Red Light Cameras
Getting Your Red Light Camera Ticket Dismissed
How many of us have faced this situation: You're going with the flow of traffic and the light turns yellow. You're instantly confronted with a problem: hit the brakes and hope the line of cars behind you doesn't slam into you as you screech to a stop (causing a multi-car pile-up); OR maintain your speed and risk running a red. You decide beating the yellow is the safest option for everyone on the road. You run the yellow, but the light turns red just as your front tires cross the limit-line on the other side. You hear the snap, and feel the blinding flash in your rear view mirror ruin your day.
Or perhaps you simply [and safely] pull a "California roll" right turn when no cars are coming from the intersection on your left. Snap. Flash. "F$@&!"
Thanks to California's big-brother red light camera experiment, anyone ticketed by a camera now faces a $480 fine! And a point on your license. And sky-rocketing insurance premiums. (OR, you pay the fine, an additional fee for traffic school, and waste 8 hours of your precious Saturday sitting in a dumpy room watching the clock tick by.)
Most people assume traffic school is the only way out of a red light camera ticket. But wise up: RED LIGHT CAMERA TICKETS ARE ROUTINELY DISMISSED!
History of Red Light Program
A red light camera system (known as an "automated traffic enforcement system") is a situation where a city government contracts with a private company to install a red light camera, and the city pays the red light camera company for use of the camera. Contrary to popular knowledge, these red light camera systems are fraught with legal problems and complications.
For example, the very nature of the program creates a conflict of interest between the city's interest in only issuing tickets for actual violations, and the private contractor's profit-driven interest in issuing as many tickets as possible to increase revenue. Additionally, cities adopting such camera systems are accused of "Big Brother" tactics in over-monitoring public roads. Cities are also accused of using the cameras as a front for revenue raising schemes (which are illegal). Furthermore, there is strong evidence that red light camera systems are ineffective, and actually increase the number of accidents at the subject intersections.
Prerequisites for Red Light Camera Tickets
Despite these considerations, the California Vehicle Code (CVC) was amended to allow cities to issue citations based on photo evidence provided by red light cameras. However, to safeguard against the issues discussed above, the CVC contains many requirements and prerequisites for red light camera tickets to be valid, and failure to satisfy these conditions renders the ticket illegal and unenforceable. Under the CVC, red light camera tickets are defective and can be dismissed on some of the following grounds:
- The signal timing of yellow lights is too short
- The city failed to issue "warning tickets"
- The city failed to make a "public announcement" of the red light camera
- The city failed to post appropriate warning signs
- The city failed to adopt written guidelines governing use of the red light camera system
- The city's contract with the camera vendor contains illegal compensation provisions
Ironically, most cities have failed to comply with many of these requirements, giving motorists an arsenal of defenses to their camera ticket.
However, one of the most common defects with red light camera systems is that many contracts between the city and the camera suppliers are actually illegal!
Illegal "Pay-Per-Ticket" Contracts
CVC section 21455.5(g) provides that "A contract between a governmental agency and a manufacturer or supplier of automated enforcement equipment may not include a provision for the payment or compensation to the manufacturer or supplier based on the number of citations generated..."" Basically, the CVC expressly forbids so-called "pay-per-ticket" contract provisions - meaning the compensation paid by a city to a vendor cannot be based on the number of tickets issued. This is because basing compensation on a pay-per-ticket basis provides an incentive to increase the number of tickets issued simply to increase profits (as opposed to legitimate public and safety concerns). [In the words of the actual author of Section 21455.5(g), "Paying red light camera vendors [suppliers] based on the number of tickets issued undermines the public's trust and raises concern that these systems can be manipulated for profit."]
And thanks to a recent California Appellate decision, the vast majority of city contracts are now rendered illegal!
Cost Neutrality Provisions
In a landmark 2011 California Appellate decision, People v. Daugherty, the Court examined a "Cost Neutrality" provision within the contract between the City of Napa and Redflex. [The majority of red light cameras throughout California are supplied by Redflex, and the majority of Redflex contracts contain these "Cost Neutrality" provisions.] Basically, these cost neutrality provisions specify that the city will never pay Redflex more than a fixed fee, but will pay "to the extent of gross cash received" up to the fixed fee.
The Court found that these Cost Neutrality provisions violated the CVC's restriction against pay-per-ticket provisions. According to the Court, "the contract's cost neutrality provision improperly based the City's payment to Redflex on the number of citations generated, at least to the extent there are not enough citations generated to cover the fixed fee in a given month." The effect of this ruling is that many city contracts are actually illegal!
This illegality of the city contract is an example of just one of many procedural and foundational grounds used to get red light camera tickets thrown out.
Conclusion
So, if you've been slapped with a red light ticket, don't get a second credit card to pay the fine. Remember, the legality of red light cameras is seriously suspect, and most cities have failed to comply with the prerequisites necessary for such tickets to even be legally enforceable. Check out our new Red Light Camera Program and its 100% Money-Back Guaranty, and contact us to see if your ticket can be dismissed.
DISCLAIMER
PLEASE NOTE, THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS NOT PROVIDED IN THE COURSE OF AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP AND IS NOT INTENDED TO CONSTITUTE LEGAL ADVICE OR TO SUBSTITUTE FOR OBTAINING LEGAL ADVICE FROM AN ATTORNEY LICENSED IN THE APPROPRIATE JURISDICTION. PLEASE CONTACT US FOR A FULL EVALUATION OF YOUR CASE.
