1 / 72
Feb 2010

How does my friend contest a video traffic ticket?

I have this friend, see... she got a notice in the mail that she's been caught on video making a right turn on red, which is legal, without coming to a full and complete stop before turning. She'll have to appear in court to find out about the penalty.

The circumstances are as follows.
* Full daylight
* Only one other car in the video with her (i.e., nearly empty roadways) -- and it was behind her 1-2 car-lengths
* Angles show front of car, side of car, back of car with plate -- even face through the windshield, with unmistakable crazy hair

Is she totally busted? Or is there a way to get out of this, or at least minimize the penalty?

I don't know how these video rules work, but in the case of tickets (is there a ticket she can send in with a check if she doesn't want to go to court?), it's almost always advisable to go to the court on the date they set and plead your case, usually to the assistant DA (or whatever those legal monkeys are called that get the shitty job of listening to assholes complain about their traffic tickets). Fines or penalties are almost always reduced.

Is this an actual ticket from the city in question, or is it one of those 'we hope you incriminate yourself' notices from a private firm asking you to identify the driver?

If they video, not just a picture, that ought to be easy.

Unfortunately, if they have video the chances of getting out of a ticket are pretty minimal. I'd suggest that paying the ticket and moving on is quite likely the easiest way forward.

It's a video camera, not a still camera.

  1. First need to establish that Fire's friend was issued an actual citation from the city/county, and that it's not a letter from the red-light camera company asking her to implicate herself.

  2. Second, need to figure out what this is going to do to Fire's friend's car insurance rates, add that to the fine, and see if that sum of money is worth considering a consult with a traffic ticket lawyer.

On a side note, I once got a ticket for failing to come to a complete stop at a stop sign and I think it's a bogus law when applied in at least some cases. I've seen stop sign intersections where they weren't needed or only were necessary under very specific situations. For example, my ticket was at an "intersection" where the main road made a 90 degree turn the left, you couldn't go forward, and there was a parking lot to the right. The sign was there to allow people to exit the lot, that was it. I got my ticket at a time when the lot was empty. I probably should have disputed the ticket, but they get you knowing that a lot of people can't really go through the hassle of the process.

No, talisker. We have to create a new class of Stop sign called the Complete Stop sign, to differentiate it from the other types of Stop signs.

Not that this has anything to do with the original post.

In Texas, some of our right-turn lanes have yield signs to avoid fire's friend's problem. If no one else can claim right of way, these yield signs allow you to legally turn right without stopping.

First of all they have to prove it is you. It doesn't matter if you own the car being used, it matters if you are specifically the one driving. So make sure your friend is the one unquestionably identifiable in the picture and not just the plate or something.

Is she is actually guilty just get her to pay her money and get on with life.

She could temporarily change her hairstyle (die, new cut) and then be 100% sure that the crazy hair in the video isn't incriminating in the least.

I'd fight the ticket, too.

When I took my driver's test, I did the same thing (rolling through a right-turn red) and was immediately failed. So if she's guilty, pay the fine. And stop at red lights.

That sounds a little extreme.

But it would constitute a complete stop.