How I Beat a Florida Red Light Camera Ticket

Sometimes you get lucky in court. Here's how I pled my case:

In June I was driving up US 19 in Port Richey Florida through a cluster of red light camera intersections. While happy chugging along at the speed limit, I missed being able to stop safely and knew that I was going to end up in the middle of the intersection no matter how hard I braked, so I made a considered decision to continue. Well, my attempt to stop delayed me long enough for a camera to snap my license plate and voila, I got a ticket from the vendor in Phoenix. I pled not guilty and a court date was set.

On the 13th of December, I sat in a court room with about 90 other people -- all there for the same reason. By the time the session began, about 60 of them lost heart and pled "no contest" and paid the customary fine. When my turn came up, I was very polite, spoke loudly and clearly, and conducted myself as professionally as possible. I suggest that the court has little respect for people who cow-tow, mumble, stutter, and act intimidated. The "prosecution" in this matter was the police captain who sits behind a computer all day looking at videos of cars blowing through the 11 controlled intersections in Port Richey. (Yup, they can afford a Captain for that job).

The Captain played the video of my car, with brake lights ON passing over the white line just as the light was turning from yellow to red. Now the State standard for yellow lights on a straight 45 MPH road is 4.3 seconds duration. I timed all the intersections with red-light cameras and found them to be not a millisecond longer than 4.3 seconds. Other non-camera lights had yellow times from 4.7 to 5.9 seconds long!

The first point I raised to the court was "ergonomics" -- I described to the court how we are subconsciously attuned to ergonomics every day by using the example of standard stair heights, doorknob positions, and the like. If we encounter a door knob that, for example is two inches lower than the customary standard, we really notice it. I contend it is the same for yellow light times. Since many of the lights in the city average 5 or more seconds, the encounter at a red light with a camera, set at 4.3 seconds, shifts the ergonomics by 7 tenths of a second. Not much, but just enough to flummox people into "running" the light.

Secondly, I went on to ask the police officer if he had any disabilities that would preclude him from continuing to be a police officer for the city. He asked, "what kind of disability?" I asked, "If you were blind, could you work as an officer?" "Of course not", he replied. "If you were deaf?" "No, deafness is a disqualifying disability." “Thank you, sir. Is there a microphone on the camera that took the video of my car in June?” “No.” “Okay, so you rely on a device to do the work of a police officer yet the device does not meet the physical requirements because it’s deaf?” “Well, that doesn’t matter,” he offered. I said, “Would it matter if there was the sound of an emergency vehicle nearby, such as a siren? And would not a live police officer, with all his faculties, standing on that corner, have understood the necessity to keep that intersection clear?

Oh, just one more question (a little Columbo-like move) sir. How long are the red lights lit on all sides at the same time, I mean when a light turns red, how long is the delay until the other light turns green?” He said, “about 2 seconds give or take.” I then asked, “why is it that there is a 2 second delay before the other light turns green?” He said, “to give traffic time to clear the intersection before the opposing traffic starts. It’s a safety measure.” I asked, “Would you say this is common practice around the country?” He said, “well, it’s in the Federal Uniform Traffic Standards Manual.” I said, “Yes indeed. Standards which make our life a little more similar and predictable – the Federal Government recognizes ergonomics!” I thanked the Officer.

My third and final point was the legal standard of “mens rea” which, loosely translated from Latin is “guilty mind”. I quoted Wikipedia and said, “In criminal law, it is viewed as one of the necessary elements of a crime. The standard common law test of criminal liability is usually expressed in the Latin phrase, “actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea”, which means "the act does not make a person guilty unless the mind is also guilty". Thus, in jurisdictions with due process, there must be an actus reus accompanied by some level of mens rea to constitute the crime with which the defendant is charged. Therefore, your honor, in light of the ergonomic position that I was faced with in attempting to stop, as evidenced by my brake lights being illuminated well-before I entered the intersection, and compounded by the fact that I could have continued on for two more seconds while ALL lights were set to be red before I posed any traffic threat, and finally, since the State has failed to prove its case with respect to showing my intent to commit this offense, I move for a verdict of not guilty.

The old Florida judge, who was not cutting any slack that evening, sat back and paused for a moment. Then he leaned forward and said, “I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt. I agree that the State has not met its burden and therefore I declare you not guilty!” I was the only one of thirty people that night who “won” their case and cheated the Florida money machine. Now, I save a lot of court time by keeping my poi’s up to date on POI FACTORY!