I just got my first (last?) ticket from those red light cameras we’re all so excited about. I’ve read the arguments for and against them, but that’s not my issue. I want to know if this one might be worth contesting.
That’s my blue car at the light in the pix below. My argument would be that I was turning right, so it’s difficult to tell whether I came to a full stop or not. Honestly, I don’t know, because sometimes I do just slow down and then turn if it’s clear. But I would imagine that the camera catches anything going through the light on red, whether it’s a turn or not. The pix are only 1.4 sec apart, but I can’t tell if I’m stopped in the first one or not.
This ticket is $130, which seems crazy to me, but I’m sure it’ll be a pain in the ass to contest it, so I’ll just grin and pay it if I don’t have an argument. Anyone have any experience with this kind of thing or have a recommendation?
HammHawk 
I had the same damn ticket, or Therese did. We don’t know who was driving. I just paid the $130 because the process of showing up to court here in New Orleans would make Kafka laugh.
I don’t know if you have a case or not because if you didn’t stop at the red light then the ticket is justified.
These cameras are the reason that I no longer turn right on red at camera enforced traffic lights. It’s easier to wait for the green light then wonder if I’ll get a ticket that I don’t want to fight over or pay!
Aaack, you guys are killing me! Won’t someone tell me that I’m in the right and need to fight the system?
Sue, you’re right that if I didn’t stop then the ticket is justified, but I don’t know how they can tell whether I did. Sometimes I do stop, but sometimes I don’t. It just seems that they’d weed out the right turns so that you (and I) could turn after stopping without worrying about whether we’re being photographed.
10 to 1 a live cop wouldn’t have given me a ticket on this.
My husband got a ticket for the exact same thing. He quietly paid the ticket because a) we have neither the time nor the energy to fight the system on this and b) it doesn’t go on your record. The cameras are indisputable because they will argue, with photographic evidence, that you couldn’t possibly have come to a full stop between those pictures. It’s not worth it.
My husband did get a speeding ticket from a live cop, which he did fight and won.
Ever since they put the cameras up, I stop and wait and wait … and wait. And then turn right.
Wow-good to know. I’ll be careful about this now. Too bad, HammHawk. Guess that comes out of your Mardi Gras booze money.
What Maitri said, which was confirmed by a lawyer friend of ours who actually did try to fight a photo ticket in court on behalf of a client and lost.