NYC Red Light Camera ticket - want to fight it.

Originally Posted by Unregistered New York State - I just received a ticket in the mail for running a red light from one of those automated cameras set up at an intersection. In the pictures documenting that my auto passed the red light by .43 seconds is also a picture of a NY city bus also passing the light late. The traffic laws should be enforced equally. Thus if the city bus does not have to pay the $50 fine, should I have to pay? I want to challenge paying this ticket because the evidence NYC provided that my auto passed the light late also proves that a city bus also did. I don't think the city of New York will enforce the law equally in this case.

Actually, you are wrong. I am an EMT in New York City. My ambulance has been photographed going through a red light 3 times. 2 of those times my boss had to send in paperwork articulating that I was responding to an emergency. The third time there was no record that I was assigned call and therefor I took the $50 hit out of pocket and had to sit through an 8 hour driver training session on my own time.

Originally Posted by Unregistered Two of our cars were being repaired and we were all sharing vehicles in the family the month we received NY Red Light Camera ticket . In short someone was always driving someone someone to work and basiclly this problem I have! I truly dont know who received the ticket? I have two adults and two adult children drivers. Should i fight the ticket based on this? How can they prove who is driving the vehicle?

No, don't fight it based on not knowing who was driving. In NYS, it is not a moving violation, it is similar to a parking ticket, where the registered owner is responsible for the fine, regardless of who was driving. There are no points on your license (which would happen if a police officer gave you a ticket) only a fine to the owner.

I worked for the Department of Buses in NYC, and the bus drivers are required to pay red light trafffic camera tickets. The driver is identified through the time and bus number, called in, and required to pay his or her fine. Find another excuse.

We should have a good leader to organize a group in NYC to vote by the people to remove these BS red light cameras. We all pay taxes. We are using our taxed dollars to pay for these BS fines. How much money does the govt. need anyway.

Be very carefull about the accuracy of the NYC red light camera tickets and the motives of those behind this dubious revenue raising program.

Have received a red light camera ticket for a car PARKED right before the crosswalk when a black car went thru the red light, as shown CLEARLY on the photos sent by the NYC Finance Dept.
The first photo shows the black car entering the crosswalk and the second photo shows the black car going thru the intersection
The third photo is of the license plate of my PARKED car, again CLEARLY shown in the photo as PARKED there before the crosswalk while the black car is running the red light.

Also keep in mind that you may receive a red light camera ticket even if your two front wheels crossed the first crosswalk line and you STOPPED right there without going thru the intersection and without running a red light!
The sensors that activate the red light cameras are buried right under the first crosswalk line. Once the two front wheels cross the first crosswalk line the first picture is taken. Right after a second picture is taken supposedly to show your car going thru the red light intersection.
But if you car is stopped with the two front wheels right after the first crosswalk line the second picture will show an empty intersection, if no other car was running the red light.
You should be able to contest this ticket and win since it is stated at the NYC DOT and the NYC Finance Depts web sites that the ticket is issued if a car goes THRU the red light intersection, not if it stops partly at the crosswalk without going thru the red light.

[ArriveAlive]

Sometimes there are malfunctions with the Red light cameras. There are also yellow lights that don't last the full time that they are supposed to. In a city like New York the speed limit on the street is 30 mph unless posted otherwise. The yellow light is supposed to last 1 second for every 10 mph of the speed limit. If it doesn't stay on the correct length of time, then you may be getting a ticket undeservedly. You may want to time the yellow light at the intersection where the red light camera was located. It may not last the entire 3 seconds. If it didn't then that could be a viable defense. Attempting to access the maintenance records for the particular red light camera in question, if it was suspected of malfunctioning is another possibility for the receiver of the ticket. You have to decide though if all that is worth it for a $50 ticket that doesn't put any points on your license.

[QUOTE=Unregistered;75307]The NYC Red light camera tickets are NOT law enforcement. It is a program run by the NYC Finance Dept. They will send you a letter saying that there will be a Judgement placed against you if you do not pay and that you will not be able to renew your registration. The fact is that this is not true!! They do not place a Judgement against anyone because they CAN'T do it. Don't pay the ticket, nothing will happen.

That is actually false. My car just got towed today for three unpaid parking tickets. I was confused because I never got these tickets. It happened to be my boyfriend, who uses my car a lot. One ticket was a red light camera ticket that went into judgement. So YES, in NYC YOU DO HAVE TO PAY them or they will go into judgement. Once you get over a certain amount of money in judgements, you will be ready to get into your car one morning for work, and discover it's been towed. If I knew I had these, I would have just paid em but my silly bf never told me.

[Daja2424]

Originally Posted by Unregistered How much money are you willing to spend to see if the city paid the $50 for the bus. Unless you got connections with someone in the city transit office that can tell you that. Ask yourself this question what if someone else was driving your car and they did what you did and the ticket came to your house and they told you the same bus story. You would probably say I don't care about the bus you need to pay this $50. 2 wrongs don't make a right. But by all means if you have the time and money then fight it.

No offense...
O.k. So what you are saying is back down and don't bother because the fight is a lose, lose battle?
Well, I beg to differ.
I understand what you are saying in regards to the bus; However, this seems to be a violation of our constitutional rights. After all, Are we under investigation? Should it be so, that our every move is watched? What happened to the police that are suppose to be an integral part of the community? Things will never change if people do not take a stance!!! I don't have all the answers but there are somethings that we are allowing that we shouldn't... And if continues on this path, and no one takes a stance, it will be to late to fight. Most people do not realize how controlled we are becoming... i.e Bloomberg banning big gulps!!!! HA!!!

Originally Posted by Unregistered We should have a good leader to organize a group in NYC to vote by the people to remove these BS red light cameras. We all pay taxes. We are using our taxed dollars to pay for these BS fines. How much money does the govt. need anyway.

I too have asked myself the same question. It's the people whom we elect that are misusing the tax payer's dollars. All these highly paid politicians that hire there friends and family members at our expense. They cut vital departments, such as the police force and fire department. Why not cut their salaries instead? After all, they have the title! Nothing will change unless people exercise their rights!!!!

[JSantoli]

Originally Posted by Unregistered 1. There is a Federal Dept. of Transportation law that ALL yellow lights must have a minimum 3 second duration. This duration INCREASES with higher speed limits posted on the street where a red light and a camera is located, and also increases depending on the grade of the road. A traffic light on a steep hill road SHOULD have a longer yellow light than one on a level road given the same posted speed limit. 2. In New York City the city speed limit is 30 MPH and ALL yellow lights on level roads should have a MINIMUM 3 second duration. THIS IS NOT THE CASE IN ALL RED LIGHT CAMERA LOCATIONS. Perhaps this is due to a faulty timing mechanism, BUT MOST LIKELY the yellow lights have been rigged to a less than 3 sec. duration to cause more drivers to run thru a red light, and get their photo taken by the camera. The city makes A LOT of money that way along with the private contractor who installs and operates the camera. 3. Next time you get a red light camera fine in the mail, go to the intersection, use your cell phone's stopwatch function and TIME THE YELLOW LIGHT. Do that about 5-10 times and average the results. ALL the timings, as well as their average, should be MORE than 3.0 seconds. IF NOT, that's an illegal yellow light and NYC is essentially ROBBING YOU. 4. There is a 100% chance that even if you document this and go in for a hearing YOU WILL STILL BE FOUND GUILTY AND HAVE TO PAY because the city will CLAIM that AT THE TIME the photo was taken the light was operating properly. 5. NOW if you REALLY want to defend yourself against an illegal yellow light, OR YOU SIMPLY WANT TO THROW A MONKEY WRENCH into the system: FILE A FREEDOM OF INFORMATION LAW REQUEST - FOIL -with the New York City Dept. of Transportation requesting ALL maintenance records and light timing adjustments and benchmark tests and any other defect corrections done to that light for the period of time that you are interested in. The longer your request the more NYC DOT will have to dig and chances are you'll get some data to help in your defense (an unusually high # of repairs in the X number of months before you got your photo taken, for instance). Now, IF there is a record that the light timings were adjusted soon after your photo was taken, you have a very good case of a defective light and possibly avoiding the fine. NOW, IF EVERYONE WHO GOT A PHOTO AND A FINE DID THIS it would cost the city much more than the fine. Complying with LOTS OF FOIL requests is time consuming and requires a lot of manpower. File your FOIL request with the: Litigation Support New York City Dept. of Transportation 55 Water Street New York, NY 10041 6. This is really the only way to defend yourself against being robbed by the city and its red light camera contractors. 7. TRAFFIC ENGINEER studies have shown that increasing the yellow light duration by just half a second above its minimum causes a DRAMATIC DECREASE IN RED LIGHT RUNNING to the point in many cases of making the installation, maintenance, and operation of these cameras uneconomic. A simple google search will provide a wealth of information on yellow light duration and its ILLEGAL manipulation by cities and contractors across the USA to entrap motorists and raise revenue. RED LIGHT CAMERAS ARE REALLY A REVENUE SCAM CONSIDERING THAT IT HAS BEEN PROVEN THAT LENGTHENING THE YELLOW LIGHT DURATION DRAMATICALLY REDUCES RED LIGHT RUNNING AND IS THEREFORE MUCH SAFER FOR ALL INVOLVED. WRITE TO YOUR STATE LEGISLATOR AND DEMAND A LAW INCREASING YELLOW LIGHT TIME DURATION. REVENUE SCAMS BY NEW YORK CITY AND OTHER CITIES WILL STOP THEN.

Great info! I'm suing to stop the NYC RLC program & for refunds. I need any video of light timing & victims of RLC intersection accidents. Plz call my cell:201-926-9200. Thx. Jos. Santoli