how do you beat a red light camera ticket?

[sixto]

A friend of mine received in the mail a court summons along with pictures of her car taken by a red light camera. Vehicle make and model, license plate and her face are identifiable beyond doubt. Her only claim at this point is that the pictures don't prove the car was moving.

What can she use in defense?

Thanks,
Sixto
93 300SD

[Kuan]

There's no mph readout in the picture? I'm sure there's a record, and you might find out once you get to court. Plus, all I have to say is 1) How did the car get there if it wasn't moving, and 2) How did it get out of the intersection?

[riethoven]

Originally Posted by sixto

A friend of mine received in the mail a court summons along with pictures of her car taken by a red light camera. Vehicle make and model, license plate and her face are identifiable beyond doubt. Her only claim at this point is that the pictures don't prove the car was moving.

What can she use in defense?

Thanks,
Sixto
93 300SD

In NY it still isn't a moving violation if you get caught by the camera. My wife blew a light in Queens and got the letter from the state. She paid $50. It was no points on her license. Now she doesn't run the lights on van Dam Street.

[cscmc1]

Originally Posted by sixto

A friend of mine received in the mail a court summons along with pictures of her car taken by a red light camera. Vehicle make and model, license plate and her face are identifiable beyond doubt. Her only claim at this point is that the pictures don't prove the car was moving.

What can she use in defense?

Why fight it? Break the law, pay the penalty when you get caught. I guess I don't get people like your friend...

[kerry]

I agree. If she did it, pay up.

[Botnst]

I've been thinking about a way to defeat the camera.

You can get LED's that emit in the IR, which is (I believe) the wavelength of those cameras. If that's true, then why not ring the license plate with IR-emitting LED's such that it blows-out the pixels in the IR camera? I'm thinking like the way a bright sun-lit chrome surface will flood your eyes so you can't see any details near it. Can an LED put enough IR energy out there to do that? Is there an EE in the house?

[Hatterasguy]

Put a tinted cover over the plate, remove the front plate, and tint the windows.

When red light camra's show up in my area I will do this. I know there are rear license plate covers that will prevent the camra from getting the number.

[jcyuhn]

Do some research into the laws of your state. Here in Tejas, the loophole that was used to deploy these is that it's a civil infraction, not criminal. That means no points on your license, no insurance hit, no traffic school. Just pay the fine and that's the end of it.

I very much doubt there's any way you're going to beat the ticket. The trigger for the camera is an inductive loop in the pavement set at the white entry line to the intersection. The car must be moving to trigger the loop - no movement, no trigger. That the car is within the intersection in the photo would seem to be quite solid evidence that it was both moving and the violator of the red light.

A friend got one of these recently, I heard all about it at a cocktail party. (Over in the land of Gar, for you N. Texans.) Along with your picture in the mail, they include a weblink. It shows the _video_ of you driving through the light. Also includes your speed - the camera also has radar. It also shows to the tenth of a second how long the light had been red when your vehicle entered the intersection.

Long and short of it is that your friend is busted, big time. Best bet is to pay the fine and take traffic school, if necessary/possible.

- JimY

[PaulC]

Drive while wearing a Halloween mask. Stymie the bastards.

[Botnst]

Drive in reverse thru the light at a high speed when no other cars are anywhere around.

[TX76513]

Originally Posted by Botnst

I've been thinking about a way to defeat the camera.

You can get LED's that emit in the IR, which is (I believe) the wavelength of those cameras. If that's true, then why not ring the license plate with IR-emitting LED's such that it blows-out the pixels in the IR camera? I'm thinking like the way a bright sun-lit chrome surface will flood your eyes so you can't see any details near it. Can an LED put enough IR energy out there to do that? Is there an EE in the house?

You are real close, there was a DIY device you could make out of a TV remote that attached to your front license plate. It kept pulsing a signal that blocked the camera.

[Botnst]

Originally Posted by jcyuhn

Do some research into the laws of your state. Here in Tejas, the loophole that was used to deploy these is that it's a civil infraction, not criminal. That means no points on your license, no insurance hit, no traffic school. Just pay the fine and that's the end of it.

I very much doubt there's any way you're going to beat the ticket. The trigger for the camera is an inductive loop in the pavement set at the white entry line to the intersection. The car must be moving to trigger the loop - no movement, no trigger. That the car is within the intersection in the photo would seem to be quite solid evidence that it was both moving and the violator of the red light.

A friend got one of these recently, I heard all about it at a cocktail party. (Over in the land of Gar, for you N. Texans.) Along with your picture in the mail, they include a weblink. It shows the _video_ of you driving through the light. Also includes your speed - the camera also has radar. It also shows to the tenth of a second how long the light had been red when your vehicle entered the intersection.

Long and short of it is that your friend is busted, big time. Best bet is to pay the fine and take traffic school, if necessary/possible.

- JimY

Induction, huh? What happens if you run over that sucker with a huge magnet?

[Maroon 300D]

A friend of my wife's lived in a small town in Vermont. Sometimes, she would be stopped at a red at an intersection late at night where she could clearly see that no one was coming. She would run the light and put her fist out the window and say "power to the people," because to her this was a victory over a machine that arbitrarily made her stop for no good reason.

One day they installed cameras and she didn't know. Then she went to Africa for some reason. While she was there her parents got one ticket after another, and each one had a photo of her going through the intersection with her fist raised out the window.

[Jim B.]

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

Put a tinted cover over the plate, remove the front plate, and tint the windows.

When red light camra's show up in my area I will do this. I know there are rear license plate covers that will prevent the camra from getting the number.

Those three options are specifically made illegal by the California Motor Vehicle code (I assume Sixto's friend got the ticket in California)

There are a LOT of those red light cameras in San Francisco, and there had been a lot of really gad accidents, injuries and deaths due to red light runners which led to them being put in.

The best suggestion I would think, would be to investigate if traffic school and paying the fine would be an alternative.

The WORST thing would be to just ignore it. (See recent "Kamil" thread here)
If it goes to bench warrant status, "You in a heap of trouble"

[Pete Geither]

I hate people who run red lights.