First in a series of two
If you have been unlucky enough to earn a red light camera ticket, did you know you may ignore it – without fear of punishment?
A woman who appears to have become an expert on the topic after a decade of perspicacious research, tells the newspaper she believes this has been the case at least for the last 18 months, possibly years longer.
Desiring to remain anonymous, she asserts that courts do not forward ignored tickets to the state Dept. of Motor Vehicles. “I would estimate easily a hundred thousand tickets have been ignored in this county,” she said. “The worst that can happen is you get a notice from the court of a $300 penalty attached to the ticket, and it now totals $700.
“Beyond that, it might go to a collection agency – but since it is not formally reported, it would not affect your credit or your driving record.”
Why It Began
Her fascinating history waltz with red light camera tickets started in Culver City.
“After I got the ticket 10 years ago,” she said, “I went to the (now defunct) Courthouse (on Overland Avenue where the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum presides today).
“I am an older person. I have had tickets before, and I have been to court before. I knew what the normal routine was.
“A bunch of people were there for their red light camera tickets, but something struck me. They were not the usual people I was accustomed to seeing.
“They were older, more conservative, not your basic leadfoot who roars through red lights. That rang an alarm for me. When I started looking into it, I could see it was a scam.
“One part of the scam,” she said, “is that this program was undertaken and promoted in the name of safety and greater awareness of the dangers of not obeying such rules.
“Not the case at all. The big question after 10 years (of research) is whether the red light cameras have improved safety. I don’t believe they have.
“Until a few years ago, cities were not willing to admit there was any financial motivation, that welcome profits were to be made.
“Now they pretty freely admit that. You also see cities doing things to make sure the profits stay there.”
She added that the incidence of issuing red light camera tickets in Culver City has been on the rise in the three most recent months.
(To be continued)
