Sheriff's office reports April citations; committee and residents question liability and reporting for driverless cars

Nick, speaking for the sheriff's office, told the Portola Valley Bicycle, Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee the office issued 42 moving citations in April and recorded no traffic collisions for the month. "There is 42 citations issued, moving citations, 2 parking citations... and we had 0 traffic collisions for the month of April," he said.

Residents asked how citations and record points are handled when a driverless vehicle is involved. Nick replied that fault is determined through a typical collision investigation and that if a driverless car is found at fault the company would be financially liable. He cautioned he did not have full detail on how points against a driving record would be assigned and offered to research the matter further.

A committee member raised regulatory concerns about autonomous-vehicle reporting. "Once the autonomous vehicles are out of their testing period, there's no reporting required right now by the CPUC," the member said, adding that companies often provide incident reports while testing but that mandatory reporting ends afterward. The member warned that city and county public-safety agencies sometimes shoulder the operational costs when vehicles malfunction or stop in public rights of way.

Nick said companies have provided training to law enforcement on how to access and direct autonomous vehicles during closures and emergencies and that the sheriff's office receives presentations from companies on response protocols. He offered to follow up with more detailed information about insurance, DMV point assignments and existing company reporting.