Red Light camera tickets funeral procession driver

That was a great story. I can imagine that happens very often.

My county in the Atlanta area has a growing number of red light cameras, but who knows how long it will last.

but pretty sure they do...

This is exactly why, if a locality chooses to install red light cameras, the tickets must only be issued by a sworn officer, mailed and processed by the locality itself. Let the vendor provide pictures, but the local government must be the authority for citation, enforcement, collection, and dispute. No ping-pong.

I agree completely with you. The agency responsible for collecting the fine should also be the party responsible for deciding a ticket is appropriate. The red ligh camera company isn't even a legal representative of the agency. Only the agency has the legal right to issue the ticket. This one sounds like it should go to a class action lawsuit against Philadelphia.

I was in a funeral procession a year or so back. All people who were driving were issued a white sign with black lettering. The letters were about the size of License plate letters. The sign simply said "Funeral". We were instructed to place this sign on the back of the driver's sun visor so that it would be visible to red light cameras. 17 people in my procession received a red light ticket at 2 different lights that day. We all showed up in court, the judge called the first one of our party's case and we all stood up as witnesses, He just about fell out of his chair. All tickets were dismissed and the county had to write an apology to the family and all of us for inconvenience. As we were walking out of the court room one of the other people in our group heard the judge mumble "I can't wait 'til the wife hears this one..."

I have seen red light camera intersections where there is a problem with traffic of some sort and a Law Enforcement Officer will wave driver's thru the intersection against the red light.
The camera's strobe light flashes with each vehicle passing the intersection.
Must have been fun and interesting in court.

joemac

That reminded me the day my friend Charlie ticketed a whole funeral procession.
This happened in North Philadelphia many years back, we had just finished eating breakfast at a local dinner and I guess Charlie was on a pissy mood, maybe his wife Ruth didn't gave him any the night before, to make a long story short, after leaving the dinner Charlie headed in his unmarked car down a narrow street, in this Italian neighborhood the street was so narrow that cars had to park with two wheels on the sidewalk so the traffic lane was clear for traffic, anyhow that day there was a funeral procession being assembled at the end of the street and after seeing he could not get thru Charlie got out of his car and went down the street writing tickets including the hearse; needles to say he most to have pissed some body with pull at City Hall and the next day he was taken off the patrol car and made to walk the beat at the Philadelphia subway stations for more than a year.

morl of the story forget red light poi's lets all get signs that say funeral.

I am a senior official of the NYC Marathon.
Before the runners start, I drive the entire course in my personal vehicle, with official placards on the dashboard as I've done for several years.

There comes a point in which the side streets are entirely shut down and the only vehicular traffic on the course are official vehicles, NYPD, NYFD, Sanitation, DOT, etc.

I got hit by a red traffic light, 23 seconds after changing while coasting up 1st Avenue in NYC.

It took a while for me to realize that I got nabbed on a day in which the street was closed. The NYC Road Runners had packed up shop and couldn't come to my aid. Someone was going to talk to the NYPD to have it taken care of. The $50 ticket became $75 due to the wait. In the end, I wasn't going to risk myself and just paid the fine.

As an unpaid volunteer, this was an expensive Marathon, given the gas for two trips in and out of the course, the tolls and now the $75.

Next year they will have to figure something out...BEFORE I get nabbed again. I would waste too much time and also hold up things if I sat at red lights...

Be well,
Rob

Next year put a piece of carboard covering the plate, easier to explain to police why they are covered than deal with traffic court.

Just remember to remove the cardboard when done