Go to court. Especially if you have an otherwise clean Motor Vehicle Record.

Best case, you'll get PBJ (not the sandwich),Probation Before Judgment. Worst case I can imagine, it'll get knocked down to a less severe violation and you'll save some money and points on your record.

I'm not sure about Chows comment regarding photo tickets... never heard of that one before. Did your mailed statement contain a citation number ? If so, sounds like points to me. You might want to call the jurisdictional police dept to make sure.

 

No points are assessed in VA or MD for photo tickets. I've gotten two over the years. No points. No increase in my insurance rates. (I live in Arlington)Just a fine to pay unless you can prove you are not driving the car. In my case, the photo was good enough to see that it was clearly me!

 

It has been my experience that taking a 1/2 day off to go to court is worth it. I live in Chicago and the judges are fairly reasonable when you fess up instead of making excusses.

If I had not contested, I would have had to pay $100 plus not get a ticket for 12 months (probation), plus have to go to traffic school (full day) to avoid any insurance issues.

But since I went to court, I avoided traffic school, I only had to pay $35 and only 4 months of not getting a ticket (court supervision).

I have gone through this a couple of times, plead guilty, and it has paid off when considering the alternative.

good luck

 

Yeah, I have done this in the past with regular tickets, you can always hope the cop doesn't show up . But I wasn't sure if a photo ticket be any different.

 

Probably not, since there really isn't anyone there, just a really high speed camera. I just paid mine.

 

Photo is not the same thing as a police stop. I believe the law is set up as an agreement. Legislature allowed it (income?) but no points. After all, how can they prove your driving?

 

I think the photo ticket prices are so low precisely because they are so easy to contest and get thrown out. It becomes easier to just accept the low price, no-points ticket than it does to contest it, because wasting time winning isn't worth $75. I would think any lawyer could get a photo ticket thrown out on a number of basic principles and probably get the accuser to cover court costs to boot. It's just a question of feeling like going through all that bother for a piddly amount.

 

I got several tickets in the District over the years (I am fighting one now and I got the Mayor 's office involved as well) and I got one (before the MINI) for passing on a red light. Knowing myself (I stop on yellow) I felt the ticket was not right and since the ticket was $100.00 or $150.00 I took the time to go in person and argue it. It was quite easy: I showed up at 7:30 am as a walk in - two other drivers like me arguing a red light ticket were in the room. Apparantely the judge (more like a court clerk) had the original copy of the pictures. First person got the ticket voided as the real picture showed that the light was still on yellow as he crossed the intersection, the second guy got nailed. I too got my ticket cancelled as, according to the picture, I was crossing the intersection with a yellow light.

By 8;10 am I was out the building and on the way to work. No a bad experience ..actually the only one after 13 years of residency in the District.

One piece of advise ... if you get a dismissal KEEP the paperwork as occasionally, some clerks fail to record it.

 

One question does anyone have that Photo Blocker spray? and does it work becuase I want one.

 

one more thing in my hometown Corpus Christi Tx, they set up red light cameras and to my luck which I always get yellow lights it nailed me , so a few nights later it's on the news about the new camera and I'm just sitting on the couch with my family then they show a demonstration and it happens that the demonstration is me in my mini, but I haven't gotten a ticket in the mail yet.

 

Hello,
Does anyone know the name of a DC Lawyer who would discuss whether or not it would be worth it to get representation for a Photo Radar tkt I received?

I am not sure how it happened, but the original tkt mailing never reached me, and when I received the followup notice (very obvious BTW w/DC police dept letterhead), the fine was $200 instead of the original $100. I currently have a clean record in VA, and I would consider going to court, even hiring a lawyer if i could get this reduced back to the original fine or overturned due to lack of maint on camera, etc.

thanks!

 

John,

If hiring a lawyer would cost more than $200, don't bother, just pay it. Photo radar tickets in DC do NOT go on your permanent driving record, which means they don't affect your insurance either.

Sucks to have to pay $200 instead of $100... you might be able to ask the court to reduce the fine back to $100 due to the mail not reaching you (call the clerk of the court and ask about that), but I wouldn't spend much time or money trying to defeat it - you'll just end up more in the hole!

 

I've lived in MD all my life. Three years ago, a friend of mine got a picture of his license plate in the mail with a speeding ticket. It was on the DC beltway, 58 in a 55 !! When he called in to inquire he learned that the machines were set to give a ticket at 57!! It was something like a $75 fine, no points, no moving violation, but he could NOT contest it in court!

The people who've gone to court here were for red light tix, a different beast and jurisdiction than speeding tix, I thought...

Just thought I'd bring it up, since the original poster is asking whether or not they should go to court, is it even an option?

Although it was on the beltway, I can't remember if the ticket was from MD or DC police. If there's a difference, maybe that's why...

 

I can top that. This was some years ago, not in my MINI. I got a "No Front Plate" ticket in DC. I read the ticket (which was left on my windshield), and go, "WTF? I DO have a front plate!" Go to front of car...the bracket is still there, but my front plate was STOLEN. Apparently plate theft is somewhat common in DC.

--Dan
Mach V
FastMINI.net

 

It's unlikely a ticket on the beltway would be from DC police. The only part of the beltway in DC is the span of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

. . . and I can remember when tourists would ask us how to get to DC we would tell them to just get on the Beltway and keep going . . . . .