Photo radar and red light cameras

[bushedout]

The law says that a person must be "duly served" with a traffic summons. Usually this is done when the policeman has you sign the ticket while he is standing at your car door. But what about the case of sending you a ticket in the regular mail?

How do they know that you got it?

[NJCher]

1. you can get away without paying them

Seriously. Do some research on the 'Net and you will turn up a site that explains what the story is. If you can't find it, PM me and I'll get it for you. I bought the guy's book but he has it online as a public service.


Cher

[bushedout]

2. I've looked on the net.

The general consensus seems to be to ignore it.

[davidinalameda]

3. you can be served by mail

if all other attempts fail

as for challenging the tickets, my partner got a ticket in San Francisco and the city made it so hard to get a trial date to challenge the ticket, he went ahead and paid it

the difference in cost was like $10--the ticket was 90 and to get a trial, it would have cost him 80 or a little bit less but the time and the headache wouldn't have been worth it

I'm sure more cities are going this route--they want their money

[Overkil]

4. My brother in law and his business partner.....

were driving the other day in his business partner's car. My BIL was driving. They past a photo-radar van and my BIL was clearly speeding. He had the presence of mind to cover his face with his hands as the van snapped the picture (elbows and knees kept the wheel straight). Business partner got the photo ticket in the mail a few weeks later addressed to him and took it down to the courts. He said "that's not me driving - you can see that's me sitting in the passanger seat". Courts said "Well then who is it?" Business partner says "I don't know - he's covering his face with his hands". ....Ticket dismissed.

[davidinalameda]

5. that's surprising

since he was the owner, it's a wonder they let him off like that

[Withergyld]

6. Arizona uses photo radar and red light cameras

My wife got one a few years ago. They do not mail the picture of the driver anymore, just the car and license plate. You have to go to the Police Station if you want to see the picture of the driver. If you are not the driver, you do NOT have to identify the person in the picture. They also do not send the tickets if the vehicle is a commercial vehicle (like a company car or delivery truck) because the owner is not required to pay the ticket if they were not the driver and they are not required to identify the person who was the driver.