Zoom Hearing City of Miami for Redlight Camera

FloridaFlier_86

FloridaFlier_86

Filing Flight Plan
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FloridaFlier_86
Over a year ago I was unlucky enough to get caught by a redlight camera early in the morning going to a recurrent sim session at MIA. (Very close call, left turn, wet roads, headlights behind me, thought it was safer to continue than try to stop). I have a special kind of hate for Miamis bullying tactics so rather than pay a hundreds of dollars fine I contacted the Ticket Clinic online and they agreed to handle my case. I just receiving a letter saying I need to participate in a hearing via Zoom this Monday the 16th. The Ticket Clinic email states they will appear in court on my behalf but I’m not sure if that goes for a Zoom video hearing as well. Im going to try and call them today, but if i have to do this myself , has anyone else ever done anything like this? Not sure how formal it will be or to what extent i need to be prepared to defend myself.
 
Actually I have. I coasted through a yellow on a right turn, and two motor cops stopped me and gave me a ticket for running a red. No amount of arguing was going to change the outcome.

I got to thinking though. Were we both looking at the same thing? I went back to the intersection, and I looked at the two different angles, and discovered something very interesting. The timing of the signals was off! The cops' view showed a red, as viewed from the straight run of an offramp tee intersection, when my view from the offramp still showed a yellow!

I found a position where I could video both lights at the same time, cut it to a CD, and mailed it to the court along with my argument on their challenge form.

It was a complete waste of time. I later had a conversation with a criminal defense attorney on an unrelated matter who said that the regional county justice center was in fact a kangaroo court, and anyone whose case is sent there is automatically guilty.
 
New Mexico is always changing, sometimes the red light cameras are working, then the lawsuits come so the cameras are shut off. ABQ Just announced that the speed cameras will be turned back on and the complaints are already coming in.

Or be like this guy...

www.azcentral.com

Driver in monkey mask once racked up 37 speed-camera tickets in Phoenix area

Dave Vontesmar racked up 37 unpaid speed-camera tickets, but the so-called "frequent flier" wasn't fazed.
www.azcentral.com
 
Zeldman said:
New Mexico is always changing, sometimes the red light cameras are working, then the lawsuits come so the cameras are shut off. ABQ Just announced that the speed cameras will be turned back on and the complaints are already coming in.

Or be like this guy...

www.azcentral.com

Driver in monkey mask once racked up 37 speed-camera tickets in Phoenix area

Dave Vontesmar racked up 37 unpaid speed-camera tickets, but the so-called "frequent flier" wasn't fazed.
www.azcentral.com
Click to expand...

Use one of these with the monkey mask and you're all set:

1697318868857.png

:rofl:
 
Zeldman said:
Or be like this guy..
Click to expand...
Friend of mine in Germany occasionally gets mailed tickets for his car speeding or whatever. He’s got a cousin that looks uncannily like him. They blame each other. Apparently it works and he’s never had to pay the tickets since they can’t prove who was actually driving.
 
Interesting. Every time I get a ticket from the red light camera and review the video footage thinking I’d definitely did not run any light - there I am running the light.

Oh well.

Good luck!
 
kaiser said:
Interesting. Every time I get a ticket from the red light camera and review the video footage thinking I’d definitely did not run any light - there I am running the light.

Oh well.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
Every time?

How many times was that? ;)
 
FloridaFlier_86 said:
Over a year ago I was unlucky enough to get caught by a redlight camera early in the morning going to a recurrent sim session at MIA. (Very close call, left turn, wet roads, headlights behind me, thought it was safer to continue than try to stop). I have a special kind of hate for Miamis bullying tactics so rather than pay a hundreds of dollars fine I contacted the Ticket Clinic online and they agreed to handle my case. I just receiving a letter saying I need to participate in a hearing via Zoom this Monday the 16th. The Ticket Clinic email states they will appear in court on my behalf but I’m not sure if that goes for a Zoom video hearing as well. Im going to try and call them today, but if i have to do this myself , has anyone else ever done anything like this? Not sure how formal it will be or to what extent i need to be prepared to defend myself.
Click to expand...
So you ran red light while making a left turn and want to argue it was safer to continue than stop? Most states if you are in the intersection when it turns red you not in violation. The intersection is not measured by using the stop bars like most motorist believe. It is an extension of road way to form a rather small area in the middle of the intersection.
 
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kaiser said:
Interesting. Every time I get a ticket from the red light camera and review the video footage thinking I’d definitely did not run any light - there I am running the light.
Click to expand...
Every time I get a red light ticket, I check the location and family calendar, then sort it to my hubby’s bills :p
 
Red light cameras and speed cameras.... maybe I should start driving nekkid.....
 
Here in the great city of Chicago, I just pay them. Between the wife and I, I think we've gotten one every 24 months or so. Given that it's a camera ticket (and not a ticket from a cop), it doesn't count against license points (and I don't believe it counts against insurance, either). It's more akin to a parking ticket.

Not sure how Miami does it, but in Chicago, my recollection is that when the red light cameras went up, the timing for the yellows was changed. Where you used to have 3-4 seconds of yellow on regular surface streets, and 4-5 seconds of yellow on arterials, they all were dialed back to 2 seconds. I believe studies have shown that the shorter yellows increase accidents (from people jamming on their brakes as soon as they see the yellow and getting rear ended), but the city government here doesn't seem to care. They're pulling in too much money.

Good luck on your "case," but if it were me, I'd pay it and move on.
 
Well, after missing the appointment time due to a combination of unfortunate factors, I realized the ticket clinic was going to appear in court on my behalf the whole time. Got an email yesterday and confirmed by calling the county clerk the case was dismissed by speedy trial. The citation was $158 and I think I paid the ticket clinic $80 or $89 or something? Worth the stress? Probably not. Still, saved some money, and it didn’t go to the city of effing Miami. They got me for “illegal parking” in some city park a few months before the redlight cam. The notice didn’t even say which park or how i was illegally parked. I paid that one but ill be damned if i just keep rolling over. So glad im not in that city for work anymore.
 
I know here in NY I see toms of plates with the numbers scratched out. So they benefit on no red light cameras, speed cameras, tolls. I honestly don’t think the cops even care, especially so cars with the plates scratched out.
 
In Los Angeles, there was a guy that got a ticket from a redlight camera.. He went around the entire county and measured the time between yellow and red for those with and without a camera. He found the camera lights were a few seconds faster than the one without - needless to say...

 
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My state, like most, has lots of "affinity group" plates -- University of ___, Save the Whales, or whatever. We chose one that my wife liked, that depicted a sort of marine animal. When we got it in the mail, I realized that the last digit of our plate # is basically unreadable against the artwork. I thought, "hmm, that might be useful somehow." Last time I was at the DMV, I saw a display of available plate designs, and noticed they have redesigned that one to eliminate the camouflage effect. I plan on keeping ours forever.
 
I've always found the best way to avoid getting traffic tickets is to not violate the traffic laws. So far, it's been 100% effective. Like my old football coach was fond of saying, "If I were in a hurry I would have left sooner."
 
A friend of mine was in Albuquerque one time. As he went through a controlled intersection, POOF.!! Traffic camera goes off. He knew that the light was green, so he circled the block and went through the intersection again. POOF.!! The camera goes off again. He knew he was 5 miles under the speed limit, so he circled the block again, went through the intersection again, and POOF.!!

He decides that something is wrong with the camera, so he circles the block again, this time making sure his dash cam gets the traffic light and his speedometer. As he goes through the intersection, POOF.!! The camera goes off again. Now he is sure something is wrong with the camera, and with his dash cam recording it all, he is feeling rather smug.

A week later he gets 4 tickets in the mail, and he is feeling all confident that he will beat them all. Unfortunately, all 4 tickets were for not wearing his seatbelt...




Ok folks, before all the hate mail starts, this is a joke...
 
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