NYC School Speed Camera Ticket

The state law that permits school speed cameras is written so that the camera must be within a 1/4 mile from the school (about 400 meters) ALONG THE ROAD. New York City originally (illegally) changed that to a 1/4 mile radius.

There is a busy, dangerous state road in Levittown, Nassau County, NY (not NY City) and a school is near it within a 1/4 mile radius, but students are unable to walk directly to the state road from the school entrance. The street at the school entrance does not connect directly with the state road.

This situation does not comply with the state law permitting a camera, but the speed camera would be permitted if it was in in NY City.

I am afraid the city has gone beyond that illegal situation. They have installed about 3,000 speed cameras when the state law permits several hundred. They can't all be in front of a school!

You understand that most red light cameras are already capable of being speed cameras. Radar and all the hardware is already in place.

State law also requires that the school must be open for the speed limit to be in effect. School zone signs typically say 7 AM to 6 PM. NY City runs all of their cameras 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.

The city is blatantly violating state law and nobody's doing anything about it.

Moose, I think you don't have a snowball's chance in hell of being successful.

>I think you don't have a snowball's chance in hell of being successful.

I suspected as much. It's NYC, they do what they do. Years ago, I got a notification of an overdue parking ticket, back when they were handwritten. The car was actually in the shop at the time following an accident in Nassau County. For reasons, we believe the plate number was incorrectly written on the ticket. Had to *pay the fine* then submit a challenge. Eventually got the money refunded, but what an ordeal.

I looked up some info on the NYC speed camera program, and I found much of what you mentioned. Looking at the photos in the citation, as well as Google Maps, it looks like there are two pavement cuts on that stretch of road, I was crossing the second one at the time of the violation photo, so I wonder if it was radar or a sensor in the road that captured my speed. Looking at Google Maps, I see a school that in that 1/4 mile radius, but not where I was driving. Plus, I don't see any 'school zone' signs on Google Maps.

I guess I'll be sending NYC my $50...

miss the old days? In 1996, a lady friend asked me to pick up the Russian newspaper for her before coming over. I parked in a no standing zone across from a newsstand, at W 8th and Ave of Americas. Was only gone literally minutes and 2 $80 violations on the windshield. I decided that's too much so I'm not going to pay them and roll the dice.

Car was registered in NY and no problem renewing. One has to wonder why the systems were hit/miss back then, obviously all was computerized already (I don't mean the ticket but registrations etc.).

Then I moved to Phila in 1999, and people said it's cheaper just to get a ticket on the street, than put the car in a garage. Was the most bizarre concept I ever heard of, I think the fine was $10 back then.

I once accompanied a friend (as his attendant) when he was part of a Job Fair at Cal State Northridge. As he couldn't drive I rented the car under my name. A week or so later I got a parking ticket from the Beverly Hills cops. I had never been anywhere near the supposed violation and the car had actually just sat in the lot at the University all day. They had the right license plate but the wrong model and color of car listed on the ticket.

It seems there was no way in the world to dispute the ticket without attending Beverly Hills Traffic Court. When I went to assist my friend we flew to LA and rented the car. Otherwise it's a good 8+ hours to drive there. Neither flying and renting nor driving that far for a ticket was very enticing so there was nothing to do but pay the bogus ticket.

The date and time could have been the error. I would have inquired, since it was a rental car if the date and time were wrong they would have to suck that one up.

You can always write to the court on erroneous matters like this.

And in California you can fight traffic tickets by declaration. Not sure about parking tickets. But if you declared the model and color of the car you rented and that differed from the ticket, you should have won.

I received a notice from the The Ohio State University Police Department that my daughter had received a parking ticket. I knew that she was at work that day over 80 miles away. I called them (since I am a retired LEO), and asked them about the citation. They gave me the license plate number, the color of the vehicle and the make of the vehicle. I told them that the license number was correct but everything else was wrong on my daughter’s vehicle. I then informed them that she was at work that day. After talking to them they decided that the officer had transposed the numbers or the letters on the plate. They said they were invalidating the citation because of the discrepancy.

Is in no way unusual. When I got pinched by two NYC plainclothes on the coney island boardwalk for drinking a beer/open container, I had no choice but to appear in person--there was no way to pay and plead guilty. One detective told me don't worry it's $5. He was wrong, it was $25. And the world was about to change as I went to court in Manhattan in mid August 2001.

Now my dad getting parking tix in the City of Boston, he was in fact able to plead not guilty by mail, and they dropped it and even wrote a personalized letter back on why. Just saying it's not unusual to be unable to respond other than in person, depends on the jurisdiction.

I'd protest and cite the law. They are pretending this is legal because they haven't been stopped yet. They just want money they steal from people.