Someone I know (not me) just got a notice of red light violation in Emeryville.  What surprised me is the red light violation is on a right turn - I didn't realize they did that with cameras.  Somehow I thought it was only for through-the-intersection violations.  There were no cars around in the picture (coming from either the left turn lane opposite, or cross traffic).

Anyway, a couple of questions if anyone is in the know here:

1) What happens if you contest it and get a court date?  There is no cop to show up, right?  I suppose they just bring the snapshots and/or video?  Normally if the witness doesn't show up I thought they dismissed it.

2) Apparently you can see a video...could request that, but not sure how it works.  I'm looking at the two snapshots with timing info and wondering there is a mathematical defense.  The first has the front about 6 feet from the crosswalk, and says 15 mph - the light was already red.  The second is 3.2 seconds later, says 15 mph, and the car is halfway through the right turn.  It looks to me like about 20 feet traveled in 3.2 seconds.  That gives an average speed of (20 / 5280) / (3.2 / 3600) = 4.26 mph.  Clearly the car had to go below 4 mph to average 4.26, if it started at 15 mph and ended at 15 mph.  It would also have been possible to completely stop before the crosswalk.

Thanks for any suggestions...

i got the same thing in emeryville about 2 months ago. i entered the intersection for a right turn .042 seconds after the light turned red. $371 thank you very much.
i looked into contesting the ticket because of the time (.042 sec) but everything i read said that there is no contesting it. unless you can prove the camera is wrong. that is really hard to do because its a video not a snap shot. i'm afraid your mate is SOL. 

Challenge it. In order to get a conviction in CA, the camera had to catch both the car AND the driver. If the photo of the driver is obscured, then it should get thrown out.

Quote from: desmoquattro on September 16, 2008, 04:21:00 AM
Challenge it. In order to get a conviction in CA, the camera had to catch both the car AND the driver. If the photo of the driver is obscured, then it should get thrown out.

I don't know if this is true or not, but I've heard the same thing.  It's worth a shot I guess. 

Thanks - unfortunately the driver picture is pretty clear.  Looks like traffic school.  $371?  Ouch.

Quote from: cloudseeker on September 16, 2008, 10:22:23 AM
Thanks - unfortunately the driver picture is pretty clear.  Looks like traffic school.  $371?  Ouch.

Can the driver be identified with an helmet?
"sorry your honor, someone was ride-testing my bike for purchase. i had 4 drivers testing it on that day, I am sorry I can't remember who they were as just kept their licenses for the lenght of the test"

Should that work?

http://www.ticketassassin.com/