contesting red light camera ticket in dc - do i have any chance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have no chance in getting out of the ticket for that reason.

Yeah, this. The "I didn't mean to, it was an accident" defense has traditionally been ineffective. Strange, I know.

[Anonymous]

11:49 Are you freaking kidding me? You really think the position of the sun relative to the streetlight is an excuse to blindly blast through intersections???

Would you feel the same way if OP had plowed into YOU?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hey losers, pregnancy brain is REAL.

Maybe for losers like you. I closed a 10M deal while still in the L&D unit.

FTW. Post of the month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have no chance in getting out of the ticket for that reason.

Agree. And nor should you. You admit to running a red light. Why you think your sob story of circumstances would get you out of making a poor decision (to follow traffic when you couldn't see a light rather than stop) is just as stupid as your initial poor decision.

[Anonymous]

OP: A sign of maturity is owning your mistakes. Own it. Pay the fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm so mad at myself! Several weeks ago I was driving home on K Street, headed towards the Key Bridge. It was after 7 pm and during twilight. Right before going through an intersection, the sun got into my eyes and completely blinded me. I literally could see nothing high up where the light was for several seconds (which was really scary, that has never happened to me before for that length of time). I had to make a decision immediately and decided to just follow traffic (there was another car moving about one car length ahead of me in the next lane over and one directly in front of me) rather than jerk to a complete stop and potentially cause an accident with the person behind me.

About halfway through the light I realized that it had been red (I can't remember how I realized this but I did) and totally freaked out. I was 8 months pregnant at the time and would NEVER EVER have run a red light intentionally. I have never run a red light before and have a great driving record.

Anyway, I just tried to contest the ticket online.. has anyone done this? Trying to figure out whether I have a chance or not at getting out of it. I'm so bummed because I really did NOT mean for this to happen at all whatsoever and the fine is so expensive I really think that if a policeman had been there and pulled me over, they would have been able to see what I meant by the twilight induced lack of sight. If it helps, you can see the twilight in the pictures they took with the violation..

You don't stand a snowball's chance in hell, pay the fine and stop running red lights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm so mad at myself! Several weeks ago I was driving home on K Street, headed towards the Key Bridge. It was after 7 pm and during twilight. Right before going through an intersection, the sun got into my eyes and completely blinded me. I literally could see nothing high up where the light was for several seconds (which was really scary, that has never happened to me before for that length of time). I had to make a decision immediately and decided to just follow traffic (there was another car moving about one car length ahead of me in the next lane over and one directly in front of me) rather than jerk to a complete stop and potentially cause an accident with the person behind me.

About halfway through the light I realized that it had been red (I can't remember how I realized this but I did) and totally freaked out. I was 8 months pregnant at the time and would NEVER EVER have run a red light intentionally. I have never run a red light before and have a great driving record.

Anyway, I just tried to contest the ticket online.. has anyone done this? Trying to figure out whether I have a chance or not at getting out of it. I'm so bummed because I really did NOT mean for this to happen at all whatsoever and the fine is so expensive I really think that if a policeman had been there and pulled me over, they would have been able to see what I meant by the twilight induced lack of sight. If it helps, you can see the twilight in the pictures they took with the violation..

(a) a policeman is not going to give you a break because of the sun. Every westbound driver faces the same problem, every day.
(b) what if an old lady had been there, crossing the road? be thankful and pay your ticket.

[Anonymous]

Or maybe one of these passing through the crosswalk?

http://k.b5z.net/i/u/6030771/h/Photos/auxslideshow/wagon.png

[Anonymous]

You made a mistake and broke the law. Pay the ticket, learn from the experience. Next time if you encounter a situation where you can't see and don't know what color a light is, etc., do yourself and everyone else a favor and don't just continue to blast through an intersection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or maybe one of these passing through the crosswalk?

http://k.b5z.net/i/u/6030771/h/Photos/auxslideshow/wagon.png

I don't understand what highly emotional posts like this bring to the discussion. Obviously if she couldn't see the light, she couldn't see the strollers. OP, contest the ticket and see what happens.

[Anonymous]

Pay the fine, OP. You ran the light. The sun sets every day, which means you should have shown more caution. You being pregnant means nothing.

[Anonymous]

Fight the power!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or maybe one of these passing through the crosswalk?

http://k.b5z.net/i/u/6030771/h/Photos/auxslideshow/wagon.png

I don't understand what highly emotional posts like this bring to the discussion. Obviously if she couldn't see the light, she couldn't see the strollers. OP, contest the ticket and see what happens.

It would be highly emotional if one of those kids was yours.

If you can't see, stop. It's pretty simple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To be fair, I think the OP was mentioning it to explain that she was being extra careful while driving rather than as an excuse for running the light.

When in doubt stop, and if you can;t clear the intersection, don't enter the intersection. Here is yoru ticket, please be more aware of the fact that the sun sets in the west and you need to be prepared when driving in that direction. Seeing you were driving home, I take it as it not being the first day the sun was in your eyes.

I have to go with this one, just pay the ticket (I'm a former traffic court defense atty. & traffic court judge fwiw).

[Anonymous]

I would pay it. I have heard contesting is pointless, plus it sounds like you have a weak case. A coworker got a ticket for running a red-light while making a right turn on red, and the picture they provided showed her car under a sign that said "right turn on red permitted". She contested, and the response that she got from DC was that they had reviewed video that showed that she had not adequately stopped before turning right into the intersection. She asked for a copy of the video (multiple times) and they never responded to her request. Eventually she just paid the fine so that it would not be on her record as an unpaid ticket. But I think it is making her consider a move to Virginia!