It’s funny how our senses are different than reality. A few weeks ago I was in Brick NJ, coming up to an intersection that I knew had red light cameras
The light was green but as I neared the intersection I saw it turn yellow. I didn’t feel that I had enough room to stop and I knew that as long as I was in the intersection when it was yellow I would not get a ticket.
I saw the camera flash but didn’t worry. Today I have a nice letter from the Brick Police showing my violation. I can see I was over the stop line when it turned red but I can’t see if I was over the stop line when it turned yellow.
I can’t fight the ticket because if I do and I lose I have to pay more and I can’t prove that it was yellow as I passed the stop line. One saving grace is this ticket is pointless. I mean there will be no points assigned because it’s not considered a moving violation.
Manny – I removed your link since it had your name and address, license number, etc. I would recommend masking that information if you want to post this for some reason.
It depends on how they have it set up. In my city, the “ticket” was just a threat to maybe someday sue you, so you didn’t really have a whole lot of civil rights when you went in front of the police arbitrator to ask the city to revoke its threat to possibly sue you. Since you were voluntarily entering into their parallel system (it was perfectly legal to just throw the ticket away and wait for the summons to court, where you could supposedly be fined up to gasp $25 more), you had no privileges other than what they wanted you to have.
That’s what I’m thinking, that it’s not more to go to trial, it’s less to plead guilty. I thought there couldn’t be a penalty for exercising your right to a trial, but that really wouldn’t be this case. I’m sure the law is worded differently than that lawyer’s web page.
There is a link to along with the ticket. You can look at the video of your car going through the intersection as well as the still photo. Then come back and say if you violated it.
There is no plea bargain on NJ red light tickets. Basically because there is nothing lower to plea to. $85 is one of the lowest fines and there are no points.
As I said it was my perception. I should have slowed down as soon at it turned yellow and not thought that I could make it through the yellow. I will be paying the fine before the due date because it could have been much more expensive.
Does the traffic signal actually control the right turn lane, because I don’t see a traffic signal there at all. I see a traffic signal control the left, straight-through lane.
On second look, looking at the Google image street view there is a traffic signal, along with a large sign stating , “No Turn On Red.”
Pay the fine and take your lumps. You will not win.
Maybe I’m just looking at the pictures wrong but it looks like he got flashed when the camera took a picture as the light turned red. I think the top pic shows that he was already over the limit line which is the purpose of the pic i.e. to see who is in the intersection already as the light changes. Either through error or desire for more $ the pic was interpreted as flashing him as crossing the line after the red.
Looks to me like the picture was taken 0.4 seconds after the light turned red, if I’m reading the times up there correctly. It seems to me the OP blew the light, especially if the 41 under “speed” means 41 mph.
You probably won’t win, but you never know. I challenged a red light ticket for my father where it was incontrovertible that he blew the red, yet somehow, much to my shock, they dismissed the ticket. (There was a sign there saying “no turn on red when pedestrians are present” that I used as an excuse, even though one must stop on a red, anyway, before taking a right turn. I mean, this wasn’t just a subtle roll through the red–this was completely blown.) That said, in Illinois, they don’t charge extra if you challenge, so there’s no reason not to.
In 0.4 seconds a car moving at 41 mph will travel about 24 feet, by my calculations.
In California, the one thing they look at is where the car was when the light turned red. If you are past the limit line at that moment (the front of your car, I assume), then you’re legally in the clear. If you’re behind the line at that moment, then you have run the red light if you proceed on through. (This from the mouth of a Long Beach police officer I chatted with a the scene of an accident - relating to red-light-running - that I witnessed a few years ago.) I would imagine New Jersey uses a similar standard, but I do not know this for sure.
The OP’s car looks to me to be pretty much astride the limit line at t-plus 0.4 seconds (“RTIME” of 000.4). If that’s about 24 feet beyond where it was at the moment the light turned to red, they I’d say they’ve got him. But it’s certainly worth clearing up whether I/we are interpreting those numbers correctly.
After reviewing the video tape there is no way I can honestly say that the light was anything but red before I reached the stop line.
I can say the perception of my speed was that I could not safely stop after the light went from yellow to red so I had to continue through it. However if I had slowed when the light went yellow instead of trying to “make the light” I would have been able to stop in time.
I also consider the fine I have to pay small compared to what I would pay if I was stopped for the everyday “speeding” I do.
Speeding in “” because I am over the posted limit but not going faster than the cars around me.
