NY'ers, How much is a Red Light Camera ticket?

[amdhunter]

6 Years of driving since I got my last ticket (I only had my license for 2 weeks when I got it) and this week I managed to get 2. One was for blocking a bus lane at 6PM and the traffic cop just came and scanned my window [I was inside the vehicle too], didn't even ask me to move, then yesterday I passed a red light corridor and got "flashed."

Everyone is telling me the chances that I will get a ticket is still slim, but I heard that the ticket is a whopping $180 dollars. That CAN'T be right. That's just a ridiculous fine to pay for something so trivial. (I ran though a yellow late, and there was someone in front of me.)

I don't mind paying tickets, but I don't know what I would do if I got a $180 ticket in the mail. From what I read, the only way to beat it is to get a lawyer too, which is probably more money than just paying it.

I just can't stand to lose that much money in one shot...lol. I already paid the bus lane ticket ($115) and would be horrified if I had to add another $180 to it.

LOL, I know people who get tickets all the time, I don't understand how they can do it.

 

[bluestrobe]

Originally posted by: amdhunter
That's just a ridiculous fine to pay for something so trivial. (I ran though a yellow late, and there was someone in front of me.)

Yellow lights are to warn you that the light is about to turn red, not to tell you to speed up. In most states, if the light turns red while you're still in the intersection, then you ran a red light. Pay it and don't speed up for yellow lights in the future, regardless if someone is in front or behind you. Also wait until someone t-bones you right when your light turns green and then come back and say it is a ridiculous fine to pay.

 

[Capt Caveman]

You'll be losing more money than just the ticket fines. Your auto insurance will also go up. Let's hope you learned your lesson.

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: bluestrobe

Originally posted by: amdhunter
That's just a ridiculous fine to pay for something so trivial. (I ran though a yellow late, and there was someone in front of me.)

Yellow lights are to warn you that the light is about to turn red, not to tell you to speed up. In most states, if the light turns red while you're still in the intersection, then you ran a red light. Pay it and don't speed up for yellow lights in the future, regardless if someone is in front or behind you. Also wait until someone t-bones you right when your light turns green and then come back and say it is a ridiculous fine to pay.

Heh, first ticket in 6 years, bringing my lifetime total to 3. Do you really think that I do this all the time?

As a matter of fact, both times that I got in an accident, it's because I slowed down to not eat a red light (rear-ended both times) because I wanted to avoid a ticket, so don't come spewing bullshit to me. It would have been safer to eat the red.

Everyone who posts a ticket thread is NOT a habitual ticket getter.

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
You'll be losing more money than just the ticket fines. Your auto insurance will also go up. Let's hope you learned your lesson.

Nah, it's treated as a parking ticket, not a moving violation. I found out that it's only $50 so no big deal. I called a friend of mines and told him I got flashed, and he has gotten 2 before.

 

[newb111]

Originally posted by: amdhunter

Originally posted by: bluestrobe

Originally posted by: amdhunter
That's just a ridiculous fine to pay for something so trivial. (I ran though a yellow late, and there was someone in front of me.)

Yellow lights are to warn you that the light is about to turn red, not to tell you to speed up. In most states, if the light turns red while you're still in the intersection, then you ran a red light. Pay it and don't speed up for yellow lights in the future, regardless if someone is in front or behind you. Also wait until someone t-bones you right when your light turns green and then come back and say it is a ridiculous fine to pay.

Heh, first ticket in 6 years, bringing my lifetime total to 3. Do you really think that I do this all the time?

As a matter of fact, both times that I got in an accident, it's because I slowed down to not eat a red light (rear-ended both times) because I wanted to avoid a ticket, so don't come spewing bullshit to me. It would have been safer to eat the red.

Everyone who posts a ticket thread is NOT a habitual ticket getter.

Being rear-ended is MUCH safer than a t-bone accident. Consider yourself luck to get a ticket, and not in an accident

 

[Quasmo]

Originally posted by: bluestrobe

Originally posted by: amdhunter
That's just a ridiculous fine to pay for something so trivial. (I ran though a yellow late, and there was someone in front of me.)

Yellow lights are to warn you that the light is about to turn red, not to tell you to speed up. In most states, if the light turns red while you're still in the intersection, then you ran a red light. Pay it and don't speed up for yellow lights in the future, regardless if someone is in front or behind you. Also wait until someone t-bones you right when your light turns green and then come back and say it is a ridiculous fine to pay.

In Georgia the law states nothing about it being illegal to run a yellow light. It states that the traffic in the intersection is about to stop. If you are in the intersection before the light turns red you are in the clear.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: amdhunter

Originally posted by: bluestrobe

Originally posted by: amdhunter
That's just a ridiculous fine to pay for something so trivial. (I ran though a yellow late, and there was someone in front of me.)

Yellow lights are to warn you that the light is about to turn red, not to tell you to speed up. In most states, if the light turns red while you're still in the intersection, then you ran a red light. Pay it and don't speed up for yellow lights in the future, regardless if someone is in front or behind you. Also wait until someone t-bones you right when your light turns green and then come back and say it is a ridiculous fine to pay.

Heh, first ticket in 6 years, bringing my lifetime total to 3. Do you really think that I do this all the time?

As a matter of fact, both times that I got in an accident, it's because I slowed down to not eat a red light (rear-ended both times) because I wanted to avoid a ticket, so don't come spewing bullshit to me. It would have been safer to eat the red.

Everyone who posts a ticket thread is NOT a habitual ticket getter.

That, and the duration of the yellow light is not consistent. I've seen intersections where it is less than 1 second on yellow, and some larger where it seriously lasts 5 seconds.

Sometimes it's a better idea to speed up from 40mph to 45-50mph and get through the light, rather than slam on the brakes to go from 40mph to 0 in the same amount of time.

The problem with these automated enforcement systems are that they take the subjective element out of law enforcement. I almost got hung up in an intersection because a bus pulled out in front of me, making a right turn on red from his lane running perpendicular, going into the same lane as me. I don't know if he didn't see me or if he was running late or what, but he started to turn before my light had turned yellow. So I had to hit the brakes, and just as I did, the light turned yellow, leaving me sitting in the middle of the intersection as it turned red. If it had been a camera-tended intersection, I'd have gotten a ticket. If a cop had been watching, he would have been more likely to go after the bus driver for pulling out in front of me.

Because of this, some kind of compensation needs to be built into the automated systems. The options: make the yellow lights consistent in their timing, which might not always work - a small intersection with two lanes of traffic each way doesn't need much time. Out here, we've got a 4 lane highway, with a railroad on one side. The intersection is also at an angle, not just 90 degrees. There, the light stays yellow for a very long time, because getting all the way across the angled road and the railroad takes a little while.
Other options - give an unpublicized amount of buffer time once the light turns red before starting to give out tickets. Tailor it to each intersection.
- Or allow a certain number of "freebies" per year per person. You get three warnings mailed to you, and the next one is a ticket.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: amdhunter

Originally posted by: bluestrobe

Originally posted by: amdhunter
That's just a ridiculous fine to pay for something so trivial. (I ran though a yellow late, and there was someone in front of me.)

Yellow lights are to warn you that the light is about to turn red, not to tell you to speed up. In most states, if the light turns red while you're still in the intersection, then you ran a red light. Pay it and don't speed up for yellow lights in the future, regardless if someone is in front or behind you. Also wait until someone t-bones you right when your light turns green and then come back and say it is a ridiculous fine to pay.

Heh, first ticket in 6 years, bringing my lifetime total to 3. Do you really think that I do this all the time?

As a matter of fact, both times that I got in an accident, it's because I slowed down to not eat a red light (rear-ended both times) because I wanted to avoid a ticket, so don't come spewing bullshit to me. It would have been safer to eat the red.

Everyone who posts a ticket thread is NOT a habitual ticket getter.

That, and the duration of the yellow light is not consistent. I've seen intersections where it is less than 1 second on yellow, and some larger where it seriously lasts 5 seconds.

Sometimes it's a better idea to speed up from 40mph to 45-50mph and get through the light, rather than slam on the brakes to go from 40mph to 0 in the same amount of time.

Make sure you don't kill me when I'm going thru the intersection since I have the green light.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: amdhunter
Heh, first ticket in 6 years, bringing my lifetime total to 3. Do you really think that I do this all the time?

As a matter of fact, both times that I got in an accident, it's because I slowed down to not eat a red light (rear-ended both times) because I wanted to avoid a ticket, so don't come spewing bullshit to me. It would have been safer to eat the red.

Everyone who posts a ticket thread is NOT a habitual ticket getter.

That, and the duration of the yellow light is not consistent. I've seen intersections where it is less than 1 second on yellow, and some larger where it seriously lasts 5 seconds.

Sometimes it's a better idea to speed up from 40mph to 45-50mph and get through the light, rather than slam on the brakes to go from 40mph to 0 in the same amount of time.

Make sure you don't kill me when I'm going thru the intersection since I have the green light.

There's a difference between speeding up to get through a YELLOW light and speeding up to get through a RED light.
If my light is yellow, and yours is green, then we'd both best be talking to the department of transportation.

 

[Eli]

$180?

That's cheap. My 80 in a 55 ticket was over $400.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: amdhunter
Heh, first ticket in 6 years, bringing my lifetime total to 3. Do you really think that I do this all the time?

As a matter of fact, both times that I got in an accident, it's because I slowed down to not eat a red light (rear-ended both times) because I wanted to avoid a ticket, so don't come spewing bullshit to me. It would have been safer to eat the red.

Everyone who posts a ticket thread is NOT a habitual ticket getter.

That, and the duration of the yellow light is not consistent. I've seen intersections where it is less than 1 second on yellow, and some larger where it seriously lasts 5 seconds.

Sometimes it's a better idea to speed up from 40mph to 45-50mph and get through the light, rather than slam on the brakes to go from 40mph to 0 in the same amount of time.

Make sure you don't kill me when I'm going thru the intersection since I have the green light.

There's a difference between speeding up to get through a YELLOW light and speeding up to get through a RED light.
If my light is yellow, and yours is green, then we'd both best be talking to the department of transportation.

Except when that light turns red when you attempt to beat the yellow.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
Except when that light turns red when you attempt to beat the yellow.

In which case, there's still a delay between the traffic in the other direction getting a green light. And, if you start going when the light changes green, even though there's still traffic in the intersection, then you're just not paying attention.

Basically, it depends on the circumstances whether it is better to speed up or not. If I'm going 40mph, and am maybe 15 feet from the thick white line at the start of the intersection when the light changes yellow, I'm not going to be able to stop the car in that time, so it's better to speed up and ensure that I make it through in time, rather than SLAM on the brakes and come to a screeching halt so that I wouldn't run a yellow light.