Ticket - Fight it,or Not?

[angliagt]

I was driving a rental car on the way to pick up

a car for my Wife.After driving about 6 hours,we were

going thru Marysville,Ca.I didn't notice that the light

was turning Red until it was too late.I had a car racing

to beat the light just before that,which distracted me.

I noticed 2 flashes (cameras).It was too late.The ticket

came to $435,+ a $30 fee from the company that handles

tickets for the rental company.Oh,I wasn't speeding,just

driving the speed limit.

Should I try & fight this,or just figure out where to

get the money to pay for it?If I fight it,I have to show up

in person to set a court date,which means two trips,although

I could make the Lathrop get-together as an excuse to go

down the first time.

Thoughts on this? What should I do?It really bugs me

that I wasn't running the light intentionally,& the fine being

that huge.There goes part of my car money!

 

- Doug

[Skib]

I was driving a rental car on the way to pick up

a car for my Wife.After driving about 6 hours,we were

going thru Marysville,Ca.I didn't notice that the light

was turning Red until it was too late.I had a car racing

to beat the light just before that,which distracted me.

I noticed 2 flashes (cameras).It was too late.The ticket

came to $435,+ a $30 fee from the company that handles

tickets for the rental company.Oh,I wasn't speeding,just

driving the speed limit.

Should I try & fight this,or just figure out where to

get the money to pay for it?If I fight it,I have to show up

in person to set a court date,which means two trips,although

I could make the Lathrop get-together as an excuse to go

down the first time.

Thoughts on this? What should I do?It really bugs me

that I wasn't running the light intentionally,& the fine being

that huge.There goes part of my car money!

 

- Doug

 

 

if you want to make the trips down heres whatl most likely happen.

 

they probably woulnt throw it out but if your driving record is pretty clean and you explain to the judge what happened theyll lower your fine.

[datto510]

$435!!! That is a lot of dough for running a light!

[motavated]

You could also say no contest. But that means your guilty with a cause. My bro has gotten 4 speeding tickets and a mistiminer illegal racing ticket that later became a felony when he did show up in court. The judge heard his stories and reduced his sentences drastically! He is also doing community service instead of paying...

[610SSS]

Never go down without a fight:cool:

[hessianben]

Ok, if you really want to go nuts with this thing...

 

Constitutionally- it is illegal to receive a ticket for an infraction that an officer did not see in person.

The way that the states (california) get around it is that they have an 'officer' that reviews the video footage and signs off on the tickets.

The law that allows for this crooked way of raping drivers was pushed through by the lobbyists for the companies that operate and maintain the cameras- HUGE money from the state and from the fines!!!!

People have taken cases to the higher courts- some were squashed and some won.

 

We all need to speak out and take a stand now because it is only going to get worse!!!! (wait for OBD III .... GPS and a speed sensor on your encryted ECU so they can mail your ticket to you anywhere!!!)

Stand up!

[LCDC]

Fight it. No reason to pay that much for running a stop light. If your record is clean and or has been for a while, they have no reason to not give you a probationary ticket for 6 months to a year as long as you don't recieve another ticket.

I got a ticket in montana back in 2006, and my driving record had been clean since I got my last ticket in 2002. It was 15 over in a 25 which would have been considered a wreckless driving ticket anywhere else which would have put a damper on my truck driving "career" for a while, plus lofty insurance fees. It was the first ticket I had gotten since I got behind the wheel of a semi truck.

I called the court house, the prosecuter, explained the situation, and to make a long story short, they gave me a 6 month probationary period and the ticket got thrown out, and most of all, I was in spokane at the time, I didn't even have to go to court in montana, even though I had just rented the car to go over there when I finally got it all straightened out.

Over all, if we don't fight our tickets, then we just let the law know we are a bunch of pussies and they will continue to walk all over us.

[purple]

When my wife got hers we were moving and did not recieve it. We got a delinquentcy notice and her license was temporarily suspended. She went to the police station to get a "new" copy and spoke with the reviewing officer. He explained the whole process and even showed her footage from the camera. You can plainly see the driver and have no problem identifying them.

 

If you have the acual ticket with the still on it, they list a website you can view your footage. Yes it is a movie clip, the photo is the frame that was during the flash.

[Moisabamf]

Never go down without a fight:cool:

 

+1 on that!!!!

[thisismatt]

At the least I would try to get the cost down.

[datzenmike]

We had photo radar here a while back.... and rid ourselves of it eventually. It isn't a mater of legal or not. It's a mater of being right and just. Here's the problem.... you lend or someone borrows your car with or without your permission, possibly it's stolen and it runs a red light or speeds through a photo radar. You get the ticket in the mail and even though you had nothing to do with it you have to pay. This is so absolutely wrong I can't believe such laws were ever enacted. It's basically a money grabbing road tax. Now if you speed and get a ticket, well serves you right and :fu:. But because the photo does not address who is at fault (driver) then all must be presumed innocent.

[comply]

Pay more attention IMO. I have no pity for people who get nabbed for not paying attention to driving.

[N0RCALDIME]

You could also say no contest. But that means your guilty with a cause.

 

Incorrect.

No contest AKA Nolo contendere in its simplest form means the defendant neither admits nor disputes a charge.

I study law. Welcome to the world of confusion .:fu:

 

Don't "fight" it necessarily.

You can/should ask for a reduced sentence, however, be ready to explain your story clearly.

Edited May 4, 2009 by N0RCALDIME

[benzo]

real hard to fight. also will consume a lot of your time. even if you say you did not intentionally run the light they may come back at you saying you were not paying attention which they will say is the importance of driving. california is tough on red light infractions and especially now since the state is in a budget crunch they are looking at making money at every area possible. I know it is a lot of money as I got one once but it was a lesson learned for me. I need to pay attention to the lights.

 

But if you do fight it good luck.

[72 327]

I was driving a rental car on the way to pick up

a car for my Wife.After driving about 6 hours,we were

going thru Marysville,Ca.I didn't notice that the light

was turning Red until it was too late.I had a car racing

to beat the light just before that,which distracted me.

I noticed 2 flashes (cameras).It was too late.The ticket

came to $435,+ a $30 fee from the company that handles

tickets for the rental company.Oh,I wasn't speeding,just

driving the speed limit.

Should I try & fight this,or just figure out where to

get the money to pay for it?If I fight it,I have to show up

in person to set a court date,which means two trips,although

I could make the Lathrop get-together as an excuse to go

down the first time.

Thoughts on this? What should I do?It really bugs me

that I wasn't running the light intentionally,& the fine being

that huge.There goes part of my car money!

 

- Doug

 

You can always say the rental cars brakes where bad. Explain that you had been driving for a few hours before that stop and had not remembered that the brakes didn't stop very fast. Hell I know its a pain but I would fight it. Or as allot have stated, ask for a reduced infraction. Also you could do traffic school. It use to be here that you could do traffic school and just pay the traffic school price now its plus the ticket. See what your options are.

Really the car got the ticket not you. If they don't have a photo of you tell them to prove it was you driving. Doesn't matter if you had rented the car on that day or not. Also I know that alot of people here got out of them using the "having the right to face your accuser" law. Fresno pulled all of them after a very heated boycott. There where people wiggling the poles the cameras sat on at one point. LOL Lawyers where doing free cases cause they all felt it was BS.

[Bleach]

Ok, if you really want to go nuts with this thing...

 

Constitutionally- it is illegal to receive a ticket for an infraction that an officer did not see in person.

The way that the states (california) get around it is that they have an 'officer' that reviews the video footage and signs off on the tickets.

The law that allows for this crooked way of raping drivers was pushed through by the lobbyists for the companies that operate and maintain the cameras- HUGE money from the state and from the fines!!!!

People have taken cases to the higher courts- some were squashed and some won.

 

We all need to speak out and take a stand now because it is only going to get worse!!!! (wait for OBD III .... GPS and a speed sensor on your encryted ECU so they can mail your ticket to you anywhere!!!)

Stand up!

Absolutely! A third party out of state company is in business (profit) to handle these tickets and is allowed access to your personal information by looking up your license plate number. I thought it was illegal for anyone who is not an officer to have access to that.

 

http://photoradarscam.com/

 

 

http://camerafraud.wordpress.com/

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/camerafraud

[compression]

If they cannot, without doubt, prove that it was you, then they cannot give you the ticket.

Over the years, i have received 2 photo-radar speeding tickets, both of them, my face was clearly visible in the photo. Guilty!

My wife got a photo-radar ticket in the mail and she had sunglasses on and her visor down. It was hard to tell if it was her.

The ticket said something like "If you were not the diver of the car at the time of this infraction, sign here and return with a copy of your drivers license photo"

So I had her sign there and say it wasnt her. we included a copy of her license. and she got off scott-free.

The ticket also asked,"if this wasnt you, please provide the name and license number of the person driving". we left that part blank.

 

So if you are not clearly visible in the photo, then they cannot prosecute you.

If you are, then, well, you may be screwed. And the best you can do is get it reduced.

 

Like it or not photo-based infractions are legal (for now). Maybe not constitutional, or moral, but they are legal.

[HRH]

What's even better about photo radar is since they don't have access to your driver's license photo, you can send a lawyer or someone else in your stead to your court date and when asked if the person driving was the defendant, you can simply ask, do you have a driver's license picture to compare? Which they won't as an officer didn't officially "write" the ticket at the scene. In which case they can't prove in court that your lawyer is you and without your being there, won't have a case.

 

Same thing in AZ. I got a photo radar ticket, which they mailed out to you, and of course some people would pay. However, the letter threatened a process server would be issued to make you come to court if the ticket was not paid. So what's the cost of a process server making x amount per hour to issue court orders to the hundreds of people every day caught by photo radar?

 

Way to much to actually send out! As it was I shredded my letter and never had another problem, which is pretty much the norm down there. There are a few other ways to beat it, but yeah, I have a big problem with photo radar, particularly if it's smarter to go through the red light than try to stop in the middle of the intersection and sit there blocking traffic until it turns red again.

[whitechef]

Here's what you do. Mail in the amount of the ticket plus $4.00 more. When they send you back the change burn that check or what ever, just don't cash it. They won't put the infraction in the system until all transactions are final. This way your insurance company won't be notified and your rates won't go up because of a moving violation.

[hang_510]

Never go down without a fight:cool:

X3

 

Ok, if you really want to go nuts with this thing...

1) when it comes time to renew your license, say "i never recieved anything in the mail." MAKE the courts prove you received it!!!

2) if you go plead not guilty and hope for a 50/50 shot the officer doesnt show or was able to properly review the video (this happened in my case = dismissed :D )

 

Fight it. No reason to pay that much for running a stop light. If your record is clean and or has been for a while, they have no reason to not give you a probationary ticket for 6 months to a year as long as you don't recieve another ticket..

 

not an option in CA. cant hurt to ask if it goes to court though, even reducing the fine can be accomplished when correctly addressed.

 

a red light/stop sign fine is at least $300, as its a leading cause of intersection accidents and more $$ = better deterent :mellow: :lol:

[Bleach]

The fine states that it is not considered a moving violation and goes on your record only as a parking ticket would. (in WA) They also mention you 'may' not be allowed to renew your tabs if you don't pay.

 

Copy the personal plate number of a local cop, stick that over your plate and drive through over and over again. Of course, with a full face mask on and a police hat. :)

[hang_510]

Copy the personal plate number of a local cop, stick that over your plate and drive through over and over again. Of course, with a full face mask on and a police hat. :)

 

LMAO !

 

maybe a box of donuts on the dash too!