Some will receive refunds for red-light camera ticket scheme

Q I and the other victims of San Mateo’s redlight camera revenue-extraction scheme are delighted to learn that San Mateo will end the entire program and dismiss or refund all

985 citations issued between Dec. 4 and May 20 at the Hillsdale-Saratoga intersection.

For me, that will be a refund of $490 plus the $49 administration fee to attend traffic school plus the actual cost of $6.25 for the online traffic school for a total of $545.25.

Mr. Roadshow, can you use your magical powers to find out when San Mateo will issue this refund? — Ken Shiels, El Granada

A The 985 tickets worth $472,800 were issued with the yellow warning light shortened from the state-mandated 3.6-second minimum to 3.4 seconds at Saratoga Drive and Hillsdale Boulevard.

There were 15,898 redlight violations in 2006 at the start of the program, falling to 11,692 violations in 2011. But then in 2018, violations jumped to 18,133.

Q The other day, I again got stuck at the light at the intersection of Hostetter Road and Lundy Avenue in San Jose. I was westbound on Hostetter waiting to turn left onto Lundy. I arrived just as the light in my direction turned red, so I again got to sit through an entire cycle as I often do when returning home from Costco.

This is a normal situation between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. It would be really nice to make that westbound red-turn arrow into a flashing red arrow when there is no approaching traffic (as is normal). Those of us wanting to turn could actually do so after stopping to make sure nobody is coming.

— Allison Lane, San Jose

A San Jose’s traffic folks said a flashing operation is not recommended to allow eastbound through and the westbound turn to go together due to the amount of traffic at this intersection and the increased chance of collision. But they’ve decided to change the timing to reducing green time along Hostetter. Let me know if that helps.

Q I wrote to you several years ago about the annoyance of VTA bus drivers keeping their headlamps on high beam. But in the past couple of years some are back to their old habits. The newgeneration VTA buses have LED headlamps and they are much more than a simple annoyance when on high beam.

— Bill Traill, San Jose

A VTA requires lowbeam headlights on at all times, but high beams may be used in accordance with the state vehicle code. VTA will remind its operators and monitor the headlight situation at the yards upon pullout.