Look what I got in the mail!

I never run red lights! I'm blown.. Violation Date: Apr 29, 2006 08:50:52 Actual Speed: 79 Speed Limit: 55 Yellow Time: 5.0 Red Time: 0.1

Wonder if the range rover got a ticket too.

WTF is that? They really give you speeding ticket by mail. How can they prove it was you driving?? It could have been a valet out doing a Ferris Bueller with your car.

I would love to contest that the other lights had to have been yellow but when I saw the 79 mph, I doubt I'd get much sympathy. I'm not sure of the Range but the accord coupe certainly did in the other photo.

Bad news is there's no way to fight it, good news is that you don't get points on your license because they have no idea who was driving... they just send the fine to the owner of the car. Just pay it and be lucky it's just a fine. Rob

Man, I really feel for you. These cameras are proliferating in our area - a good way for municipalities to bring in money as few contest photos in court (and who wants to waste all day in line in a D.C. court!). And now that the commuter tax has finally been killed (the ever-audacious D.C. actually wanted to tax people who commute to, or though, the district!!!), D.C. will be looking for more insidious ways to take our money to fund...well, that's another subject. And the thing with photos is you can't even try to talk your way out of the ticket ("gee, officer, I thought I was putting my foot on the brake pedal, not the accelerator" My last ticket here was accompanied by the snide remark, "I saw you roll though at least 8 stop signs without braking" Well, like, I was supposed to slow down long enough to count them??? Regards.

You are correct but in this case I was in Maryland.. At least VA was honest to say cameras do not decrease accidents and decided to get rid of them.

Not sure about where you live, but here in AZ if you don't pay it, they have 120 days to serve you personally, to satisfy the due process requirement. If you don't get served, they cancel the ticket. You can even verify the cancelation online. The trick is to not sit home on the weekends, because they serve people on Saturdays and Sundays. Find out about how it works in your state.

Is there a law on how long the yellow light is supposed to be? OT but is there a law to stop for 3 seconds when making a right turn at red light?

No there isn't, but generally ta 4 second yellow is fair and a 3 second yellow is a scam (all the MD camera intersections used to have 3 second yellows, though the surrounding ones had 4...it was a scam, they got caught, and tried to make good by moving many of them to 5). Sadly, you did run that red, that's just all there is to it. I don't like the speeding cameras (which this isn't, while it records your speed this is just a red light ticket, photo radar was made illegal by governor erlich, who I normally hate but have got to like just for that).

I got one in the mail a few years back in my 964 in VA and I was shocked since I try to never run red lights. Paid it though and forgot about it since there's no points involved. Don't know how you are going to fight this one since you're clocked at 79mph zone in a 55mph and that could make it much worst in court. I would just pay the ticket and forgettaboutit.

go to this website for info about the red light cameras : http://www.highwayrobbery.net/ they have sections for different cities and discuss how some cities had lights that were too short - ie. Costa Mesa, and had all the tickets thrown out. in fact i am waiting to see if they have turned the red light cameras on right now, as i went through a short yellow light "waving " last weekend at 17th street. good luck. capt601

Nice Cab!

Well, your rear spoiler is up....

they are developing speed detection using SOUND doppler effect - totally passive. the fun days are coming to an end.

There is no way for the radar to tell which car was exceeding the speed limit. There are a few cars in the radar zone, so no evidence that you were speeding. Your ticket was for running the red light.

Actually with stop light cameras they use the vascar approach when measuring speed, IIRC.

That's what I was thinking, "ohh so that's what my car looks like from behind, I kind of wish they had better resolution". lol!

After looking at the photo and reading the text I have learned that the light was red for .1 of a second. Typically they have a sensor in the road right on the white line. So if my car was a little longer my front tires would have made it across the line in time. If only my rears would have crossed they wouldn't have been able to clock my speed.

I have mixed emotions on these things. Many of these red light cameras have been installed around the country under a revenue sharing arrangement. A private company pays for and installs them, and the local govt. gets a cut of the take. Despite claims otherwise, it's been shown that the yellow light time mysteriously drops when these cameras are installed. On the other hand, we have an epidemic of people in our area running red lights. I often hear people accelerate as the light turns yellow. They sometimes enter the intersection after the light has already turned red. If someone coming at a right angle happens to time things just right and enters the intersection just as it turns green, then a high speed impact results. Bottom line is I'm OK with red light cameras IF they're installed fairly and without revenue sharing, which can tempt companies to set them up to rip off drivers.

Those things suck, I have gotten 2 tickets in the mail because of them.

I hope they included a picture of you in the driver's seat. Otherwise, plead not guilty and force them to prove it's you.

They usually have a blown up picture of your license plate...at least they did with mine. It's your car....your responsibility...unless you reported it stolen right before that! Really no getting out of paying it.

put mud on your plates

In CO they must show a picture of the driver. If they send you this picture and it is not you they ask you to identify who it is (but this is not a requirement). If you say you do not know they can not enforce the ticket.

You can get something called "Photoblocker" -- a simple spray that can foil traffic cameras. I've never tried it, but a friend has, and he says that even regular digital cameras cannot take pictures of his plates. Link to product http://www.phantomplate.com/ News Article

is there something ironic about photographing a porsche crossing a white line in the middle of somewhere, but we cant seem to keep watch on our borders??/ just an ot thought.

I have one of those license plate covers but one month after I bought it MD and DC implemented a law against them.

I've gotten one red light ticket in Portland. Just paid it - they clearly had my face in the photo. We have a lot of photo radar tickets here. I've gotten three of them, never paid any. Just sent in the response saying it wasn't me. Any plea other than guilty they just toss the ticket aside - not enough money I guess. Poor bastards.

They don't have to prove anything. DC has gone all through this. Unless you can prove (bring forth someone willing to admit it) that it was another driver, you pay the fine. People have taken it through the courts in DC and that's what they came up with, they would likely come up with the same in MD. If you're the gambling sort, you might want to try and challenge it. They sometimes drop it entirely if it's 1/10 of a second, but it's sorta a 50/50 chance thing, so they might take you up on it, you'd lose, and have to pay fees.

Seeing all these replies about the gov't not having to prove the driver, I'm wondering if they changed the laws since I left the DA's office. Last I heard, there's still a 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination. Part of the gov't burden to establish a prima facie case is to prove that the person cited was the one driving. When a cop writes a ticket and testifies on open court, he testifies that the defendant was speeding, but when there's photo radar w/o any proof of the driver . . . I'd challenge it. Yes, the trial judge may go with the flow and find you guilty, but then there's the appeal process where the law really gets made.

I think it's more of an issue of where you're located. I know this ticket was in Maryland, but talk about consititutional rights in a DC courthouse and you are likely to get laughed at, at which point the judge will say "Oh, you're serious....let me laugh even harder then." Plus, in DC these kinds of tickets first go through some adjudicator who I think they get from St. Elizabeth's home for the mentally insane. It just adds another step to the process and it's just not worth it. Someone did go through the process though, and found that DC can do what they do...it made it into The Washington Post.

In germany the camera only goes off if you cross the line more than 1 second after the red. It also takes a second picture a few seconds later to see if you just crossed the line and then stopped or if you ran the light. If you're in more or less the same position for the second picture they do nothing. BTW a red light offence here means no licence for a month !!

A good reason to have a dash spoiler switch fitted.