varicam night shooting "star filter" flare

i'm a very inexperienced shooter, and recently i shot some night stuff on a city street with a varicam. there was an obscene amount of... not exactly flare, but star shapes (?) from the lights. as if i was using a star filter. kinda like this http://www.avisionofelegance.com/Elegance%20photos%20web/star%20filter-gall... , but not as bad.

anyway, the question: is this avoidable, and how?


thanks for the help! sorry for my incompetence!
john.