What If You're Not The Diver In A Red Light Citation?

by Jeff Cohn | Thursday, May 18, 2006 | ATS, California, Fighting Tickets, Laws, red light cameras, Snitch Tickets, Tickets | 2 comments »

The owner is responsible for the vehicle. In the event the owner was not in the vehicle, operating the vehicle, the owner can submit an affidavit of liability stating who was in possession of the car at the time. Then that individual will become responsible for the citation. For a California see the following two situations:

1. If they issued you, the RO, a real ticket but you weren't the
driver, you DON'T have to name the driver - the RO can go to court and
tell the judge "it's not me" and he will dismiss the ticket.
2. If they issued you, the RO, a Snitch Ticket (one not filed with the
court), you can ignore it.

2 comments

Anonymous // June 30, 2006

California tickets are different from other states.

1. Most states, especially those on the East coast, are "owner responsibility" states. The registered owner is responsible for the ticket, no matter who was driving. Not so in CA. California is a "driver responsibility" state. If you are the registered owner and received a CA ticket, but it obviously isn't you in the face photo, you can see the judge and get the ticket dismissed. Just ask him, "Your honor, are you sure it's me?" But DO NOT testify (such as stating "It's not me"), because then you have given up your right to silence and can be forced to tell the judge who it was driving.

2. Because they know that judges will dismiss tickets issued to the wrong person, many CA cities send out fake tickets which have NOT been filed with the court, as part of an effort to bluff the registered owner into telling them who it was driving. These are also called Snitch Tickets. You can ignore a Snitch Ticket if you wish.

Henry
Anonymous // April 03, 2008

So,

To confirm you do NOT want to say "you were Not driving" instead you say, "are you sure that it is me?"

But if you don't respond to the ticket when it comes in the mail. How do they prove you received it?