Speed camera tickets are an abomination. They are a stain on our justice system. In the old days, those envisioned by our founding fathers, you were entitled to face your accuser in court by the United States Constitution. Today, you'll face a stack of records that show that a camera was calibrated by somebody, and are offered a guilty-until-proven-innocent trial by mail. At some point, somewhere along the way, all the romance of a traffic ticket trial lost its way.
But enough lamenting by lawyers about the good old days of legal battles. Quite frankly, most normal people don't care. Us ticketed folks just want to beat the stupid thing. This is doubly true when it wasn't even us driving. Maybe you let your car to a friend. Or maybe your wife, who is a drop dead gorgeous medical resident, decided to go 36 on a road that is called the “Rockaway freeway.” But unfortunately, New York City does not know what the word freeway means and instead they conveniently located a school zone on that freeway and require drivers to slow down to 25 miles per hour or risk getting their picture taken. Good times. Happens to us all, right?
So, how do you beat these abominable speed camera tickets?
How to Beat a Speed Camera Ticket
The first question you're going to have when you open that envelope is, could this have possibly been me driving the car when the ticket happened? Is that even my car in the picture? If it is, do I drive on that particular road ever? Am I typically at work or otherwise occupied at the time that ticket was issued?
For example, if the ticket says it was issued at 3:06 p.m. on the Rockaway freeway in New York City on a Tuesday, and your spouse typically takes the car to work on Tuesday, and you are an incredibly brilliant and verbose attorney who works from home, that ticket may not have been your fault. Where you go from here depends on your jurisdiction:
- In some states, merely attesting to the fact that you are not the driver at that time is enough to get the ticket dismissed. One example of such an idyllic paradise is Washington state. In Washington, the vehicle owner merely has to swear under oath that he or she was not the driver and the ticket goes in the trash. No snitching is required, which is great because nobody likes a snitch and tattling on your spouse will only lead to you starring in a viral video. Plus, Washington law prohibits the local authorities from using the pictures taken by the traffic camera to hunt down the true offender.
- In other states, you are not required to snitch, but the authorities will do everything they can to locate the real driver. For example, in Arizona, they will check the DMV records of anyone living at your address to see if a spouse or other loved one was the face captured by the creepy camera.
- And of course, some states are downright evil. In New York, the owner of the vehicle is responsible for the ticket, no matter who was driving, though there are exceptions for when a vehicle is owned by one party, then leased to another.
Of course, oftentimes you were the driver. Or you just don't want to be a snitch. So how else might you beat a camera ticket? This is where knowing the fine print of the law comes in handy. A few assorted strategies for beating a camera ticket (aside from the above mistaken identity defense) include:
- Check the clock. Many jurisdictions have limits on what times of day the cameras are allowed to operate. For example, in some jurisdictions you are not allowed to operate a speed camera outside of a school zone and outside of hours in which children may be present. A few years ago, Nassau County, New York refunded millions in tickets collected over a single summer due to questions about whether the cameras were operating during school hours.
- Was there appropriate signage? A brilliant man up in the Seattle area recently beat a camera ticket because he argued that the signage that warn drivers about the school zone did not comply with state law by being too wordy. Washington, New York, and many other states require signage to comply with federal safety standards.
- Can you become an expert in state law? A lady in New York beat her ticket, on appeal of course, by pointing out that the sworn statement submitted in court regarding the ticket was not a notarized affidavit, and was merely “affirmed” (sworn to be true). State law provides that notarization is required on affidavits submitted to court, with only a few exceptions - this technicality is one only a lawyer could love. A series of similar lawsuits seeking refunds for all New Yorkers on the basis of a similar argument are pending.
- How about federal constitutional law? A law school professor took on Montgomery City over their traffic ticket cameras on the basis of an argument rooted in federal constitutional law. In order to press this argument, he had to advance multiple times the original ticket’s value via a bond, one which he seemingly never got back. But at least he won!
We know, this all sounds a bit absurd. And it is. It is absurd that people have to resort to this to defend their basic freedoms under the Constitution. There are more ways to beat these tickets, but beating a camera ticket it's probably one of the hardest things to do in a court of law. After all, they did catch your vehicle (and possibly your face) on camera doing the exact crime to which you have been charged - and in these cases, it’s almost as if you are guilty until you prove your innocence.
Why You Should Not Pay Your Speed Camera Ticket
Given the above statement, you probably think you should just pay the ticket. But no. And we aren't advising you to pursue a quixotic quest like the law school professor we mentioned earlier - the one who spent hundreds of dollars and countless years of his life fighting a ticket for fun. He may have won, but at the cost of days and weeks of his life wasted. And he still probably hasn't gotten the bond back that he had to pay in order to fight the ticket.
No, you shouldn't immediately pay and cave on your ticket without first consulting with a lawyer. Why? Well, for one, these tickets are not perfect regardless of all the technology they have packed into those little boxes. Sometimes, they catch the wrong person. Sometimes, they catch the right person but they do so outside of the legal hours in which they are allowed to monitor the streets. Attorneys who deal with these tickets everyday are far more likely to spot any inconsistencies or issues with the ticket then someone who is panicking over getting their first ticket ever. Before you pay, it just makes sense to at least consult with a lawyer.
Speed Camera Ticket Defense
Depending on where you live and what happened, you might be able to handle this yourself. For example, if you are in Washington, and you were not the driver, it really is as simple as swearing that you were not the driver under oath through a sworn written statement. Bye-bye ticket.
Washington is exceptional in its ease though. In other states, the ticket will likely be covered in threatening language about perjury or warnings that instruct you to rat out the real driver to get the ticket dismissed, even if that is not what local law requires. After all, states don't require police departments to give you all the tricks to beating the ticket on the ticket itself - heck, the law even allows the police to lie.
If you read the above section on beating these tickets, you’ll realize that it is not an easy feat for anyone. There’s a reason why it seems like every tiny victory is a news story: the deck is stacked against drivers and victory is typically achieved by digging through numerous state and federal laws and regulations.
Your best bet for fighting one of these tickets is to hand it off to an expert who deals with these every day. After all, they will be familiar with all the ways in which the local police, ticket operators, camera operators, and the technicians who configure the cameras, monitor the tapes, and write the little sworn statements on the tickets can possibly screw this up. They are your best bet for spotting these errors and getting the ticket wiped out. Plus, given that all attorneys on Off The Record agree to Off the Record’s money-back guarantee, you have nothing to lose - a few taps on our website or our IOS app, plus a picture of the ticket, is all that it takes to connect with a lawyer and fight back today!
This information on this site is provided solely for informational purposes. It is not legal advice. Off The Record is not a law firm, does not provide legal services, and is not a lawyer referral service. The attorney listings on the site are paid attorney advertisements. Off the Record has not evaluated this content for accuracy, completeness, or changes in law. No representation is made here about your specific rights. Off The Record is not a substitute for an attorney or a law firm. Legal advice can only be provided by a licensed lawyer.
Photo credit Dave Dugdale (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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