo radar, a system which times cars and trucks, then takes a photo of the car, front and rear, in an attempt to capture the vehicle's license plate. A ticket is then sent to the vehicle owner (and it is not sent by certified mail, so how do they prove it ever got to the owner?) and if it is not paid, the cost of that ticket goes WAAAY up and the owner will find the amount on his or her VEHICLE REGISTRATION when it next comes due. In fact, these tickets can go to a "warrant" status if unpaid in some cities, and a vehicle owner might find him or her self under arrest late some night...for something they might not have done!
The world-famous City of Beverly Hills wants to launch a pilot program using photo radar to nab 
speeders, according to the LOS ANGELES TIMES. Mayor Steve Webb said the city must do something novel to curb drivers who diverge from the city's increasingly congested main thoroughfares, such as Santa Monica and Wilshire boulevards, onto tree-lined side streets as they make their way to jobs, schools and shopping. But Beverly Hills' plan has come under attack in Sacramento and elsewhere, with opponents contending that placing cameras on side streets amounts to an invasion of privacy.
The ongoing tearing-up of the Fourth Amendment notwithstanding, cities in California which have toyed with photoradar has usually given it up within a few months or a couple of years of testing. Some of the same problems cities have had with "red light photos" have arisen with photo radar, though some of the red light photo systems have been in place for quite some time. These problems include the system manufacturer paying bribes or promising kickbacks to city officials for allowing their systems to be installed in a given city, and the fact that many of these red light and photo radar system are easily knocked out of alignment and need constant upkeep and maintenance if the cities are trying to be honest in their mailing-out of tickets.
For literally decades, residents of Beverly Hills have fought hard to destroy several programs which would have helped the admittedly bad traffic problems in their city, and so far, they have won.
One idea was for a light rail system running along existing tracks on Santa Monica Boulevard, a system which could have easily reached from downtown Los Angeles, all the way west to the Santa Monica Pier, bisecting Beverly Hills in the process. Status? Dead.
In fact, for the past several years, there has been a huge street-widening project going on right on the western border of the Cities of Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, which would have been the perfect place for one end of the tunnel. But that project is just about finished, and no tunnel has been spotted as yet.
So the fine citizens of Beverly Hills, some of them also US citizens, figure: If we're going to have the traffic (and they MUST want it, given their history of not allowing improvement projects), we might as well make a few bucks off the occasional speeder taking short-cuts through our many scenic canyon roads.
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