Traffic Camera Ticket Overturned and how it could affect you.
San Antonio Traffic Ticket Attorney Sees Hope for Drivers Nationwide after Traffic Camera Ticket Overturned.
A recent Gizmodo post brought our attention to another case where The People rise victorious over The Man. Dramatic overstatement? Maybe. But a citizen in Washington, D.C. had a Traffic Camera Ticket Overturned recently, and as traffic ticket lawyers, we get pretty psyched over that kind of progress!
“Illegitimate Money Grab”
A 34-year-old man (who wishes to remain anonymous) was given a ticket for doing 51 in a 40 on an interstate in D.C. this past May 7, 2013. The man decided it would be worthwhile to fight the ticket in court, if only to cost the city some money, because he considers the photo radar ticket to be a scam. (And he’s not the only one. Our firm has blogged about red light tickets and photo radar tickets in the recent past, and our research has led us to understand just how many citizens are voicing negative opinions about private sector companies like American Traffic Solutions, who contracts with D.C., assisting municipalities in snagging more of our dollars.) Planning to use the court appearance as an opportunity to speak on the ills of photo radar traffic enforcement, the man was surprised by a nugget of information he had overlooked: Adjudicator Stephen Reichert noticed the photo showing the man’s car purportedly speeding down the interstate contained other vehicles in the radar’s field of view. If there is a chance another vehicle might have been the speeder, the accuracy of the radar reading is questionable and you can get the Traffic Camera Ticket Overturned.
The hearing record states: “In as much as the government-submitted photograph shows multiple vehicles traveling through the radar zone in a receding direction, the government has failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that respondent’s vehicle was identified as the vehicle speeding” which got the Traffic Camera Ticket Overturned.
Doctor, Doctor
We count that as a win, but American Traffic Solutions and potentially other private photo enforcement contractors took these kinds of dismissals as a tip and started doctoring the ticket photos. As the hearing record from the D.C. case stated, the government-submitted photograph showed other vehicles within the radar’s field of vision. This helped the D.C. man challenge the accuracy of the radar’s identification of his vehicle as the speeder, and thus he beat the case. Therefore, if American Traffic Solutions crops out the other vehicles, there’s less room for questions of accuracy, and a better chance of making the money they’re after.
So watch out! Avoid getting ticketed by driving safely and according to the law, but if you’ve received a traffic ticket and want representation by an attorney experienced in handling traffic tickets, please call The Coquat Law Firm at (210) 745-2835.