[s-cars] guilty, not guilty?

[racingiron at comcast.net]

We've got both red light and speed cameras here in TN. Tickets come in the mail and are a no-points violation. The ticket defaults to the registered owner of the vehicle, but you have the option of testifying in court that you were not the driver. At that point, you're under oath so the next question is obvious, and "I don't know" is not considered acceptable. I've kicked around the idea of registering my car in my wife's name and vice-versa. Then when she gets the ticket, she can honestly testify she was not the driver, and when they ask who was driving she can plead da fif since one can't be compelled to testify against one's spouse. I doubt that would work in this non-criminal situation though. 

I've also considered a defense using Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle... you can't know with certainty both the position and speed of a particle. You say my car was moving? Then how do you know where it was? You say it was at the intersection? Then you can't know that the speed wasn't zero! I'm sure I'd get an overnight stay for that attempt. 

The video is pretty conclusive about your rolling stop. If you want to fight it, look at the other details. Does the statute require notification signs a specific distance from an operating camera? If so, verify they exist and are where they're supposed to be. I've even heard of people altering such signage after the incident in question to win a case, but I'd never advise that sort of subversive tactic. Nope, never. Check the timing on the light transitions, too. We had a community here that was found to have reduced the yellow light duration below the legal requirement when they installed the cameras. 

There's lots of opposition to the cameras here, but also lots of support from safety advocates. The only time I've heard of the cameras being removed is in cases where enough drivers learned about the cameras and simply stopped violations in that location. The private company running the cameras stopped making a profit, so they were removed. It's all about the money. 

Eric R. 
'86 urq 
'92 urS 
'93 urS