I got a nice photograph of my car from the City of Garland...

It seems in rush hour, stop and go traffic I didn't make it all the way through the light.

According to my citation the light was red for 0.60 which I assume is 6/10th of a second as I would not run a red that had been red for 6/10th of a minute which would be 36 seconds.

It says I can contest it or pay a $75 fine. It also says this is not something that can affect my driving record or insurance but can become a civil matter and they can hold my registration.

I personally think this is a B.S. citation if I "ran the red" by 6/10 of a second. Likely being rush hour, I was caught in the intersection by someone braking.

Suggestions on how I should handle this? Anyone got experience with red light tickets?

You didn't get "caught in the intersection". It is legal to be in the intersection once a light has gone red. You crossed the line to enter the intersection .6 seconds after it had gone red. If you ask I'm sure the city of Garland will be happy to show you photos to the effect - most other cities around here will.

My advice? Pay your fine, move on with life.

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Originally Posted by altiain

You didn't get "caught in the intersection". It is legal to be in the intersection once a light has gone red. You crossed the line to enter the intersection .6 seconds after it had gone red. If you ask I'm sure the city of Garland will be happy to show you photos to the effect - most other cities around here will.

My advice? Pay your fine, move on with life.

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Yep.

I got one a few years ago. Sucked, but I did it, so...

Did you turn right on red? If you did and did not come to a COMPLETE stop, you will have to pay. At the very least, if you have the time and energy, you can ask for an "administrative review" of the incident. They can tell you the exact situation why you get the ticket.

if you can't do the time, don't do the crime

In arlington they give you a link to a webpage that has a short clip of the infraction.

I am just glad that there wasn't a defenseless Toyota in your way as you blew the red light this time. ;)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3473/...7f8d6c71_o.jpg

LOL! What he said ^

Ouch. Forgot about that.

They can provide you with a nice little video as a memento. Like Iain said, just pay it.

At least count your self lucky they sent it to your correct address and in a timely manner. When I found out I got a few of these, it was because it was already sent to a collection agency. Come to find out, they had been sending the notices to an address that I haven't lived at for at least the last 3 years.

That sucks, but when they have it narrowed to down to tenths of a second, I'm sure they have enough evidence to back that up.

The redlight camera at Skillman and 635 was flashing like crazy on green the other day. I wonder how many people will be getting a picture of their car with that malfunction?

I would suggest getting one of these for your car.
http://images.hayneedle.com/mgen/mas...ffffff&cvt=jpg

I probably wouldn't mind so much and wouldn't feel like some kind of money tree for the govt. if they just called it what it is and stop with the "safety" routine. It's about money generation pure and simple. Even more so than speeding tickets IMO. I mean the damn company that our tax money bought the cameras from gets a cut of every fine levied against you. You know why they can't apply points towards your driving record or increase your insurance rates?? Because this is a civil fine due to the fact there is a camera seeing you do it instead of a police officer pulling you over and writing you a citation.

I'd rather be passed by a speeder than t-boned by a red-light-runner.

Then look both ways before crossing an intersection.

I agree that these were erected primarily as money machines. They (the company that owns it) even decrease the yellow light time if it is not making enough money.

I thought the yellow light time was a function of the speed limit on the road as it relates to a safe stopping distance. The measure I've used is the start of the turn lane - if you're at or past it when the light goes yellow and doing the speed limit, you'll make the intersection before it goes red - if you're not there yet (or in doubt), stop.

Short cycling yellows would cause all kinds of safety issues if people became wise to it. Short stopping, getting rear ended, sliding through intersections, etc.

Chris

Edit: Did a bit of digging, and it appears as though the engineers do in fact engineer in the manner described, but then the politicians and accountants get hold of it. And then everything goes to hell. /woowoo!

there was a story about the camera in frisco at gaylord and the tollway. how after a couple of years it really reduced the run red lights to almost zero. so much so they removed the camera and left the housing up as a deterrent.. i worked with one of the companies that facilitates these for munis. your only argument is if garland has changed to a different time constraint. i have read some only allow .2 seconds vs. .5 etc. its splitting hairs.

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Originally Posted by patf

there was a story about the camera in frisco at gaylord and the tollway. how after a couple of years it really reduced the run red lights to almost zero. so much so they removed the camera and left the housing up as a deterrent..

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The housing is gone now.

But that light was my favorite. If you hit your brakes hard enough when coming to the light, the speed of the car stopping right before the line would set the camera off. Somewhere there are a crap ton of photos of all three of my cars as I'm come to a hard stop at that light. It was my favorite night time activity on the way back home from work.

The state has rules that mandates how long the light must be yellow depending on the speed limit of the street. Take a video camera and take footage. If it's short cycling then you can sue them. If you win, they may have to refund all the tickets written at that intersection. Poor Lubbock got hit with that. ;)

If it's timed right, pay it and move on.