red light cameras
 

so a few days ago, when i was riding around my block, i decided to be a Fred/fixster and run a red light. i forgot that there was a red light camera there and it took a picture of me *flash flash*. do you think i'm going to get a ticket? discuss your experiences. :)

Here in town they can only get you if your in the actual car lane. It wont get you in the bike lanes. Where were you?

What are they going to use to get you? Camera didn't get anything to id.

Here in MN our Supreme Court ruled them unconstitutional. The state/cities had to refund all ticket fees and restore records of those charged.

Unless he's that guy in town with the ONE crazy pink and yellow jersey and wears it every day.

why is that a Fred/fixster move?

and from the experiences of people I know, if they don't have your face in the photo, even if they have your car's plates, then you cannot be ticketed.

Not that I want the cameras, but how are they unconstitutional?

Even then. I don't think they id people by anything other than plate, unless it's being used in a crime, and I don't even know if they can do that.

Because all they do is prove the vehicle was there, not a particular individual. Vehicles don't commit crimes.

Ahh. :thumb:

I also feel they are unreasonable because People are not perfect and Cannot be held to a perfect standard, hence a Person needs to catch another Person doing something wrong and then decide whether to give a ticket or not. There are multiple tings that happen outside of being in the intersectionw hen the camera goes off, like being unsafe to stop or leave the intersection that the camera can not weigh in its decision to give you a ticket.

In my area, if your are the owner you are guilty unless you can prove someone else drove the vehicle. So if you say "It wasn't me driving!" then you have to advise the court who was. So they got ya for the red light or perjury!

They were declared a no no here, then they modified them so that it gets the car from several different angles, so it gets the front plate, rear plate, and left side, so they get a pretty good ID.

Very controversial, to say the least!

They started that in Fort Collins when we lived there several years ago. One issue that came up was that they would mail you the ticket, but had no way to prove that you actually got it. Unlike getting a ticket from a cop, where he can testify in court that he personally handed you that ticket. So you could simply not respond to the ticket, and they weren't willing to use a process server to try to physically deliver the tickets, and couldn't prosecute without that.

As to the face being visible- we got one of those tickets. It was for a time when I was at work, and was for my wife's car, but was addressed to me. I have a beard, my wife doesn't. Hard to confuse us. Evidently, they just give no thought whatever to those things when they mail them out, though. They were supposed to be comparing pictures to the driver's license pictures.

I believe in states where they are considered constitutional it's because they don't actually give you a moving violation as if a cop saw you run a red light. Instead they give you the legal equivalent of a parking ticket. They don't care who was driving your car, if it is parked illegally they can fine you because you are ultimately responsible for the car. They don't claim you parked illegally, they simply claim your car, for which you are responsible, was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

With the red light cameras, the same principle applies. It's your car, in the wrong place at the wrong time. You pay a fine but it is not considered a moving violation and no points go on your license.

This is how they get around the constitutionality thing.

A different division of the company I work for makes the flippin' things, so I guess if they help my stock go up, they're, um, a good thing. :innocent:

hmm i don't think people got the point: i was on my bike.

It's because it wasn't a serious question, at least I hope you weren't being serious.

only if you had a license plate attached to your head.. um I mean bike

yes i wasn't being serious, i knew i wasn't going to get a ticket. what, they are going to run my face and id it?

but i was hoping people would say "oh yeah that happened to me too". oh well...

On the other hand, during the time that I have been driving I've noticed a gradual change in the degree of respect that many people have for red lights. It's not uncommon to see a person run a light that's been red for a couple of seconds. At some point a traffic signal becomes irrelevent if there's no enforcement.

As I understand it, intersections with red light cameras experience significantly fewer overall accidents but more rear end collisions.

There's the money thing too. I imagine sales tax revenues are dropping off due to the economy. Cities are going to look for ways to make up that short fall.

I'm thinking this isn't a simple issue and we'll be hearing it discussed for some time.

I hate the things. I honestly wouldnt mind them as much if we had counters along with the lights like Thailand. I coming up doing 45 anticipating when the thing is going to change and where my 'point of no return is'. Funny that Thailand is one up on us in that regard

"Run your face"??? Dude, you've been watching too much CSI. I bet there's a team of investigators, staring at your blurry black and white face saying to the voice-controlled computer: "Zoom, sector 17791, 400%. Enhance. Enhance! Now, we can transpose the reflection off of that hub cap, flip the image, enhance!, and we can ID our perp".

Did you have a race number on at the time or something?

Red light cameras I agree with, speed cameras are a crock. They've got some in the ez-pass lanes at the toll plazas here. Go 25.1 mph and you get a ticket.

Yes, face recognition is wide spread in our society. :rolleyes:

Some camera's can even take photos of your serial number plate, cross reference it against known police records into bicycle sales and give you life without the possibility of parole.

I would love to see some NY lawyers take that ball and run with it.

wait until face recognition becomes widespread

You can always call them and ask if they have anyway to ID you (Be sure to leave your name, DOB, address and phone number) :)






I'd wear a different jersey for a month or so, just in case you have a motivated cop working the camera detail.

Please. I dont know where you live, but here in CA even cops are getting laid off. They dont have enough time or manpower to work the real crimes let alone spend the manpower on a biker running a light.

Perfect example of a legal logic fail. More speed cameras, please.

When I lived in Encino, there was a camera at an intersection which included a bike path parallel to a busway. It would always take a picture of me when I crossed, probably thinking a car was running the red and entering the busway. After the umpteenth time, I considered striking poses, flashing my chest, mooning it, etc.


Big Brother

If I recall correctly, here in Illinois, red light camera tickets are on par with a non-moving violations like parking tickets, due to the fact that the actual driver cannot be identified.