Red Light Camera Violation

[Huffmeister]

Has anyone here ever tried to contest a red light camera violation? Any luck?

Just got one in the mail yesterday, and I remember when it happened. I was rolling up in the right-hand turn lane and the light was green. There was a wet patch (possibly slick) just past the line, so I slowed down and continued with the turn. But when I looked up the light had changed to red and I saw the flash. I didn't even see the yellow light because I had my eye on the possibly icy patch. It seems like they shorten the length of yellow lights at those intersections so that they can nab more people.

Anyway, it's not that big of a deal. I was just wondering if there's a chance of it getting thrown out if I show up to court and explain the circumstances.

[Fire Me Boy!]

Originally Posted by A Salt Weapon

Ahh, okay I can fix that. Register the vehicle under both the wife and husband names. Then they have to mail the ticket to either one of them or both. I thought the tickets had a spot to claim who was driving if it wasn't the owner. Then revert to the can't be forced to testify against a spouse.

Make no mistake, I am no laywer. This might not be sound legal advice, but it sounds like it has potential.

You're no laywer, but are you a lawyer?

Pretty sure this wouldn't work. But I'm not a laywer, either.

[FlaChief58]

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!

You're no laywer, but are you a lawyer?

Pretty sure this wouldn't work. But I'm not a laywer, either.

I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night

[Iowanian]

These aren't fines...they're city taxes you can't fight.

[CoMoChief]

take a picture of $100 and mail it in
**** the local revenue generating govt.

[KChiefer]

Sorry to hear it was more blatant on the video. A few years ago, I rolled through a red light right in front of an officer. There was freezing rain though, and I told him I decided I'd rather keep going than slide to a stop in the middle of the intersection. He could have also hit me with "driving too fast for conditions" but he was one of the nice ones.

[A Salt Weapon]

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!

You're no laywer, but are you a lawyer?

Pretty sure this wouldn't work. But I'm not a laywer, either.

Well played.

[Huffmeister]

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!

Unless I'm mistaken, they issue the ticket to the registered owner of the vehicle. Same for if you loan your car out to a friend and he doesn't feed the meter. You're still responsible.

Yup, that's exactly it. From the paperwork:

As a registered owner of this vehicle you are responsible for payment of this ticket regardless of who was driving it at the time of this violation.

I had heard that people had fought them in the past by claiming that they couldn't prove who was driving, but apparently KCMO closed that loop hole.

[Chief Pote]

Or you can buy one of these for the next ripoff redlight camera.

http://shopping.photomaskcover.com/?...FQ-e4AodhzYA-A

[KChiefer]

Originally Posted by ChiefButthurt

Or you can buy one of these for the next ripoff redlight camera.

http://shopping.photomaskcover.com/?...FQ-e4AodhzYA-A

Mythbusters busted many ways people try to cover their plates. And even if one does work, it's illegal in some states to have them at all and in others you're likely to be ticketed if an officer notices the cover is polarized.

[BlackHelicopters]

Pay the gubment what it says. Include some extra, because they know what is best.

[stonedstooge]

[mlyonsd]

Any ticket should be considered bull shit if a police officer didn't witness it and is willing to testify in a court of law.

In Iowa red light cameras only create revenue. Offenses aren't submitted to your insurance company or show up on your DMV records. Guy at work (raider fan) has received two red light tickets in the past three years and refused to pay either of them. His insurance has not gone up and he's renewed his plates twice. The only thing he hasn't tried to do yet is renew his driver's license so we don't know about that.

On a side topic, speed cameras in Iowa are the same thing. Here's an interesting story from the local paper that makes you wonder why anyone pays the fine:

SIOUX CITY | An Oregon man who got a speeding ticket after his rental car was snapped by a traffic camera on Interstate 29 in Sioux City claims he was hundreds of miles away at the time and has witnesses and documents to prove it.

Ken Benkstein thinks the only logical explanation for his $168 ticket is that the camera equipment malfunctioned, recording the date incorrectly when a different customer had the car.

His story and supporting documents seem credible, but city officials didn't back down. They said the evidence is on the citation, which shows the car, with a closeup of the rear license plate, was recorded traveling north at 65 mph in a 55 mph zone at 10:15 a.m. Sept. 11 at I-29 mile marker 151.

That's at the Riverside exit in Sioux City. Benkstein and colleagues from his West Des Moines public relations and marketing firm, Meyocks Group, insist they were meeting in West Des Moines, about 200 miles from Sioux City, that morning and later went to Ames, Iowa.

Company Senior Vice President James Head said Wednesday he and the other employees were dumbfounded when they learned Benkstein, who commutes from his home in McMinnville, Ore., had received the $168 speeding ticket for the day he spent with them.

“It defies any logic," Head said. “Ken’s car was in our parking lot when we left for Ames, and it was there when we returned” less than four hours later.

“Ken’s rental cars are absolutely not shared with other employees,” Head wrote in an Oct. 22 letter to the Sioux City Police Department.

“It’s not like we were drinking buddies and saying we’ll help you fight this thing,” Head told me Wednesday. “What we said didn’t seem to count. From my perspective, the city should have understood there was a mistake somewhere in the machinery.”

Two other colleagues and Benkstein himself wrote to city officials. Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, based in Tulsa, Okla., wrote a letter stating Benkstein had rented the car on Sept. 9 at the Des Moines airport, returned it Sept 14 and driven it 230 miles. Benkstein also sent a copy of the receipt for the car rental and a Google document showing the distance from the airport to Sioux City as 199 miles -- a round trip of nearly 400 miles.

That was after he had called the police department and the city attorney's office and tried unsuccessfully to resolve the issue.

Sioux City started installing traffic cameras in 2009, and although many motorists have complained about their tickets, city officials said Benkstein's case may be a first.

“We’ve never had an incident where the camera equipment has been off,” City Attorney Nicole Jensen-Harris told me last week, adding the only issue for the city was that the car was in Sioux City when the violation took place. “That’s all we’re required to prove.”

The city did check with Dollar Thrifty but was told Benkstein's mileage could not be verified.

However, late Friday afternoon, a Dollar Thrifty official contacted the police department saying it would pay the fine to RedFlex, the company that operates the cameras. As of Wednesday afternoon, Dollar Thrifty hadn't returned my calls and emails asking what spurred the decision.

Benkstein had just mailed his payment to the RedFlex processing center in Cleveland. When the company receives the two payments, it will work with the city to refund his money, RedFlex spokeswoman Jody Ryan of Phoenix said.

She also said the staff wasn't aware of any erroneous date stamps on citations "in recent history."

Benkstein, 61, who lived in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines for 20 years before moving to Oregon in 2002, said he hasn't been in Sioux City since 2000.

“If I had actually done the crime, I would have owned up to it and paid the ticket,” he said. “What we have is a confluence of robots and real human beings here.”

Sometimes, humans score a surprise win over technology.

“I think I have a happy ending,” Benkstein said.

http://siouxcityjournal.com/news/loc...c1413323a.html

To me both are bull shit in the first degree and only used to raise money.

One other thing, the city of Sioux City didn't buy the speed cameras, instead the company that builds them gave them to the city and is given a cut per ticket. If that isn't a recipe for corruption nothing is.

[Valiant]

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!

Unless I'm mistaken, they issue the ticket to the registered owner of the vehicle. Same for if you loan your car out to a friend and he doesn't feed the meter. You're still responsible.

I am not sure about that in KC.. There was a article on one of the news stations.. All contested tickets were dropped.. Because it costs too much to go to court over them and pay the police officers to review them because the 3rd party company I believe in Arizona gets most of the money..

[The Bunk]

Originally Posted by Chief Gump

Do they send the letter as a certified letter? If they don't they can never prove you received the letter.

Mine came as a regular letter. I went ahead and paid it. I just knew Barney Fife that had been on the force for two weeks was just waiting to pounce on me.

[go bo]

Originally Posted by mlyonsd

Any ticket should be considered bull shit if a police officer didn't witness it and is willing to testify in a court of law.

In Iowa red light cameras only create revenue. Offenses aren't submitted to your insurance company or show up on your DMV records. Guy at work (raider fan) has received two red light tickets in the past three years and refused to pay either of them. His insurance has not gone up and he's renewed his plates twice. The only thing he hasn't tried to do yet is renew his driver's license so we don't know about that.

On a side topic, speed cameras in Iowa are the same thing. Here's an interesting story from the local paper that makes you wonder why anyone pays the fine:



http://siouxcityjournal.com/news/loc...c1413323a.html

To me both are bull shit in the first degree and only used to raise money.

One other thing, the city of Sioux City didn't buy the speed cameras, instead the company that builds them gave them to the city and is given a cut per ticket. If that isn't a recipe for corruption nothing is.

i admit it's a combover...