Any ideas? Fighting a red light ticket

amother

White

Tue, Apr 05 2016, 8:39 am

I live on Long Island and you are allowed to make a right turn on a red light after a complete stop. I just got my second ticket in 2 months for not coming to a complete stop at a red light and making a right turn. I can see the video online and it shows me slowing down and rolling thru the red light at about 2 - 4 miles an hour. The video is long enough that it also shows the 2 cars in front of me doing the exact same thing. I feel like it's a cheap ticket. Kind of like getting caught going 56 MPH in a 55. By the letter of the law it's a violation. Practically speaking it doesn't seem fair. The ticket is $45 with an additional $50 handling fee of some sort. Nassau county must be making thousands of dollars every single day because there are a few of these cameras up and 90% of drivers don't come to a complete full stop when making a right on red when the coast is clear. There's no points with this ticket. Any ideas how to fight this? I feel like someone ripped my purse from me and stole $95. A complete robbery.

doctorima

Tue, Apr 05 2016, 9:51 am

It's very frustrating, but on a practical level (which was your question), I don't know anybody who fights them. The people I know who fight parking tickets say it's a waste of time and just to pay them. Even if a lawyer would agree to fight it, he'd charge more than the cost of the ticket. It's unfortunately one of the built-in costs of living in this area, so just be more careful next time. This is also why 2 people have been recently arrested in Long Island for covering red light cameras to protect people from them!

Amarante

Tue, Apr 05 2016, 10:12 am

You made California stop. I got my one moving violation for this but in my case there was no red light and the turn was onto a side street and there was no through traffic so no possible risk of collision.

What can I say except obviously the police knew no one came to a full stop.

On the other hand, it has been twenty years and I now come to a complete stop at every intersection so it does act as a deterrent.