How Do Changes to Traffic School Laws Will Affect Those With Multiple Red Light Camera Tickets?

There is a new law effective July 1, 2011 that will affect California Traffic School laws. Say you get multiple red light camera tickets within an 18 month period, well there will no longer be the possibility of taking traffic school more than once. Whereas before repeat violators could still take a Traffic School course if the court allowed it, now the courts will no longer be able to exercise this type of discretion.

The law will no longer allow superior courts to “mask” a conviction as a dismissal after traffic school is taken IF there is already a “masked” conviction on a person’s record within the previous 18 months. So you are still allowed one in 18 months, but there is no chance you can do Traffic School multiple times any more.

Basically the purpose of the law is to prevent the Courts from allowing repeat violators more than one Traffic School dismissal within 18 months, so drivers should be aware of this new law, always remember to drive safely, and take special caution at camera enforced intersections.

Blog contributed by ticketbust.com, helping drivers contest and dismiss their traffic tickets.

What Does Red Time on a Red Light Camera Ticket Mean?

A red light camera system at any given camera enforced intersection is supposed to be activated and enforcement is supposed to begin, when the traffic light turns red. These systems are not supposed to take a photograph during the time the traffic light is yellow or green. So, if a driver is facing a red light and enters the intersection the camera will activate and take a picture.

The “late time” or “red time” is the length of time the traffic signal was red before the vehicle entered the intersection. There are usually two red times. Once being how long the light was red before the vehicle entered the intersection, and the other being the length of time that elapsed between the time the first picture was taken (when the vehicle first entered the intersection) and the time the second picture was taken where the vehicle was actually traveling through the intersection. It’s a good idea to check the red time on your ticket because courts tend to more lenient on drivers with very short late times (example one tenth of a second or two tenths of a second).

Blog contributed by ticketbust.com, helping drivers contest and dismiss their traffic tickets. If you get cited for a red light photo ticket, contact us at www.TicketBust.com or call us at (800) 850-8038. For Spanish, please visit www.Combatesuticket.com or call (818) 584-3689. For more information on how TicketBust can help to beat your cell phone ticket, visit www.fightcellphonetickets.com or call (800) 850-8038.

Not all red light camera tickets are the same as there are different red light camera companies. Some are easier to read then others. If you have ever received a Red Light Photo Ticket in cities like West Hollywood and San Francisco you may have had difficulty trying to figure out what all those numbers mean at the top of your photograph.

Cities like West Hollywood or San Francisco use the technology of ACS camera systems and on these camera tickets there is a photo of the vehicle’s position when the light first turns red and a picture of the vehicles position when it is going through the intersection. There is a square block at the top center of each photograph. There are numbers and symbols listed on these square data blocks that translate into things like the speed of your vehicle at the time you passed through the intersection, the date of the violation, and the timing of the traffic signals.

If you are looking at the square data block on the first photograph, it is important to know that the first set of numbers is the time of day, the set of numbers to the left of this is the Date/Month/ Year. The next line of numbers reflects how long the light was yellow before the light turned red, and the last set of numbers to the left of this reflect how the long the light was red before the vehicle entered the intersection.

As for the data box on the second photograph, it is important to know that the first row of numbers here is also the time and date. The second and third rows are a little different though. The second row tells you how much time has passed in between Photograph One of the vehicle and Photograph Two, how long the light has been red between Photograph One and Two. On the third and final row, there is the violation counter (if there was only one person that ran a red light ahead of you then the violation counter will read 002), and the last set of numbers reflects the speed of your vehicle. If you plan on fighting your ticket then it definitely helps to understand what all those numbers mean.

Contributed by ticketbust.com, helping drivers contest and dismiss their traffic tickets. If you get cited for a red light photo ticket, contact us at www.TicketBust.com or call us at (800) 850-8038. For Spanish, please visit www.Combatesuticket.com or call (818) 584-3689. For more information on how TicketBust can help to beat your cell phone ticket, visit www.fightcellphonetickets.com or call (800) 850-8038.

Do Cameras Shutting Down Have Any Affect on Your Current Red Light Photo Ticket?

It is rumored that the red light camera system for the city of San Bernardino (not the County of San Bernardino, just the City) is supposed to be shut down starting in June of this year. What you shouldn’t do is assume that any current red light ticket you have from the City of San Bernardino will just automatically “go away” once the red light camera system ends.

Even though there won’t be any more red light tickets issued in San Bernardino after June, be sure to take care of any outstanding tickets, because any tickets where the date of the violation is before June 1, should still be valid. For example the date of the violation may be May 31, even if you don’t get the courtesy notice till July, it’s still a valid ticket because the violation occurred before the city’s red light program ended. Remember that the program is only supposed to turn off cameras in the City of San Bernardino, so still be wary of the camera enforced intersections through San Bernardino County where the cameras are still turned on.

Contributed by ticketbust.com, helping drivers contest and dismiss their traffic tickets. If you get cited for a red light photo ticket, contact us at www.TicketBust.com or call us at (800) 850-8038. For Spanish, please visit www.Combatesuticket.com or call (818) 584-3689. For more information on how TicketBust can help to beat your cell phone ticket, visit www.fightcellphonetickets.com or call (800) 850-8038.

Bicyclists and Red Light Cameras

Most bicyclists are not aware that the motor vehicle code applies to them since they are not technically driving a motor vehicle. “Motor vehicle” would normally not be expected to include a device moved exclusively by human power.

Bicyclists however can be cited for a red light ticket under the California Vehicle Code due to the fact that by statute every person riding a bicycle upon a highway has all the rights and is subject to all the provisions applicable to the driver of a vehicle by this division.

Although a bicyclist could technically be ticketed by Red Light Camera, there is the sheer fact that bicycles do not have a plate on them so the driver of the bicycle cannot be tracked.

State Assemblyman Michael Den Dekker in New York has introduced legislation that, poses the idea of requiring all bicycles to have a license plate, and placing cameras in the bike lanes, so that when a bicycle goes through a red light, they could be tracked down and issued a ticket essentially like registered owners of cars are tracked down and issued a ticket.

There doesn’t appear to be any similar pending legislation in California like that in New York, however bicyclists in California do face hefty fines if ticketed by an officer (though no demerit points to their motor vehicle driving record).

Contributed by ticketbust.com, helping drivers contest and dismiss their traffic tickets.If you get cited for a red light photo ticket, contact us at www.TicketBust.com or call us at (800) 850-8038. For Spanish, please visit www.Combatesuticket.com or call (818) 584-3689. For more information on how TicketBust can help to beat your cell phone ticket, visit www.fightcellphonetickets.com or call (800) 850-8038.

The pricing for running a red light might be life or death on a motorcycle but can they still get tickets?  I watched a man die after running a red light on his motorcycle this winter. He crashed his motorcycle into a car turning left as he tried to run the red light in Palm Desert this winter. It sparked a question whether motorcycles are heavy enough to set off the red light camera sensors? According to the red light camera operators they are supposed to pick up motorcycles. So if they do get tickets can the cameras capture the image and identify the driver's face inside a helmet? Are the cameras capable of capturing an image if the rider is traveling at a high rate of speed?  

If you receive ticket a notice in the mail issued to you by a police department or even an out of state camera company what you shouldn’t do is freely give them information requested of you. Often times these notices are sent out to fish for information like your driver’s license number and to get you to tell on yourself (or someone else) for a red light violation.  These are known as snitch tickets.

A red flag should go up if you were not the driver, if you don’t see a due date, a fine amount, and if you don’t see a court house listed on the notice. If you’re still unsure, check the notice for the city and county where the violation allegedly occurred (this will be on the front side of the notice listed along with information like the location and violation code). You can then go to the Superior court website for that county and many courts allow you to do an online search for your ticket and fine information. You may be able to search by your driver’s license, last name, or violation number. You could also try calling the court you think the ticket would have been issued in and inquire with a traffic clerk as to whether there is a ticket issued to you in their system, most likely there will not be.

If not then in that case, the ticket hasn’t been filed or registered with the court yet so it’s not an official ticket. Before you just roll over and comply with the first notice, you may want to wait and see if you ever do get a notice from the court, because you may not. If you don’t fill out the back of the first notice and send it back to the agency requesting the information from you then they won’t have enough to pin the ticket on you and a get a real ticket issued to you through the court.

If you’re not sure of how to handle a red light photo ticket notice you received, before you do anything, it’s a good idea to consult with a professional who is well seasoned with dealing with red light camera tickets. Remember, a ticket that hasn’t been filed or registered with the court yet is not an official ticket and may never become one if you don’t help them by tattling on yourself.

Contribued by ticketbust.com, helping drivers contest and dismiss their traffic tickets. If you get cited for a red light photo ticket, contact us at www.TicketBust.com or call us at (800) 850-8038. For Spanish, please visit www.Combatesuticket.com or call (818) 584-3689. For more information on how TicketBust can help to beat your cell phone ticket, visit www.fightcellphonetickets.com or call (800) 850-8038.

What You Should Know About Red Light Camera Tickets

Next time you get a red light ticket remember this. Red light camera tickets are very different from say a red light ticket handed to you by an officer. With a red light camera ticket, there is no “your word against the officer”. With a red light ticket issued by an officer you have to try and convince the court that the officer did not have a clear line of sight to your car, to the limit line for the red light, or the red light itself, at the time you went through the light. Red light camera tickets on the other hand are best dismissed if attacked from a technical based standpoint; after all it is a machine that ticketed you not an officer. And there are certain rules and requirements that are necessary to be present (or need to have been followed) in order for the red light camera ticket to be successfully held up in court against you. 

For example there are rules regarding the length of yellow lights at camera enforced intersection, rules regarding how or when the actual notice of a red light camera violation is mailed out to the suspect violator, rules regarding what type of warning must be given about the presence or installation of a red light camera at an intersection, and rules regarding the types of fee arrangements cities having red light camera enforced intersections within their limits may have with private companies that manufacture and maintain the red light cameras. There is a lot of information out there available on the internet, so read about how these red light camera tickets work and learn what the rules are relating to them so that you can maximize your chances of getting out of a ticket like this. 

Contributed by ticketbust.com, helping drivers contest and dismiss their traffic tickets. If you get cited for a red light photo ticket, contact us at www.TicketBust.com or call us at (800) 850-8038. For Spanish, please visit www.Combatesuticket.com or call (818) 584-3689. For more information on how TicketBust can help to beat your cell phone ticket, visit fightcellphonetickets.com or call (800) 850-8038.

Drives Should Be Wary of Short Yellow Lights at Camera Enforced Intersections

If you get a red light photo ticket one of the things you should do right away is go back to the location of the intersection listed on the ticket and time the yellow light. Many times cities employ too short yellow lights which results in more people running red lights (and increased revenue) because they couldn’t stop in time- and you need to make sure this didn’t happen to you.

Go back to the intersection with a stop watch and from the time it turns from green to yellow, begin timing until it changes from yellow to red. You’ll want to do this a few times for accuracy. Jot down the yellow time and then make your comparisons.

The length of the yellow light cannot be just arbitrary. The California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (“MUTCD”), prescribes uniform standards for all official traffic control devices in California and the MUTCD section 4D-10 and Table 4D-102(CA), sets forth the minimum time for traffic signal yellow light change intervals. Section 4D-10 also provides that the time for a yellow light change interval may be increased through field review and appropriate judgment of the local agency. The MUTCD is very clear that increasing the yellow light interval above the minimum prescribed in the same section is an option and in no manner a requirement. Decreasing the yellow light interval below the minimum however, is not an option.

Check the Table (Table 4D-102) to see if the yellow light change interval at your intersection is non- compliant. Here are a couple examples of minimum yellow light times:

• If the posted speed limit is 25 (or less) mph the minimum yellow interval is 3.0 seconds (this includes both right and left hand turns).
* If the posted speed limit is 35 mph the minimum yellow interval is 3.6 seconds.
• If the posted speed limit is 45 mph the minimum yellow interval is 4.3 seconds.

Contributed by ticketbust.com, helping drivers contest and dismiss their traffic tickets. If you get cited for a red light photo ticket, contact us at www.TicketBust.com or call us at (800) 850-8038. For Spanish, please visit www.Combatesuticket.com or call (818) 584-3689. For more information on how TicketBust can help to beat your cell phone ticket, visit fightcellphonetickets.com or call (800) 850-8038.

If you find yourself thinking you have no defense to a red light photo ticket, don’t give up yet! You can still try to argue you could not have stopped safely within such a short time and short distance from the limit line and slamming on the brakes would have posed a greater danger to yourself and others then continuing through.

Look on your ticket for the late time (for example on a Red Flex ticket this will be displayed on the black bar across the top of the photos displayed vertically on the right hand side). If the red light camera ticket you received has a very short light time for example, one tenth of a second (0.1), wouldn’t it have been very difficult to stop behind the limit line for the light when it changed? Even more so if it was raining. Perhaps slamming on the brakes would have resulted in you skidding into the middle of the intersection where you would have blocked traffic.

If your ticket does not show a late time then you can usually judge how long the light had been red by the position of other vehicles around you. If there were other vehicles turning left at the same time as you or going straight through and cross traffic hasn’t moved past their limit line, then it’s likely the light wasn’t red for long at all. Of course if you were turning right, it’s more likely than not that the light was already red and that you rolled through, so it’s chancy if you don’t have the red time.

The majority of tickets do show the red time and you stand a better chance if the red time is below five-tenths of a second (0.5) because although the law does not mandate them to do so, some local governments employ grace periods of up to before their red light cameras will begin taking photographs. Grace periods such as these are employed because it is understood that the shorter the red time the less likely the driver could have stopped in time. You stand an even better chance if that red time is three-tenths of a second (0.3) or below because as previously indicated by the Federal Highway Administration, a grace period of three-tenths of a second is commonly used and five-tenths of a second is the international standard.

Article submitted by ticketbust.com, helping drivers contest and dismiss their traffic tickets.If you get cited for a red light photo ticket, contact us at TicketBust.com or call us at (800) 850-8038. For Spanish, please visit Combatesuticket.com or call (818) 584-3689. For more information on how TicketBust can help to beat your cell phone ticket, visit fightcellphonetickets.com or call (800) 850-8038.

Most moving violation tickets are issued on the spot by police officers who pull you over.  However, automated enforcement traffic tickets such as red-light camera or speed camera tickets usually come through the regular mail and are sent to the registered owner of the vehicle.  These tickets are not typically sent through certified mail in most cities.

If you happen to get a certified letter from a company posing as a city, police or court you should exercise caution.  Verify the city, police or court and the address on the envelope and make sure its not a false address.  Make sure it corresponds to your local police department or court for ticket processing.

We have been getting some strange emails from potential scam artists who might be posing as ticket agencies illegally. We suspect that they are sending innocent people red light camera tickets and asking for payment.  This scam is very similar to the Property Tax Scam that asks for your payment and comes in an envelope that looks very similar to the Franchise Tax Board.

A typical red light camera intersection has cameras positioned at a corner of an intersection, on poles a few yards high. The video and photo cameras point towards oncoming traffic so the cameras can photograph or video cars driving through the intersection. Red light systems do not necessarily have cameras at all four corners of an intersection.  Some intersections also have cameras to capture traffic photos from the rear as well.  

There are a number of road sensor trigger techniques, but they all serve the same purpose: They detect when a car has moved past a particular point in the road.  These sensors work with the computer behind the operation that is connected to the cameras.   The computer constantly monitors the traffic signal and the cars moving over the triggers. If a car sets off a trigger when the light is red, the computer takes two pictures and often video to document the violation. The first picture usually shows the car just on the edge of the intersection and the second picture shows the car in the middle of the intersection with the red light illuminated above.

False positives are typically prevented during traffic congestion by having minimum speed limits for a violation to occur.  In some states, a ticket is issued to the car's registered owner, no matter who's actually driving.  However, a police office typically has to compare traits of the license plate with the registered owner like.  You are a male or a female or a certain age group or even race.

In some states red light camera tickets only needs to photograph the car from behind, since the authorities only need a clear view of the rear license plate. In other states, the actual driver is responsible for paying the ticket and must be verified.  If you were not the driver of the car often times you will be threatened to turning in the driver which is referred to as a snitch ticket.  In this case, the photo enforced system needs a second camera in front of the car, in order to get a shot of the driver's face. The ticket is still sent to the car's owner after verification.

Loma Linda has switched off the city’s red light cameras earlier five years after they were installed at four intersections and has lengthened their yellow lights to solve the traffic accident problems. The cameras caught 20 red light runners per day at a cost of nearly $500 a ticket which is $10,000 or approximately $300,000 per month. City officials said 80% of the traffic tickets written were for illegal right turn violations spotted by the cameras were for people making right-hand turns at 5 miles per hour and not coming to a complete stop.

So what was the trouble keep them profitable? Were they not collecting the ticket revenue? City officials claim most of the revenue went to the Redflex that managed the system or about $15 million according to Loma Linda officials. The city got only about $50,000 a year or $200,000 of the $15M in revenue generated. Redflex Traffic Systems, which operated the cameras at four intersections: Barton Road at Anderson Street and Mountain View Avenue, and Redlands Boulevard at Anderson and Mountain View.

Watch how some residents got out of the tickets and how the city solved the problem making longer yellow traffic lights.

What the Blank Data Fields on Your Automated Traffic Enforcement Notice to Appear Mean to You?

A red light camera ticket is mailed to you on a form (TR-115 see below) generally labeled Notice to Appear –Automated Traffic Enforcement and this form has data fields that are filled in with information like Name, Driver Lic. No., Age, Birth date, Yr. of Veh., Make, Color, Code and Section, etc. Sometimes many of these fields are not filled in and you may wonder why?

Well, some of the fields are mandatory and some are optional or discretionary (like the color of the vehicle pictured). The Judicial Council of California, Notice to Appear and Related Forms available here: Court Info, actually sets forth the mandatory fields which must appear and be filled in appropriately for the Notice to Appear to be considered genuine and valid.

Look to see if certain fields like your age and birth date are filled in or if the body style of your vehicle is filled in, if not, if these fields are left blank, then you might be able to get your ticket dropped on a technicality.- blog submitted by ticketbust.com, helping drivers contest and dismiss their traffic tickets.

Here are a few other ways to get out of a red light camera ticket as well . . .

Lack of Proper Warning Sign Notices

10 Reasons Traffic Tickets are Not Enforced

Tickets dismissed for Bad Weather

Article contributed by TicketBust.com, helping drivers contest and dismiss their traffic tickets. If you get cited for a red light photo ticket, contact us at TicketBust.com or call us at (800) 850-8038. For Spanish, please visit www.Combatesuticket.com or call (818) 584-3689. For more information on how TicketBust can help to beat your cell phone ticket, visit fightcellphonetickets.com or call (800) 850-8038.

Red light camera tickets typically take from 3-7 business days to process and are mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle.  We recommend waiting until the ticket arrives in the mail before trying to find out ahead of time.  Some people just don't have the patience to wait and if the matter is urgent we recommend calling one of the local police departments listed in the directory below or by dialing 311 on your phone.  Please do not dial 911 on your phone as the operator will not accept your call because getting a ticket is not an emergency requiring dispatch.  Unfortunately, most Police departments are not equipped to handle this type of customer  service so expect the worst when you take on this endeavor.  You can also try searching the databases of PhotoNotice.com and Atsol.com.   Also, PhotoEnforced.com does not own, operate or run any of the cameras and we are simply a database of the locations.  Please do not email us with questions asking if you received a ticket because we do not currently have any way of verifying them.  

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Red light cameras in New Jersey's largest city have generated nearly half a million dollars in their first five months in operation. Newark issued $85 tickets to more than 20,000+ drivers between December 2009 and April 2010.  More than 12,000 had paid their fines by the end of April which is above average.  Newark's $85 fine is divided among the city, state and Redflex contracted to maintain the cameras.

Newark installed the cameras as part of a five-year pilot program conducted by the state Transportation Department. The DOT has issued permits for use in 22 towns. However, they're only operational in Newark, Brick Township, Glassboro and Deptford.  The DOT plans to evaluate their effectiveness after collecting a year’s worth of data.

San Mateo, California Fines May Be Reduced from $450 to $250

Drivers caught by traffic cameras for taking an illegal right turn at a red light would face much cheaper fines than they do now under a bill introduced by a Peninsula legislator on Friday.  The bill from Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, would lower from about $450 to $250 the fine drivers caught on camera pay for turning right on red without fully stopping.

The exact fine varies slightly in different areas of the state. Although it would provide relief for drivers who roll through right turns, it would cost cities enough money that they may have to yank their cameras altogether. Currently, police fine drivers caught on camera the same amount whether they run a red light through an intersection or make a right turn on red without fully stopping. Assembly Bill 909 would make the illegal right turn penalty the same as what drivers pay when they are pulled over by police for not fully stopping at a stop sign.

In other cities, however, it's less of a concern. Already, Burlingame and San Carlos officials in the past two months voted to take down their cameras because they were not generating enough fine revenue to pay for themselves, and officials in San Bruno voted not to install the devices for the same reason.

Read more

Drivers be warned: In the perpetual cat-and-mouse war between parking enforcement and motorists trying to park without getting a ticket in this city, the cat just got a powerful new weapon. The city of Newton, a suburb of Boston, is installing video cameras that can detect when a car has been parked in a metered spot too long. According to a story in The Boston Globe, the devices alert parking enforcement officers if a ticket needs to be written.

Automatic license plate recognition — a kind of RoboCop of the parking world that uses a panoramic video camera, laptop computer, and sophisticated software — detects cars that have been parked too long and sounds an alert to write a ticket.

The city bought three systems for $50,000 and plans to install them in parking enforcement vehicles this month. Officials believe the technology could double the number of parking tickets the city writes each year and sharply increase the $1.8 million in annual parking fees it collects.  Read more.

Related posts:
Photo Enforced Parking Tickets Are Coming
Parking Ticket for Street Sweeping

Unfortunately, we are not the company or city that collects the ridiculous amount tickets revenue nor do we operate the camera locations.  However, before you pay your fine that ranges from $50-$500, we recommend reading one of our many blog posts about "Fighting Red Light Camera Tickets" to see if you qualify to fight the ticket. 

For some visitors who don't take the time to read "About Us", we often receive strange email questions since we own the domain Photo Enforced and visitors often mistake us for being "Big Brother".  Typically questions include:  Can look up and see if I received a ticket?  Or how do I pay for my ticket?   My answer is always you need to contact your local court house in the city where the violation may have occurred or go to one of the locations listed at the bottom. 

Which leads me to the question of customer service management for the municipalities running the programs. I think there needs to be a national destination web site for "customers" (aka individuals who have received tickets) to log into a central database and find out if they received a ticket and how to pay the fine. Guilty drivers do not want to wait two weeks to receive the notice and might even want to modify the physical mailing address tied to the vehicle to avoid employer or owner conflicts. I think the implementation of such as program would result in improved payment recovery for the cities.  

Here are some links to the various payment web sites for the camera operators and cities below.

RedFlex - Photo Notice
City of Frederick Ticket Viewer
City of San Bernardino
City of New York

This is a screen show of the welcome screen you will see on PhotoNotice.com.

Photo Enforced Stop Sign Camera

Photo Enforced Stop Sign Camera Sensor

Photo enforced stop sign cameras are in operation in a few locations in California but a growing trend of cities desperate for money may change that soon. Stop sign cameras are issuing minor cities in these Southern California cities: Los Angeles, Topanga and Pacific Palisades.  This intersection pictured above is in the Temescal Canyon Gateway Park.  We are aware of two other cameras which are located in Franklin Canyon, located off of Mulholland Drive, and another at the top of Topanga.Failure to come to a complete stop or roll through an intersection like this will get you a ticket of $125 in the mail.  Pictured above is a maroon camera in the background and the sensors just before the stop sign.   Photo enforced stop sign cameras are in operation in a few locations in California but a growing trend of cities desperate for money may change that soon.

Rolling right turn cameras are another trend that is growing and these fines are typically around $150 in California.  Running a red light camera on the other-hand will get you a fine of nearly $500.  You can access tour entire database of stop sign cameras throughout the USA by searching our database at PhotoEnforced.com.