Posted on 05/03/2012 8:48:26 AM PDT by US Navy Vet
...on how to fight it?
If one of these sort of tickets ever shows up in my mail box, I’ll be inclined to treat it as the junk mail that is is (especially one for speeding - I do have a little more respect for red lights).
I would make sure that the yellow-light duration of that traffic light meets state engineering guidelines.
First, find out how long the yellow light is—and whether it is shorter than state law requires it to be.
Demand the court enforce your right to face the accuser, and that the “accuser” make a physical idenfication of the accused.
The REAL BITCH about this is it it a Council Bluffs Iowa “Ticket” and when we got (w/out a hearing) found “responsible” the Paper sait to mail the “fine”(extortion) to Cleveland Ohio. I HATE IOWA sometimes!
Just pay it so the insurance company can’t pin point who was driving and yank up their rates.
My understanding is that if the light turned red while she was in the intersection she is in violation. It doesn’t matter if the light was still amber when she entered the intersection. An amber light lasts long enough for one to clear the intersection if it comes on as one enters it.So if the photo shows a red light she must pay.But maybe it’s you who have to pay.
Maybe you could write a check, copy it, and e-mail it in- but seriously, I’ve heard that they can’t be enforced in TX, but I don’t actually know anyone that has ignored one.
So the motorist snapped a photo of (just guessing here) a 50-pound note and mailed it back to the police to pay for it.
The cops took a photo of a pair of handcuffs and mailed it to him. He paid.
I don't even know if the story's true, but I like it anyway. :-)
LOL, if the state was really interested in safety, they could lengthen the duration of the yellow light, not shorten it, as was done to the lights with cameras in a jurisdiction near me.
They could also lengthen the delay between one direction going red and the other green...but that wouldn't create "revenue."
If it specifically directs you to NOT contact the COURT, but to respond to a police department or any department that is NOT a COURT of LAW, it is likely a trick to gather evidence against you by self incrimination because they do not have enough evidence to issue a real citation to which you respond in COURT.
If you are requested to communicate directly with a Court of Law then it is likely a more serious document which will require a response.
Determine which you have first.
If they want you to send information on the driver to police, they can't identify the driver, and it is not a citation, it is a demand you rat on the driver and they cannot force you to do so.
Check the Internet for help in determining what they have sent you.
Pay it.
A fancy smancy Cobra detector also has GPS coordinates of all of these cameras. 200 dollar investment and you can pick up 13 different frequencies and have all locations of camera systems in the US. I detect cops a half-mile away. As far as fighting the ticket, you will lose.
Check your local laws. In AZ that which arrives by non-certified mail can not be proven to have arrived and can be ignored. And they only have a certain window on the camera tickets (of course if they send a server to serve you the ticket the price of that is added to the ticket, so it’s not a trick one should abuse). If you don’t have that out you’re pretty much toast.
Got one of these in Maryland many years ago. My understanding is these are treated like parking tickets, ie. the registered owner of the vehicle is responsible for the ticket. Even if they can’t identify the driver they ‘fine’ the vehicle owner. Crazy.
Ignore it long enough and they will eventually drag you into court on some other pretense — unpaid fines.
Good luck!
They win.
Pay it.
Long term, I’d suggest a pliable shaped charge with tamping on the connection pole.
Go to the clerks office, and pay in pennies.
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