Calls for speed cameras hit another legal speed bump
Q
The solution to end speeding is easy: statewide installation of speed cameras. The fines generated will quickly pay for all costs. Objective cameras identify speeders, and computers generate tickets.
The result? After the public catches on, drivers slow down, accidents and insurance costs are reduced, lives and tires and fuel are saved. — Martha Kendall, Los Gatos
A
You're not going to like the answer. The bill to allow testing of speed cameras on city streets failed to get out of the Legislature this year and will have to be rewritten, if the law is proposed again next year. The failure to pass this seems so silly because the proposed law is for a five-year test of speed cameras, not a full commitment to install them throughout the state.
Q
My 2015 plug-in Prius went through the 150,000 miles milestone last month. Since I drive, not fly, to visit family in Florida and Illinois after I retired many years ago, the majority of my miles are not in California.
One can quickly see that using recorded miles to determine my vehicle use taxes for California would be sooooo unfair to me and others whose out-of-state vehicle mileage might be like mine. Without some method of recording when my miles are being driven outside the state, I would be double taxed, since I would be paying for gas plus tax in other states and also miles driven plus gas tax in this state.
In addition, my plugin is an EV in name only. A two-hour charge results in 10-20 miles of EV range and then it's back to gas. How are the writers of these new bills taking into consideration vehicles that use both electricity and gas?
Just something for you to ponder.
A
You raise an interesting situation. Details need to be worked out before a mileage tax would be implemented in California.
Q
Who is responsible for the pavement on San Tomas Expressway? It definitely needs to be redone. — Diana Crump
A
Santa Clara County controls expressways within the county. San Tomas Expressway between Highway 101 and El Camino Real will be repaved next year.
Q
The pavement on Highway 37 is crumbling. Are any repairs coming/? — Fred Diaz
A
Yes, and later this year, before winter. These repairs were originally scheduled for 2023, but after a recent assessment, Caltrans determined that a pavement rehabilitation project should occur before the wet weather arrives this fall. If that had not been the case, the assessment showed that further deterioration might occur, making repairs more difficult to make, and also, more expensive. New gas tax funds will be used to make these road repairs.