[Darth Sidious]

So ummm... what do I do now?

[Darth Sidious]

Ping

[Darth Sidious]

Ping

[Fred Mertz]

You just screwed up. You should have told us that it was your pal Lenny who was doing the driving.

Fight it, Darth.

[Bogey78O]

This is FR. The greatest collection of grassroot conservative minds. I have no doubt that there are many qualified legal beagles who can help you. Give them hell! Good luck.

[Revolting cat!]

Your story is very good, Darth (wink, wink.) If you can't afford the services of Johnny Cochran, I say, throw yourself at the mercy of the court. Tell the judge you've been an orphan ever since you killed your parents, that usually works.

Seriously though, I see a dozen red light runners a day here, it's a real epidemic. But the last time I ran a red was for exactly the same reason - to avoid being rear-ended. I didn't get caught. Good luck!

[jackliberty]

In Michigan, I've read that the timing of the traffic lights is set by state law: with many lights not meeting the standards. If the traffic is allowed to go at x speed and the intersection to be crossed is y feet across, the yellow light must be on for z number of seconds.

I don't know about North Carolina but it might be worth checking out. If state law does govern, take a video camera and tape several cycles with a stop watch either visible or at least present. Use a tripod; you don't want to be accused of "distorting" on purpose.

[Jimbaugh]

 

Here is a link for red light camera information

http://www.dgroup.com/dg_html/dg_stoplight.htm <

[goldwater was right]

A former Cal Highway Patrol motorcycle patrolman with 20+ years experience once told me the vehicle code in most states reads roughly the same as California's: that after the light turns red, no vehicle may enter the intersection.

However, the codes rarely make mention of the yellow light nor do they define "the intersection". His argument was that if so much as one wheel of your vehicle is over the white line, you are technically "in the intersection".

Suggest you have state vehicle code in hand, photos of the intersection, timings on the lights with and without spycams and perhaps witnesses or other people who have received tickets at the same intersection testify for you.

Odds are the judge won't want to go to such lengths for a $50 hit to your wallet, when your case could create an argument to throw out other such cases.

Live to fight another day with the $50 in your jeans. Good luck and God Speed! (Whoops, I mean Good luck and God go the speed limit).

[Buckeroo]

I would argue that Doppler Shift Phenomena influenced by normal environmental conditions precludes the concept of a "fair and impartial" report of the mishap. Of course, I would throw in, "when was the equipment last calibrated?"

That always gets them.

[Piasa Bird]

Well gosh darn, I can't think of even ONE constitutional violation in having a camera take your picture while you commit a crime IN A PUBLIC PLACE!

As far as the merits of the case are concerned, you should count your blessings. If it had been a cop instead of a camera, you wouldn't be able to float that BS story about trying to avoid an accident. Maybe throw in something about having a heart attack victim in the car on the way to the hospital. Carte Blache, guy! Good luck

Bird

[Piasa Bird]

Well gosh darn, I can't think of even ONE constitutional violation in having a camera take your picture while you commit a crime IN A PUBLIC PLACE!

As far as the merits of the case are concerned, you should count your blessings. If it had been a cop instead of a camera, you wouldn't be able to float that BS story about trying to avoid an accident. Maybe throw in something about having a heart attack victim in the car on the way to the hospital. Carte blanche, guy! Good luck

Bird

[Roebucks]

Hire a good lawyer and fight it. Also, this document is well worth the read.

ps- it's a PDF file, so you'll need Adobe Acrobat. Read it.

[tbeatty]

Did the camera catch the road conditions? Did it get a good picture of you? If it's not provable to be you, it might not be enforceable. This is one of the problems with the cameras is that there is no human observation.

Who processes the tickets? In California, I believe, a private company paid for all the equipment for a share of the "cut." I believe a state judge through this arrangement out but maybe they are using it in your state.

Another argument might be that the traffic light was defective. It is not illegal to enter an intersection on a red light if it was defective but generally you have to come to stop first.

[the_doc]

This ain't so bad, friend FReeper. I thought you were caught doing something unseemly in a red-light district. (But I guess that would have gotten you more than a ticket.)

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

All I can tell you is that the Anchorage City Council (or more precisely, a few Democratic slime-suckers on it) brought those "traffic cameras" up here ("for the children"). They were supposed to be used only in school zones, during hours when children were around.

But guess what? They soon popped up all over town, at all hours- always in high-traffic (and high-revenue) areas.

We fought back on several fronts, and several of the suggestions made on this thread are good ones. BUT, the thing that really worked was massive civil disobedience. We just flat refused to pay the bogus tickets. (I still have mine- unpaid. I may frame it). A judge finally threw all of these tickets out- but I don't think the sheeple who paid them ever got their money back...

The lesson is that this is just another tax, and the ONLY way that taxes have ever been repealed in history has been through civil disobedience (too many folks refusing to pay for the government to handle), or war.

Take your pick.

[Sueann]

Go directly to www.rogerhedgecock.com and look up the lawyers who successfully got rid of red light scammeras in San Diego. Good luck!!

[TooBusy]

It would seem to me that civil disobedience demands that you acknowledge your actions then refuse to pay the fine and force the judge put you in jail. Make sure you call the press .

Of course this requires some free time and don't get "too friendly" with your cellmates!

[Wordkraft]

Now, I saw the light just turn red just as my car got to the line at the intersection.

One question...If you saw the light turn red that tells me that you also saw it turn yellow first. Why did you not prepare to stop when you saw it turn yellow?

[unamused]

Kwitcher bitchin', bow your head and eat your grass...and remember to vote for the GOP...

[GeronL]

I suggest you go to court (you'll probably lose) and refuse to pay the fine... that $50 should be about.. 2 nights in jail??

You can live without FR that long, right??