Red light cameras

[Hulk]

My wife got out of the second ticket by ignoring it. It was mailed to her, along with a handy envelope to enclose her check or a date to appear in court. There is no way they can prove she received the letter since it did not come certified or hand delivered. Too bad she did not know this the first time.

The problem with this is that she could be pulled over and have this come up on her record, but it has been over three years now, so she might be past the statute of limitations. Scottsdale Police are known for waiting in front of people's driveways in the morning to catch them leaving for work, or even handing them out at people's places of employment if they know where they work. Its big big money, so they even hire process servers now. Thankfully we live next to Scottsdale and our police have no incentive to do Scottsdale's dirty work.

This site seems to back up the theory we employed.

Time limit of service - Page 5 - RadarBusters.com

[johnmiic]

In London we have 1,000s of them all over the place...

I thought those were primarily used for surveillance by operatives of Torchwood in Cardiff?

[Adam West]

So the theory of the right to face your accusers does have some credence.

Well at least if you can't get your local government to respond, it does sound like you could win a case if you can articulate this properly before a judge.

[hobub]

Steubenville, Oh tried this and they even got my wife. However, I feel this is unconstitutional because you have the right to face your accuser and if you accuser is an electronical device, there is now way. Plus electronic devices are known to fail.

I wrote a letter to my Congressman Ohio Rep: Charlie Wilson, who replied and agreeing with me, stating that if when it came across his seat for vote he would vote it down. I mentioned in my letter that Wheeling Wv, just 30 miles south of Steubenville was trying to increase revenue by bringing new businesses to the Ohio Valley which serve areas such as the west coast and NYC. And in an already recessed Valley, Steubenville chose to take advantage of the citizens that live there by increasing their revenue with traffic tickets. And if you caculate how many tickets were served by the amount of each ticket, it was in the hundreds of thousands per year.

At one point they ticketed an attorney's wife who was not driving her own car but lended it to a family member. He created a class action suit against the city of Steubenville and the camera company and won the suit.

Here is an article on what Steubenville voters ultimately had to say about those damn cameras:

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/14/1433.asp

I recommend you write to your senators and congressmen to express your concerns on this UNCONSTITUTIONAL issue. We only have power if we express our concerns to our represenatives we place in the seat. You could also feel free to send a cc to rep: Charlie Wilson to help be an advocate for this because I know his stand on the issue.

Len

[Meule]

We have 'em all over the place, they're as common as dirt here

A clear sheet of plastic over a license plate actually does help in some cases. It reflects the flash of a camera, kinda like a mirror. My mom got off with a warning and was forced to remove the protective plate over her license plate. And that's what she had it for in the first place, she didn't even know about reflecting the flash from traffic cameras, the cops told her about it

[Adam West]

I also remember the Mythbusters episode. They tried all kinds of things. One of the myths was that if you went fast enough (like 120 mph, the photo wouldn't take fast enough to catch your license plate) that didn't work.

They used all kinds of sprays and one that I thought would work for sure which was something you put over your license plate similar to a computer privacy screen. Look at it from an angle and you can't see anything but can see it square on. The theory being that the camera would take the picture at an angle and they wouldn't be able to make out the license plate...that didn't work either.

We have the red light cameras at a few intersections in our town but I have never been caught by one. I have heard that you should be able to win any red light ticket in court on the grounds that you have the right to face your accuser. You can't have a police officer as the plaintiff because he/she wasn't there to witness it. I don't know if this would work or if it does work.

As a side note, regarding police officers giving out tickets, if the police officer catches you speeding using radar you can ask the officer to show you the readout of the device. If he/she refuses or can't produce it to you, you can use that in court against them.

I have only had a few speeding tickets my entire life, have always gone to court and have won twice because the police officer never showed up.

[Marvelmania]

The TV show Mythbusters tried out a few ways to go about beating a camera using the spray, excess speed (from a regular sports car) and a few other ways. All failed miserably. The only thing that worked was a car with a jet engine. Seems that the car had come and gone before the camera even clicked.

[jessica]

I got my photo taken while trying to turn left at Powell in Emeryville. I was scared to death of getting a ticket, but I never got one. The reason I was stuck at the left turn was because somebody in front was taking too long to turn into a driveway and I was two to three cars deep into the middle of the road. I thought I was looking at a $325 fine for running a red light. The ticket never materialized thank goodness. I was so mad when I got photographed at the turn that at that I immediately surfed the internet and found out that you can purchase this spray for your license plate. This makes it impossible for the cameras to capture your license plate because your license plate becomes too shiny when flashed at. I chickened out of buying the spray because it's not legal. You can't tell that your license plate has it because it's clear.

[fallensaviour]

We have sixty sites here with thirty cameras rotating between them so you never know where one is.Plus we have the roving vans and cars as well.The red light cameras are all pulling double duty as speed and red light.Yes when they go off you are quite certain that you have just died and are heading for the white light.I have never seen anything so bright in the middle of the night in my life!!!
The tickets are worth two hundred and eighty dollars.

[Marvelmania]

Mike, I thought I was close enough to being in the sticks What prompted this was a neighboring city, Kingsport put a few in and I think Johnson City saw the money they were raking in off them. I admit that I do speed sometimes but this not about speeding but red light running. To me it's more about where the money that is made off them will go.

[mitchedwards]

There are a few in Nashville. I cant imagine Johnson City getting cameras

[cjefferys]

We briefly had them where I live, but there was enough public outcry about them to get them removed. The amount of people running red lights in recent years seems to have dramatically increased though, so the cameras would probably pull in a lot of cash these days.

[Mikey]

We don't have any of that high-tech stuff in the hick towns around me.

A camera on a pole ? ... then who clicks the button ?

I love being in the sticks

[Zemo]

I hate Big Brother interfering, but I hate red light runners equally. Hmmm

[garagesale]

I don't like speeding, but at least these are more objective than some of our local police (I'm sure many of you have great police dept.'s though!). I never speed, but I've been pulled over and even been given tickets for speeding and other violations that did not occur. Misjudgement perhaps, but it probably has something to do with a kind of profiling of crappy pickups. The people in the fancy cars (most of them) in my town never get pulled over. It's only the junky vehicles that get tickets. The police are merciless about giving parking tickets to students who park near the university (some can't afford the $100 parking permits), but never do a thing about the Dr.s' wives in Hummers speeding, making illegal turns, roaring across pedestrian crossings, and using the suicide lanes to pass (all while yapping away on the cell phones).

JamesD