Red Light Cameras Upheld in Court For Cities to Ticket Drivers
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There was a new court ruling yesterday in Florida. The story is short so I'll just cut and past it here.
http://www.theledger.com/article/20111130/NEWS/111139926/137...
[ MIAMI ]
Red Light Cameras Upheld in Court For Cities to Ticket Drivers
Published: Wednesday, November 30, 2011 at 11:45 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, November 30, 2011 at 11:45 p.m.
A Florida appeals court has upheld the right of cities to use cameras to catch and fine motorists who run red lights. The Miami-based Third District Court of Appeal ruling Wednesday affects only about two dozen cities that had red light camera ordinances in place before July 2010. That's when a new state law went into effect allowing all cities to use cameras.
The appeals judges found previous state law also didn't prohibit cities from enacting their own traffic ordinances such as cameras at stoplights. The decision overturns an earlier ruling invalidating the city of Aventura's cameras.
Motorists vs Registered Owners
I don't know Florida law, but in jurisdictions I do know about, there is a critical distinction between ticketing a motorist versus ticketing the owner of the vehicle.
RLC tickets that I am aware of are charged to the owner, and charged as non-moving violations (meaning no points on your license).
The basic legal reason is that the cameras cannot identify (yet) who was actually driving the car. Therefore, a ticket against the alleged driver would not stand up to legal scrutiny in court. However, if the license plate is captured by the camera, matches the vehicle registration information, and was not reported stolen at the time, there is no problem in the eyes of the law with charging the vehicle's owner (as long as enabling legislation was in place).