What you need to know about red light camera tickets

Red light runners are responsible for 22% of the accidents occurring each year in the country. We have two kinds of red light tickets in California: regular red light tickets and red light camera tickets. In regular red light tickets an officer observes the driver entering an intersection while the traffic light is red. The officer would pull over the driver and issue a red light ticket. In red light camera tickets evidence are collected by cameras installed at the intersection. They record enough information of the violation for the law enforcement to be able to issue tickets based on them.

Computers and cameras are installed at several locations at the intersection. These systems are turned on after the traffic light in that direction turns red. If a vehicle is already in the middle of the intersection when the light turns red, the cameras will not be activated. But if a vehicle crosses the intersection after the light turn red, the cameras are triggered and pictures of the car, license plate and the driver are taken. Usually there are two sets of loops at the intersection. If both of them are triggered in rapid succession then the system realizes a vehicle has violated the red light. If the vehicle just triggers the first loop, the system would know that the vehicle has stopped at the edge of the intersection and has not crossed the red light. Usually two pictures of the vehicle are taken. The first shows the vehicle as it enters the intersection and the second is taken seconds later showing the vehicle in the middle of the intersection. Date, time and location of the violation, speed of the car and the time interval between when the traffic light turns red and when the vehicle enters the intersection are just some of the information recorded by the computers.

The ticket is mailed, along with the pictures and other information, to the registered owner of the vehicle in a few days. Most drivers forget about trying to dismiss the traffic ticket and just pay the fine when they see their face in the pictures. Amir Soleimanian, traffic ticket attorney at MrTicket, can help you fight traffic ticket even in a red light camera ticket case. You can call us at (866) 780-1234 to get a free traffic ticket consultation with our traffic ticket consultant.