Drivers can disregard red-light camera tickets in L.A.

[savalez]

Source: LA Times

Motorists who get tickets under the city's controversial red-light camera program can shrug them off, Los Angeles officials agreed Monday.

That was one of the few points of consensus to emerge from a three-hour City Council committee hearing on the future of the much-debated photo enforcement system. The session ended with a recommendation to stop issuing citations at the end of the month and "phase out" the program.

Richard M. Tefank, executive director of the city's Board of Police Commissioners, told the Budget and Finance Committee that the tickets are part of a "voluntary payment program" without sanctions for those who fail to submit fines.

"The consequence is somebody calling you from one of these collection agencies and saying 'pay up.' And that's it," said committee member and Councilman Bill Rosendahl. "There's no real penalty in terms of your driver's license or any other consequences if you don't pay."


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-red-light-cameras-20110727,0,6729565.story?track=rss

[Kennah]

1. Haven't there been cases of these dicks putting unpaid red light camera tickets on credit reports?

[awoke_in_2003]

11. yep, that is what they do...

if you don't pay. I received one and it said so right on the form they sent out.

[Enrique]

2. they really are laid back there

B-)

[Seedersandleechers]

3. If they send you a picture of your car running

a red/orange light - send them a picture of a $50 bill.

[Lucky Luciano]

4. Haha! Good idea! nt

[DeSwiss]

5. ROFLMAO!!!

[1monster]

10. I don't know if it was a joke or not, but I read somewhere that someone did just that:

sent a photo of the amount of money required by the ticket. Supposedly, in the return mail, the receiver of the ticket got a photo of a pair of handcuffs...and decided to pay up in real $$$.

[savalez]

14. lol

That's funny, however, it's a $446 fine in Los Angeles.

[GETPLANING]

6. They can nick your credit score

by sending your account to collections. That's about the worst of it. At that point you can sue the credit reporting agency and they will clear your report rather than show up in court. It's a small hassle, but it works.

[kirby]

7. Small hassle?

Anyone who thinks dealing with collection agencies or fixing an credit report is only a small hassle gets the understatement of the year award.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

8. Yep. (20 years dealing with credit reports here)

[Citizen Worker]

9. A friend was ticketed by these damn cameras about a year ago. He received notice of the infraction

in the mail 3-4 months after the alleged incident and he decided to fight it in court. On the day of his hearing in front of a district court judge the judge asked how many were there to contest such tickets. Several people raised their hands and the judge then instructed those people to "see the clerk and let the clerk know if you believe you weren't driving your car on the day of the incident." How's that for jurisprudence? It seems the judge was dubious about the constitutionality of these damn cameras.

[kentauros]

12. In Houston, we voted to get rid of these things,

and it worked, for the better part of this year.

However, the company with which the city had contracted to install and operate the things "won" the right to turn them back on until their contract was fulfilled (through some time in 2014 as I recall.)

So much for the will of the people when it comes to corporate profits :eyes:

L.A. better make sure a similar legal issue doesn't take place there, too.

[JI7]

21. delete

[JI7]

22. delete

[slackmaster]

13. I always cover my face and step on the gas when I drive through one of those

If they don't get your face in the pic, they can't prosecute the ticket.

[Ter]

15. In NYC they go by the plate on the back only

You won't get points because they can't prove who's driving, but you will get a ticket. If it's nighttime, always shut your headlights off when you know you are going through one, it greatly improves your chances of the pic not coming out.

[RebelOne]

16. As long as they get your license plate number,

you will get a ticket. I know because I went through a red light at a major intersection here in Marietta, GA. A few weeks later, I received a ticket in the mail including a photo of my car showing the license plate. Cost me $70, though I was lucky and did not get any points on my license.

[ManiacJoe]

17. Not all states work that way.

Here in WA, it is the equivalent of a parking infraction. The ticket is sent to the registered owner of the car.

Apparently WA has a law prohibiting the photographing of the occupants of the car, thus the driver cannot be determined.

[Kennah]

20. I close my eyes while running red lights

Is that the same thing?

[Islandlife]

18. What a waste of resources

At first, it seemed like an enforceable law, but now it's not. There are too many "nice to have" laws created that end up unenforced in the real world.

[buckrogers1965]

19. When they put these cameras in

they always shorten the time for the yellow lights.

Every study says that shortening these lights causes accidents. They also raise the revenue collected from the traffic cameras.

Want to reduce red light running and accidents at intersections? Make the yellow lights last 5 seconds at every intersection, and 6 or 7 or even more at the more problematic locations. You take the time from the green light, so it doesn't even make the light take longer to cycle.

[JI7]

23. this was always about raising money, not about preventing accidents

the reason they are ending it is because it didn't bring in the money they hoped for.