The “California Stop,” also known as the “California Roll,” is when a driver doesn’t fully stop at a stop sign. This is against the law and can lead to a ticket of $200 or more. Even worse, it can affect your driving record. But here’s the catch: a California agency, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA), has been giving out thousands of these tickets without proper authority.
According to KTLA, the MRCA issues around 17,000 rolling stop tickets every year, bringing in over $1.1 million in revenue. But what exactly is the MRCA? It’s a public agency that works to protect open spaces, wildlife habitats, and parks in Southern California.
So, how does a park agency issue so many tickets? They do it in secret. KTLA described an incident where a driver’s rolling stop was recorded without their knowledge, resulting in a $100 citation from the MRCA.
The problem with these tickets is that they’re not technically legal citations. They seem to exist only to make money for the MRCA. One driver who received a ticket stated, “They’re pretending to enforce the motor vehicle code when they don’t have the authority to do that, and they’re tricking people into paying these tickets.”
Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, explained that even though these tickets have no legal consequence, they can still harm drivers financially. People end up paying them to avoid negative impacts on their credit score or chances of getting loans.
What’s worse is that nothing has been done to stop this practice. A spokesperson for the agency claimed that the cameras and citations are for “public safety,” but it appears to be more about making money without oversight. Court criticized this, calling it “a terrible abuse” that has been allowed to continue for over a decade without intervention.
