A California lawmaker wants to lower the fine for drivers who don’t fully stop before turning right at a red light. The proposal faces a deadline in the state Senate this week.
The base fine for a rolling right turn is $100 — the same for barreling straight through the intersection. But San Mateo Senator Jerry Hill says a rolling right is a lot less dangerous. Like, fewer-than-one-in-a-thousand-crashes-in-California less dangerous.
"On average in California, there are about 438,000 collisions each year," Hill says. "Of those, only 330 collisions were caused by motorists making a rolling right turn."
With added charges like court costs, he says the current $100 fine ends up being unfairly high, especially for poor people. So Hill wants to lower the base fine to $35.
The bill recently passed a key committee vote. But if it doesn’t get approval from the full Senate this week, it will come to a complete stop.
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