DOH! I just got my first ticket.

[Adrenaline]

...at which point cruiser video proves you're a liar.

I would let them prove me to be a liar, sorry. I seriously doubt that cops record red light infractions unless they are sitting there specifically to give out red light tickets.

Why exactly would people want to get out of a ticket? Didn't you break the law? I'm pretty sure running red lights is extremely dangerous. So you commit said crime, and then try to get out of it? For what reason exactly? Learn not to break the law perhaps?

You get the ticket dismissed and don't worry about anything really. Here, if it gets thrown out, which most like this do, then you will either get off with no fees or just pay court costs and it does not go on your record.

How does the OP know he ran a red light and the cop is not lying through his teeth? Sorry, but both stop sign tickets I got were crap as I stopped, looked and drove off. Both times it was around 1 AM and NOBODY was on the road.

I got pulled over for speeding and running a red light by a cop sitting on the other side of the road from me. I went through an intersection at 35 in a 45 and the light was green. Yeah, do NOT believe everything that comes from a cop's mouth. He had no proof whatsoever and gave me a warning. They have quotas and you are a number.

 

[F1N3ST]

Because it's cheaper that way?

This. I think it's a stupid question. Or at least plead it down to like some minor cash only ticket, like we have Impeding Traffic here in MI..

 

[Adrenaline]

To the OP. I would not even report it to my insurance company. They only run a minor amount of clients driving records each year, usually the constant offenders.

 

[Red Squirrel]

No sense in trying to get out of it, the video prooves it. The cop got me to sit in the passenger side to check it out, he wanted to make sure I don't have doubts (which I did not, even though I totally did not notice) and sure enough it's clear. It shows his light turning yellow which means mine would be red then shows me passing by.

When he gave me the ticket he did mention I had the option of taking it to court (guessing they HAVE to say that) but I pointed to the screen and said "which would be silly of me doing!" and he laughed. Guess there's always the chance he does not show up.

It's paid already though, done done and done. For a $110 ticket I rather just caugh it up and see it as a lessoned hard learned and not have to worry about court and other stuff like that.

 

[Red Squirrel]

To the OP. I would not even report it to my insurance company. They only run a minor amount of clients driving records each year, usually the constant offenders.

I would be the one to report it? I figured it would be the cop, hence why he asks for the registration. If that's the case then yeah, I wont bother then!

 

[jlee]

I would let them prove me to be a liar, sorry. I seriously doubt that cops record red light infractions unless they are sitting there specifically to give out red light tickets.

Modern cruiser cameras record for a significant period of time prior to the blue lights coming on. Welcome to the world of technology.

 

[Adrenaline]

No sense in trying to get out of it, the video prooves it. The cop got me to sit in the passenger side to check it out, he wanted to make sure I don't have doubts (which I did not, even though I totally did not notice) and sure enough it's clear. It shows his light turning yellow which means mine would be red then shows me passing by.

When he gave me the ticket he did mention I had the option of taking it to court (guessing they HAVE to say that) but I pointed to the screen and said "which would be silly of me doing!" and he laughed. Guess there's always the chance he does not show up.

It's paid already though, done done and done. For a $110 ticket I rather just caugh it up and see it as a lessoned hard learned and not have to worry about court and other stuff like that.

Wow, a red light cop.

Anyways, ask around at work and see if anyone you know, knows of a lawyer that will get rid of it for $50 or so. Where I work people have gotten numerous speeding tickets dismissed by using a lawyer that has been passed around for that small fee.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I would let them prove me to be a liar, sorry. I seriously doubt that cops record red light infractions unless they are sitting there specifically to give out red light tickets.



You get the ticket dismissed and don't worry about anything really. Here, if it gets thrown out, which most like this do, then you will either get off with no fees or just pay court costs and it does not go on your record.

How does the OP know he ran a red light and the cop is not lying through his teeth? Sorry, but both stop sign tickets I got were crap as I stopped, looked and drove off. Both times it was around 1 AM and NOBODY was on the road.

I got pulled over for speeding and running a red light by a cop sitting on the other side of the road from me. I went through an intersection at 35 in a 45 and the light was green. Yeah, do NOT believe everything that comes from a cop's mouth. He had no proof whatsoever and gave me a warning. They have quotas and you are a number.

I hear a lot of horror stories like that about US cops but at least in my city they are not crooked like this. I don't think they work on comission or otherwise need to stop people to get paid. They only stop people that are actually breaking the law.

 

[Adrenaline]

I would be the one to report it? I figured it would be the cop, hence why he asks for the registration. If that's the case then yeah, I wont bother then!

In all the tickets I ever got my insurance company did NOT run my driving record until I was in an accident with an uninsured motorist. I would not say jack to the insurance people. I have never heard of the police notifying an insurance company of someone's ticket. I could see it with a major violation perhaps, like a DUI.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Modern cruiser cameras record for a significant period of time prior to the blue lights coming on. Welcome to the world of technology.

Yep and this cop had one and even shown me the video.

 

[Adrenaline]

I hear a lot of horror stories like that about US cops but at least in my city they are not crooked like this. I don't think they work on comission or otherwise need to stop people to get paid. They only stop people that are actually breaking the law.

Speakling of crooked cops. A Memphis Police task force has busted about 40 crooked Memphis Police Oficers in the past 4 years.

The last one I remember pulled over a drug dealer and the cop or his partner stole over $10,000 in cash from the drug dealer's car. The drug dealer told on the cop. The cop is now fired and in jail.

 

[jlee]

In all the tickets I ever got my insurance company did NOT run my driving record until I was in an accident with an uninsured motorist. I would not say jack to the insurance people. I have never heard of the police notifying an insurance company of someone's ticket. I could see it with a major violation perhaps, like a DUI.

Neither have I.

 

[mb]

at least you didn't do it on porpoise
happens to most people eventually

I accidentally ran a red light one time when I was in college. I was the first car in line to make a left turn at an intersection. The lights to go straight were also red. I took that turn almost everyday, and every time except for that one the left turn light turns green at the same time as the lights to go straight. Well, not that time. The lights to go straight turned green and mine stayed red, but I was so trained on it turning green (and I was running late) that I still went. By the time I realized it was red it was too late. Oops, luckily there were no cops around or oncoming traffic But I'm sure the people that were behind me were thinking WTF.

 

[jlee]

I accidentally ran a red light one time when I was in college. I was the first car in line to make a left turn at an intersection. The lights to go straight were also red. I took that turn almost everyday, and every time except for that one the left turn light turns green at the same time as the lights to go straight. Well, not that time. The lights to go straight turned green and mine stayed red, but I was so trained on it turning green (and I was running late) that I still went. By the time I realized it was red it was too late. Oops, luckily there were no cops around or oncoming traffic But I'm sure the people that were behind me were thinking WTF.

Hahaha...same thing when I was in college, but it was a right turn that usually went green. It didn't...and I wasn't as lucky as you.

 

[Svnla]

Speakling of crooked cops. A Memphis Police task force has busted about 40 crooked Memphis Police Oficers in the past 4 years.

The last one I remember pulled over a drug dealer and the cop or his partner stole over $10,000 in cash from the drug dealer's car. The drug dealer told on the cop. The cop is now fired and in jail.

Dallas had similar problems a few years ago under former chief Terrell Bolton. The bastard got fired, got another job from another state, then got fired too from that job. Of course, instead of taking the high road, he filed suits on both cases.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/022409dnmetbolton.3ce470d.html

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...ories/033109dnmetregionalroundup.4a87a83.html

 

[JulesMaximus]

Man, running a red light is probably one of the most dangerous things you can do behind the wheel of a car besides drive drunk. It should cost way more than a speeding ticket IMO.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Moral of story, don't zone out and always pay attention while driving!

obligatory..NO SHIT remark.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Man, running a red light is probably one of the most dangerous things you can do behind the wheel of a car besides drive drunk. It should cost way more than a speeding ticket IMO.

Yeah which is probably why they're raising the fine. I still can't believe I went and did it though, and I'm just glad nobody got hurt or potentially got hurt. It's not a busy intersection, at least it was not at that time. This is a wakeup call to be more alert when driving that's for sure! I was thinking too much about work and other stuff instead.

 

[PieIsAwesome]

That's scary. I almost ran a red light once but noticed and managed to stop in time.

There is this one exit at a gas station where I made a left turn onto the wrong lane once. It was completely empty, fortunately, and I got out of there as quickly as possible. For some reason every time I come to that exit I get the urge to do the same thing, so I stay away from it.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Yeah which is probably why they're raising the fine. I still can't believe I went and did it though, and I'm just glad nobody got hurt or potentially got hurt. It's not a busy intersection, at least it was not at that time. This is a wakeup call to be more alert when driving that's for sure! I was thinking too much about work and other stuff instead.

You're lucky. I ran a red light once. I was driving home from work and the sun was low on the horizon so I had my visor down and couldn't see that this light had changed. It was only out of the corner of my eye that I saw it was red as I was entering the intersection, I slammed on the brakes but couldn't stop. Luckily, there was no traffic in the intersection when this happened.

I didn't get nabbed for it though fortunately.