The good guys win one: a Superior Court judge here in San Diego has sided with the plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit over red light cameras. The judge threw out 290 traffic tickets issued by the miserable things. The city says it will appeal.

Unfortunately, the judge stopped short of agreeing with the plaintiffs that vendor, Lockheed Martin, engaged in racketeering. Oh well, that’s a matter for the federal courts anyway.

If you don’t know what a “red light camera” is, you’re fortunate.

At certain busy intersections in the city of San Diego, the city has put up automated cameras that are tied to sensors in the roadway. If you run the red light, the camera takes a picture of the front and rear of your car, showing the license plates, and you get a picture and a bill for $271 mailed to the registered owner.

The annoying part is that the intersections have not been chosen because of a threat to public safety, but to maximize the revenue stream; they appear at badly-designed intersections, where drivers find it difficult to stop or get stuck in the intersection by traffic.