Fighting Automated Photo Tickets
Getting a ticket from a machine rather than an actual police officer seems to be the new norm in more and more municipalities around the country. In the state of New Jersey, many drivers believe that when it comes to photo tickets, you are guilty until proven innocent, since the state holds both the registered owner and the actual driver jointly liable. However, contrary to popular belief, you can still go to court to plead your case. If you get a red light ticket and feel that it’s unjust, you should hire a competent New Jersey traffic ticket attorney to help you fight it.
In New Jersey, when you attempt to fight a photo ticket, some of the first questions that will be asked of you are whether you are the registered owner of the vehicle and whether you were the actual driver at the time of the photo. Based on your answers to those questions, the next question will be: if you were not driving, who was? If you, as the registered owner, were not the driver at the time, most courts will ask you to supply the name of the person to whom you loaned your vehicle.
Not so long ago, the first southern New Jersey municipality to issue a red light camera ticket admitted that it had issued around 12,000 tickets worth approximately $1 million at an intersection where the timing of the yellow light was illegally shortened. Motorists were given only three seconds of yellow warning before the camera began taking snapshots, as opposed to the state-mandated four seconds. A lawsuit was ultimately threatened over the issue; however, it was eventually decided that the alleged violators would not be refunded for the $85 citations. Instead, motorists would be permitted to go to court and ask in person for a legal proceeding to attempt to get their money back.
While a one-second difference in the time of the yellow warning at an intersection might seem unimportant, the additional margin of safety is vital. The vast majority of red light violations happen when drivers miscalculate the end of the yellow light. If you need the services of a qualified New Jersey traffic ticket attorney, please call Dan Matrafajlo for a free consultation.
