PRIOR HISTORY: [**1] Certiorari to the Colorado Court of Appeals Pursuant to C.A.R. 50, 01CA144. District Court, City and County of Denver. Case No. 98CV1098. Honorable Paul A. Markson, Jr., Judge.
DISPOSITION: Affirmed.
CASE SUMMARYPROCEDURAL POSTURE: Petitioners home-rule municipalities challenged whether certain provisions of Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 42-4-110.5 and 42-3-112(14) (2001) regulating the use of automated vehicle identification systems (AVIS), popularly known as photo radar and photo red light, unconstitutionally infringed on their powers under Colo. Const. art. XX, §6. The trial court upheld the constitutionality of the provisions. The municipalities appealed by writ of certiorari.
OVERVIEW: Affirming the trial court, the supreme court held that the regulation of AVIS to enforce traffic laws was a matter of mixed local and state concern, and it held that the challenged provisions of §§ 42-4-110.5 and 42-3-112(14) were not superseded by the cities' local ordinances or charters. The constitutionality of the challenged provisions were upheld. Without uniform state legislation, drivers might have been subject to a significant variety of conflicting local legislation, further increasing the potential for confusion and substantially affecting their expectations. Important to the supreme court's uniformity analysis was the fact that cities wishing to ticket traffic violators using automated systems must access those drivers' names and addresses through the state motor vehicle registration office. Thus, a certain level of cooperation between a city and the state was necessary to make the system work. The need for cooperation between cities and the state was an important factor in the supreme court's analysis. Thus, the regulation of automated vehicle identification systems affected the residents of the state as a whole, as opposed to simply affecting local residents.
OUTCOME: The judgment of the trial court was affirmed.
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