# Caught By Red Light Camera- D'oh! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 22, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470 "2011-06-22T19:31:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470/41 "2011-06-22T23:03:37Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Went like this: I did the deed, forgot about it, 6 weeks later received a ticket with a picture of me in my car entering the intersection against the red light. I returned the ticket as instructed along with a check for $75 and went on with my life. You’re lucky: My wife got a red light camera ticket about a year ago, and the fine was almost $500. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470/42 "2011-06-22T23:04:05Z")
I just heard on the radio that there’s a scam going around (in North Texas, at least, maybe elsewhere too) where you get a phone call and the person on the other end says that they are a police officer and that you have recently been caught on camera running a red light. Then they ask for your personal information (SS#, DL#, DOB, credit card info for ticket payment, etc.). Probably not something a lot of us would fall for, but apparently many people are getting taken by it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470/43 "2011-06-22T23:04:41Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Is a red light ticket in IL a moving violation or a parking violation? In some states it’s a moving violation in some states it’s like a parking ticket. > > I have never had a parking ticket violation but every ticket I got for a moving violation, if you showed up in court, they told you, if you _contest and lose_ you pay the court costs as well as the ticket. I don’t know if the city of Chicago is somehow different, but they definitely told me that, before I pleaded. A red light camera ticket is not a moving violation (at least not in Illinois). It doesn’t count on your insurance, and you’re not required to even show up to court to contest it. You can do it by mail, just like with a parking ticket. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470/44 "2011-06-22T23:05:07Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > So last night, for the very first time in my life, I got caught running a yellow light by a red light camera. Damn, I hate that. Have you ever gotten one, and if so, what happened? I was driving a car that I just bought yesterday, so the temporary tag was on it. The guy I bought it from says that often they can’t see the details of that tag, so it’ll probably be thrown away. I hope so. I don’t usually run yellow or red lights, but I was unfamiliar with the car and didn’t want to slam on the brakes. Not an excuse, I know it’s bad, mmkay, just sayin’. > > I have been told that if you don’t answer the door to the process server, they can’t do anything to you, and eventually the ticket goes away. I even know someone that didn’t answer the door, never got served, and a year or so later was stopped for something else, and that old ticket never came up. Would they consider handing a paper to my 12 year-old serving _me_, or does it have to be me at the door for it to count? > > Advice and personal experiences wanted! As others have said, don’t worry until you get an actual ticket in the mail. That ticket will have photos, and possibly a link to a video, that shows you running the red light (presuming that’s what you did). Quite a few times I’ve seen the flash but then I get nothing in the mail. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470/45 "2011-06-22T23:06:02Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > I have been told that if you don’t answer the door to the process server, they can’t do anything to you, and eventually the ticket goes away. If it happens, just man up to it. This line really takes away from your original pitch of “it was just an honest mistake”. I kinda had sympathy, till you started asking how to avoid justice. It won’t kill you. If the process server turns up at your door, own up, get it out of the way, be a man (is that really how it works there?) ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470/46 "2011-06-22T23:06:15Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > A red light camera ticket is not a moving violation (at least not in Illinois). It doesn’t count on your insurance, and you’re not required to even show up to court to contest it. You can do it by mail, just like with a parking ticket. I think it is a moving violation in California, that’s probably why the fine is so high here. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470/47 "2011-06-22T23:08:47Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > I still for the life of me can’t understand how these things hold up. So they have a pretty picture of my vehicle running a red light. How do they prove it is me driving it? > > Answers I’ve heard: > > 1. It’s my car and I’m responsible for what it does. > > Nonsense. If I loan it to my brother and he speeds, he gets the ticket not me. If he drives drunk (unbeknownst to me) he gets the DUI. If he runs a red light and a COP pulls him over, who gets the ticket, him or me? > > 1. I can get off by proving that it wasn’t me driving. > > Is that what the good ole USA has come to? I thought that I could sit silently while the state had to prove my guilt? Answer 2 is correct, sort of. The proof is just to show that you are not the person in the photograph sitting in the driver’s seat. Then the DMV or whoever will ask who is the driver, and send the ticket to that person. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470/48 "2011-06-22T23:14:32Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > I think it is a moving violation in California, that’s probably why the fine is so high here. I was going to say, $300 seems pretty steep for a red light camera. It’s $100 here. Then again, it seems like fines for everything are much higher out there. [This guy was just caught doing 182mph](http://www.suntimes.com/5870326-417/the-big-catch-355-pounder-going-182-mph.html) in Chicago and his fine was $375 and an order to buy high-risk insurance. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470/49 "2011-06-22T23:50:07Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > I still for the life of me can’t understand how these things hold up. So they have a pretty picture of my vehicle running a red light. How do they prove it is me driving it? > > Answers I’ve heard: > > 1. It’s my car and I’m responsible for what it does. > > Nonsense. If I loan it to my brother and he speeds, he gets the ticket not me. If he drives drunk (unbeknownst to me) he gets the DUI. If he runs a red light and a COP pulls him over, who gets the ticket, him or me? > > 1. I can get off by proving that it wasn’t me driving. > > Is that what the good ole USA has come to? I thought that I could sit silently while the state had to prove my guilt? Here in Florida it is treated like a parking ticket. It is a $158 fine and no points. Most of my objections to red light camera tickets went away when the Florida law specified that the company running the camera could only be paid a flat fee and not a percentage of the ticket revenue. [http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/crist-signs-florida-bill-legalizing-red-light-cameras-687354.html](http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/crist-signs-florida-bill-legalizing-red-light-cameras-687354.html) BTW my TomTom GPS actually has a feature that warns you when you are approaching a camera intersection, but you need to sync your GPS to update the database. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470/50 "2011-06-22T23:59:19Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > I have been told that if you don’t answer the door to the process server, they can’t do anything to you, and eventually the ticket goes away. I even know someone that didn’t answer the door, never got served, and a year or so later was stopped for something else, and that old ticket never came up. You do realize that all this evidence suggests that your friend was in no way the target of a ticket. In all likelihood you friend spent a year hiding from UPS deliverymen and Girl Scouts selling cookies rather than a real process server, and is proud of it enough to tell you about it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470/51 "2011-06-23T01:03:31Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > If it happens, just man up to it. > > This line really takes away from your original pitch of “it was just an honest mistake”. I kinda had sympathy, till you started asking how to avoid justice. > > It won’t kill you. If the process server turns up at your door, own up, get it out of the way, be a man (is that really how it works there?) Ever seen that smilie in MSN messenger that’s just a blank stare back at you? I wish we had one of those. If you think fine of almost $300 to be “justice” for a very questionable traffic offense, you’re different than me. It’s not like I blew through a solid red light- I barely scotched through a yellow light. No one’s life was in danger. I just bought a car yesterday. Do you think I have an extra 300 bucks lying around for this bullshit? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470/52 "2011-06-23T01:42:48Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > A red light camera ticket is not a moving violation (at least not in Illinois). It doesn’t count on your insurance, and you’re not required to even show up to court to contest it. You can do it by mail, just like with a parking ticket. Plus I’m pretty sure it’s leveled against the owner of the car, rather than the driver, so they don’t care who was driving - just pay them. (Obviously it’s different if your car was stolen shortly before the violation occurred.) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470/53 "2011-06-23T01:46:01Z")
Do these cameras typically take pictures of the front or the rear of the vehicle? In Florida that don’t have front plates, so if a camera in another state situates its cameras to snap the front of the vehicle, they won’t get the plate number. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470/54 "2011-06-23T01:55:37Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Do these cameras typically take pictures of the front or the rear of the vehicle? In Florida that don’t have front plates, so if a camera in another state situates its cameras to snap the front of the vehicle, they won’t get the plate number. I think there’s two cameras, one for the front and one for the back. We don’t have front plates, either. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470/55 "2011-06-23T02:11:34Z")
Relevant amusing [story](http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/handcuff.asp), with a rare police chief with a sense of humor. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470/56 "2011-06-23T02:14:20Z")
[Chicago](http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/cdot/provdrs/red-light_cameraenforcement.html) gets the rear of the car, since they don’t care who’s driving it. (Illinois requires both front and rear plates, though.) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470/57 "2011-06-23T02:29:50Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > It’s not like I blew through a solid red light- I barely scotched through a yellow light. If it really was yellow, you should be fine. I’ve had cameras flash at me at various intersections for completing a left hand turn when the light turns red and the such. I know they’re not supposed to be triggered, but sometimes they are, for whatever reason. I’ve never gotten tickets in the mail for those. Here in Illinois, at least they show you a video, and they send you a picture of your vehicle in the process of running the red. They clearly show a picture of the instant the light turns red and if your vehicle is just entering the intersection, you’re screwed. If it changes while you’re in the intersection, you’re fine. Then again, you’re in California, so who knows. I personally wouldn’t lose any sleep of it if I were sure the light turned from yellow to red while I was clearly in the intersection. It’s possible the camera wasn’t flashing for you, but for someone behind you, or somebody making a turn without coming to a complete stop, etc. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470/58 "2011-06-23T02:51:19Z")
In parts of the Bay Area, they have videos of your infraction. My neighbor just got a notice and a link to where she could watch the clip. The cameras will also go off if you approach an intersection too quickly before stopping. As long as you come to a full stop behind the limit line, you’ll be okay. ---
**Author:** ![mariposalabrown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@mariposalabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mariposalabrown)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470/59 "2011-06-23T03:13:50Z")
Someone told me if you shake your head real fast, you can dispute it in court that that isn’t you. I love that mental image. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470/60 "2011-06-23T05:17:23Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > I still for the life of me can’t understand how these things hold up. So they have a pretty picture of my vehicle running a red light. How do they prove it is me driving it? > > Answers I’ve heard: > > 1. It’s my car and I’m responsible for what it does. > > Nonsense. If I loan it to my brother and he speeds, he gets the ticket not me. If he drives drunk (unbeknownst to me) he gets the DUI. If he runs a red light and a COP pulls him over, who gets the ticket, him or me? > > 1. I can get off by proving that it wasn’t me driving. > > Is that what the good ole USA has come to? I thought that I could sit silently while the state had to prove my guilt? The one hubby got shows his face as clearly as his driver’s license. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caught-by-red-light-camera-doh/586470.md?page=4)