I live in Southern Cal, and I was in a traffic intersection turning left a couple of weeks ago. The bright white strobe light went off as I progressed through my turn. Seeing the strobe light made me look quickly at the traffic light - which was a yellow arrow.
I’m waiting now to see if I get one of these very expensive tickets in the mail. If I do, I might suck up my pride and go to traffic court to protest the ticket.
Too expensive and not calibrated correctly.
Absolutely: YOU MUST GO TO COURT AND FIGHT THE TICKET.
FYI...These traffic cameras are not owned and operated by the cities or counties, but private companies that service, maintain and process the pictures and videos.
To wit, I received a ticket from a traffic camera (in El Monte) and even recalled seeing the flash and believed that it must have been taking a photo of another vehicle since I had violated any traffic laws. To my suprise, I recieved a ticket about 2 weeks later with a website address included for me to view the video footage of my violation. I KNEW that I hadn’t committed an infraction, and went to the website, viewed the “footage” and realized that it was BS ticket because the camera was not properly calibrated nor was the photo accurately reviewed by some private, minimum wage jackass. It was obvious from the video that I had made a complete stop prior to making a right-hand turn on a red-light. I went to court and contested the ticket. The judge was familiar with this particular camera and believed it was probably bogus as well, and then waived the ticket.
So fight the damn ticket. It’s probably bogus. It’s just unfortunate that so many people are so damn weak-kneed about it and don’t fight it, which is why these cameras are so damn popular.
When I lived in Seattle, I went through a red-light camera on my way home from band practice. I learned that I can go the speed limit up to the last second, brake hard (stopping short of the stop line) and get the camera to flash me every time. It anticipates I’m gonna run the light.
It’s a bit comical that the lions share of tickets generated at these lights are for “California stops” when people plan on taking a free right turn. And that type of ticket requires a “video” of the infraction to prove you did not come to a full stop. It’s why my actions were safe. The video clearly shows my coming to a full and complete stop without entering the intersection by so much as an inch.
And on Youtube you can see some people’s videos that “proved” their guilt. In many cases, they are on deserted roads and come virtually to a complete stop - but not quite. The cameras are very unforgiving.
Think of all the OTHER people at that intersection, seeing the strobe flash and jerking their heads, averting their eyes from the road.....
....somebody is going to die from these hazardous robotic intrusions into the traffic flow.
Another pet traffic peeve is the frequent radio commercials with horns, sirens, tweeting phones, etc.: My immediate reaction is to snap the radio off to ascertain whether or not I have an incoming call or if a fire engine is coming. I'm not sure how that helps the advertiser. many radio commercials with horns, sirens