Red Light Camera Ticket Thread!

[Gabe]

So what do you propose to do? Eliminate vehicle codes, eliminate all fines and repercussions for violating laws established by our legislature? If you don't like a law, you go through the process of changing it, not violating it and then crying when you have to pay the price.

If your living is dependent on not getting too many points, one would think an extra modicum of care would be taken. I get drug tested at work, it's the law and in my profession, it's a good law. "What, I only smoked one joint" how can you fire me, its unconstitutional to prosecute me because I'll lose my job". See what I'm saying?

The charge is being in an intersection 3 tenths of a second after the light turned red. In an intersection where the light is red all four directions for another 3 seconds.

Does ticketing me serve a rational purpose, or is it just revenue? Nobody intentionally drove recklessly or intentionally violated the law here. I smoked no joint.

 

[jh2586]

I propose making the punishment reflective of the crime committed, as was stated a little earlier $600 is a drop in the bucket to some but is the bucket for others. Getting a ticket is supposed to be a detergent and a hey wtf are you doing you can't do that here's your ticket for $200. Especially if it's a victimless crime. What if I'm joe Bob and I'm struggling to pay my outrageous rent because I live in ca but hey I'm busting my ass paying my bills but that's all I can do and because I make more Than 20k I can't get gvmt assistance and damn I just got hit by this red light ticket that's $600 I don't have and I can't afford to pay it even on a payment plan because they want an extra 100$ a month I don't have so know I get a warrenty because of a traffic ticket going unpayed, have a run in with a cop for whatever reason end up in jail can't post bail lose my job and the cycle continues.

The average American has less than 5k In savings. How does that $600 fine look now?

And you can't compare drugs to traffic violations and BTW just get a club card so you can smoke all the joints you want. Knowing that traffic fines can effectively cost someone thier job in an already struggling economy our oh so wise elected officials should say ok if we are going to make 3 violations a hard fast law before we suspend your license and you lose your driving job even though your violations were on your own personal time maybe we out to have a clause stating that if you do xxxx type of profession and drive xxxx miles a day or month or year but have obly gotten 1 violation every 100k miles you were driving then damn in our book keep on truckin!

now if your hitting the crystal pipe and doing my accounting you got some splainin to do

So you think $600 is too much for violating a law that you committed? Have you tried not violating the law? That would drop the price to $0. Nobody forced you to run that red light.

What about DUIs? Do you think $10k is too much?

 

[dravnx]

I propose making the punishment reflective of the crime committed, as was stated a little earlier $600 is a drop in the bucket to some but is the bucket for others. Getting a ticket is supposed to be a detergent and a hey wtf are you doing you can't do that here's your ticket for $200. Especially if it's a victimless crime. What if I'm joe Bob and I'm struggling to pay my outrageous rent because I live in ca but hey I'm busting my ass paying my bills but that's all I can do and because I make more Than 20k I can't get gvmt assistance and damn I just got hit by this red light ticket that's $600 I don't have and I can't afford to pay it even on a payment plan because they want an extra 100$ a month I don't have so know I get a warrenty because of a traffic ticket going unpayed, have a run in with a cop for whatever reason end up in jail can't post bail lose my job and the cycle continues.

And you can't compare drugs to traffic violations and BTW just get a club card so you can smoke all the joints you want. Knowing that traffic fines can effectively cost someone thier job in an already struggling economy our oh so wise elected officials should say ok if we are going to make 3 violations a hard fast law before we suspend your license and you lose your driving job even though your violations were on your own personal time maybe we out to have a clause stating that if you do xxxx type of profession and drive xxxx miles a day or month or year but have obly gotten 1 violation every 100k miles you were driving then damn in our book keep on truckin!

now if your hitting the crystal pipe and doing my accounting you got some splainin to do

The punishment does reflect the crime committed. Intersection accidents cost our society huge amounts of money, lives and altered lives. 40% of all accidents happen at intersections. Red light cameras slow people down. The median income for California is $61,000. so $600 is pretty much in line with a good kick in the pants.

A bullshit medical card is not going to allow me to smoke pot and I won't perjure myself to get one anyway. I know this and chose my profession accordingly.

 

[dravnx]

The charge is being in an intersection 3 tenths of a second after the light turned red. In an intersection where the light is red all four directions for another 3 seconds.

Does ticketing me serve a rational purpose, or is it just revenue? Nobody intentionally drove recklessly or intentionally violated the law here. I smoked no joint.

You made a bad call. You blew a red light. If you had been 10 seconds and nothing happened, does that mean you shouldn't have been cited? It's .3 seconds because technology allows us to detect that level of transgression.

This is kinda fun.

 

[Gabe]

You made a bad call. You blew a red light. If you had been 10 seconds and nothing happened, does that mean you shouldn't have been cited? It's .3 seconds because technology allows us to detect that level of transgression.

This is kinda fun.

Yes, self-righteous judgement usually is. It's why religion and Internet trolling are so popular. But it's also irrelevant to this discussion, so please start your own thread for why you love traffic enforcement so much and how important it is to punish people so they will be good.

 

[jh2586]

Yes, self-righteous judgement usually is. It's why religion and Internet trolling are so popular. But it's also irrelevant to this discussion, so please start your own thread for why you love traffic enforcement so much and how important it is to punish people so they will be good.

The thread name is "Red Light Camera Ticket Thread" not "How to get out of a red light camera ticket thread"

I think his opinion is right in line with your thread topic.

 

[UDRider]

You made a bad call. You blew a red light. If you had been 10 seconds and nothing happened, does that mean you shouldn't have been cited? It's .3 seconds because technology allows us to detect that level of transgression.

This is kinda fun.

Just because technology allows it, doesn't mean it should be punishable. At some point common sense should come in to play. That's why police don't, usually, pull you over for going 5 over. Maybe we should install detection units in a car and you just automatically get the ticket if you go .00001mph over, didn't do complete stop in middle of nowhere at a stop sign, etc.

If you want to live in the world where every single, and no matter how small, offense is punished by all means you are welcome to it. Technology is there already.

Furthermore there is something fundamentally wrong that our government uses traffic citations as a source of revenue, writes the laws, enforces them, and prosecutes them. Yeah, no conflict of interest there.

 

[Gabe]

The thread name is "Red Light Camera Ticket Thread" not "How to get out of a red light camera ticket thread"

I think his opinion is right in line with your thread topic.

I wrote this in the thread. It would be nice if you respected it.

Mods, please delete irrelevant comments including the harsh-father "you know you did it, you should just pay" kinds of statements. This thread is not about me.

 

[jh2586]

I wrote this in the thread. It would be nice if you respected it.

Bleh missed that part. See what happens when you put that tiny bit of important detail at the end?

 

[dravnx]

Just because technology allows it, doesn't mean it should be punishable. At some point common sense should come in to play. That's why police don't, usually, pull you over for going 5 over. Maybe we should install detection units in a car and you just automatically get the ticket if you go .00001mph over, didn't do complete stop in middle of nowhere at a stop sign, etc.



If you want to live in the world where every single, and no matter how small, offense is punished by all means you are welcome to it. Technology is there already.

Furthermore there is something fundamentally wrong that our government uses traffic citations as a source of revenue, writes the laws, enforces them, and prosecutes them. Yeah, no conflict of interest there.

Well, what should the detection tolerance be then? 1 sec, 2 sec, how far into the intersection do you need to be before the camera flashes? I'm sure the detection tolerance is based on how far into the intersection your vehicle would be based on a particular speed. At 30 mph, a car travels 44 feet in one second so at .3 seconds, your 15 feet over the line. You wanna have someone run a red light on you by .3 seconds into your lane?

So what would you suggest? Have multiple governments, one to write the laws, one to enforce the laws and one to prosecute the laws? Oh wait, we already have that. It's called the legislative, judicial and executive branches of government. Sheesh, don't they teach civics anymore.

 

[CrumpetRocket]

Tell ya what man, I too got an automated red light ticket in the city. In the company truck no less. I dont think youre gonna wiggle out of it, but good luck.

They're a bitch to fight because they're designed to take your pic only if you enter the intersection after the light went red. I imagine if you try to pitch "it's malfunctioning" they would just say "you can make your check out to..."

Respectfully ask the court to cut you some slack. They can do pretty much whatever they want; lower the fine, give you a warning, drop the point on your license. You'll stand a better chance if you have a specific ask, and a good reason. "I'd like to request that the fine be lowered to $300 so that I can pay my fine in full instead of setting up a payment plan" or something to that tune. Ask if they can make it not a moving violation, cite how it could mess up you're insurance for the next three years and as a result you'd have to lower your coverage. Be specific and reasonable. Realize that you got busted fair and square and they don't have to help you at all.

Good luck. Don't ignore the shit like I did. Do anything you can to keep the points off your license. Those cost more than $600 in the long run.

 

[UDRider]

Well, what should the detection tolerance be then? 1 sec, 2 sec, how far into the intersection do you need to be before the camera flashes? I'm sure the detection tolerance is based on how far into the intersection your vehicle would be based on a particular speed. At 30 mph, a car travels 44 feet in one second so at .3 seconds, your 15 feet over the line. You wanna have someone run a red light on you by .3 seconds into your lane?

There is no tolerance. They put circuit after white line or rig it to trigger with red light and that's it. There is insensitive for them to "catch" as many people as they can. Specially considering there are contracts with third company to put those cameras up.

At .3 seconds? Don't care. For all practical purposes it's same as someone entered intersection .3 seconds before light turned red.

So what would you suggest? Have multiple governments, one to write the laws, one to enforce the laws and one to prosecute the laws? Oh wait, we already have that. It's called the legislative, judicial and executive branches of government. Sheesh, don't they teach civics anymore.

I am suggesting government shouldn't be using tickets as a source of revenue, and factor it in to their budget calculations.. All three of those have their greedy little hands in the honey pot.

 

[bpw]

There already is a big fudge factor designed into the system, the yellow light.

Gabe I don't know what your argument is. Tickets are too expensive? Red lights cameras shouldn't exist? running red lights "just a little bit" is ok? This particular ticket is in error and should be dismissed?

 

[mrmarklin]

I have had two camera tickets and protested both with a 100% success rate. Unless it's a very clear cut case you will likely get off. And this case is not clear cut.

 

[Gabe]

There already is a big fudge factor designed into the system, the yellow light.

Gabe I don't know what your argument is. Tickets are too expensive? Red lights cameras shouldn't exist? running red lights "just a little bit" is ok? This particular ticket is in error and should be dismissed?

Read my initial post and you'll see I make no argument at all. I started this thread as a place where people could discuss their experiences with red light cameras. That's helpful to motorcyclists.

Being a judgemental a-hole, not so much.

Anyway, using robots for law enforcement (or warfare) can lead down a slippery slope to a future where we will be punished the microsecond we commit any "crime."

If I was making one, my argument would be that if the state of California can't prove I broke the law beyond any reasonable doubt, they should drop the case. Oh, wait--that was our founding father's argument as well.

So actually, yes, I agree with all four of your straw-men. There are good and scholarly arguments to be made. If you think I'm of poor moral character because of that, then I'd strongly recommend you not lend me money.

 

[Gabe]

I have had two camera tickets and protested both with a 100% success rate. Unless it's a very clear cut case you will likely get off. And this case is not clear cut.

So do you want to illuminate how you made that happen so we may enjoy our lives of crime with impunity?

 

[Yakoo752]

Peeps

These are not photo cameras they use video cameras that record constantly. The only things that "triggers" is the flash. It helps illuminate you the driver for better identification.

Ultimately the threshold is approximately 1/30th of a second once the light turns red. If you have crossed the limit line before coming to a complete stop, you get caught. You don't even have to actually run the light, just cross the limit light before coming to a complete stop.

 

[tgrrdr]

Peeps

These are not photo cameras they use video cameras that record constantly. The only things that "triggers" is the flash. It helps illuminate you the driver for better identification.

Ultimately the threshold is approximately 1/30th of a second once the light turns red. If you have crossed the limit line before coming to a complete stop, you get caught. You don't even have to actually run the light, just cross the limit light before coming to a complete stop.

I think that's how it works in some cities but apparently that's not how it works in SF - unless the info on MTA's website is inaccurate or misleading.

Equipment and Photographs
The automated camera enforcement system is activated, and enforcement begins, when the signal light turns red. Once the signal light turns green, the system automatically turns off and enforcement ends. The system is designed so that it can only take a photograph during a red light and cannot take a photograph during a yellow or green light. In other words, the system cannot take a picture unless and until the light facing the driver is red. The system is programmed so that drivers who enter the intersection on a green light and find themselves in the intersection as the light turns yellow or red are not photographed. This system is designed to catch only those violators who enter the intersection after the traffic signal has turned red.

The camera will take two pictures: one of the approaching driver before entering the intersection, and one of the vehicle in the intersection after the signal has turned red. Pictures are taken to show the car behind the stop line after the light has turned red and to show the car in the intersection during the red. If the driver stops before going pass the stop line, that will be apparent in the second photo and a ticket will not be issued.


Violation Processing
Trained technicians view the two photographs to ensure that the photographs and violation data show that the vehicle entered the intersection after the signal turned red...

If the Officer determines that there is reasonable cause to believe that a violation occurred, then the Officer signs and issues the Notice to Appear. The signed Notice to Appear is mailed to the registered owner along with four images of the violation (the two photographs of the violation, and close-up images of the license plate and driver of the vehicle produced by zooming in and cropping the second violation photograph).

source

 

[Yakoo752]

Weird, antiquated, and I feel it removes a lot of the ability to contest

San Mateo and Alameda counties use video. You even get to go online and watch the video if you get busted.

 

[jh2586]

The ticket I got in Sacramento was a video.