Local News in Brief : Photo Radar Gets Its 1st Conviction

A Pasadena Municipal Court commissioner found a woman motorist guilty of speeding and fined her $46 Wednesday on evidence from a photo radar machine, marking the first conviction since police began using the system.

The photo radar device detects speeding vehicles and snaps a photo of the license plate and the driver’s face. Citations are mailed to the registered owners of the speeding vehicles. A number of motorists have simply paid the fine.

But in September, an Arcadia motorist won dismissal of a speeding citation when a judge ruled that the police car containing the photo radar device was painted the wrong color. The judge said the state Vehicle Code requires traffic enforcement vehicles to be white or white and a sharply contrasting color, such as black. Hundreds of tickets were dismissed as a result of the ruling.

Wednesday’s trial was the first on a photo radar ticket since the car was repainted. The defendant, Dorothy Munoz, 29, of San Gabriel, who was cited for driving 43 m.p.h. in a 30-m.p.h. zone, questioned the system’s accuracy. But Commissioner Mark T. McDonald fined her for speeding after witnessing a demonstration of the system and hearing testimony from the president of the company that distributes it.