I'm so ticked off!! i got a certified letter in the mail and low and behold it had a ticket from the city of Orlando in it.

Along with the ticket was a picture of me running a red light. What they don't see is i had no choice because i had 12 cars behind me all going the same speed and had i hit the brakes there would've been a serious accident.

I'm not trying to blameshift but there couldve been injuries.

Also they don't even give you a warning....so now i gotta pay $125 to the majestic crappy city of Orlando. I'm glad i live in Daytona. Never though i'd say that.

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2007 Fender MIM Strat Midnight Wine
1965 Univox HR-2 "Lawsuit" ES-335 Knockoff
Ovation Celebrity Shallow Bowl

Look at how this guy tries to beat them in Arizona...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/0 ... 79507.html

Could have been a lot worse, you could have hit someone crossing the road. A mate of mine did that, drunk pedestrian walked out infront of him. He's never been behind the wheel of a car since by his own choice.

I know how you feel though, people do drive too close. I like to brake hard if they do, let their insurance company fix my car and their premiums go up.

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No no and no

Just one more piece of evidence that "Big Brother" is watching...

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Hey, Boy Blue is back!

As Nick pointed out, there could have been fatalities too.

I'm glad to see many states are giving tickets for texting while driving now. I almost saw a terrible collision due to a woman not watching where she was driving.....texting.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

I Been rear-ended by this other student at my school since they were texting...

Luckly for me my car was a ford Escape and because of its high suspension the other car basically just went up under mine... There wasn't even a scratch on my car

The other guy on the other hand car had some serious damage to the hood and radiator.

At least no one got hurt, but texting and driving have killed people....

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Kid: "Hey Smokey! Where did you get your name?"
Smokey the Bear: "Well..."
(former user jimbo612)

Just think of all those poor SOBs who have OnStar or some other brand of onboard GPS. What people don't know about built in GPS systems is that you can't turn it off. That power button? It turns off the screen. Nothing more. The system is still transmitting. You just don't see it. I'm not sure about receiving. One of these days they're gonna start sending you speeding tickets, red light tickets, illegal left turns, etc. in the mail based on your GPS.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

What about people who use satnav just to go shopping.

I'd be looking to write a letter to the ticketing office, stating the fact that you thought a RTA would have been a certaintly had you slammed the anchors on because of tailgaters. You need to know that the tailgater was sent a ticket too though. If they stopped at the light and you didnt your screwed.
Make sure you look at your local traffic law though, you could get into more trouble. I've gotten off a few things now just by knowing how to write a letter to a ticketing office. In your case though you could be prosecuted for driving without due care and attention (not approaching the lights in the correct manner. Your meant to slow down even if their on green and they have a amber period to warn you that there changing), or wreckless driving (if they can prove you were speeding as well as jumping a light).

Myself I'd pay the $125 and view it as a expensive driving lesson. Atleast you dont have a points system like we do. Tot up 12 points and your banned from driving. You get 3 points for 3mph over the speed limit in a 30mph zone.

Traffic law isnt complicated at all, every driver should brush up on it once in awhile. The current trend of enforcment agencies using automated ticketing machines, rather than a human being with common sense is leaving loopholes everywhere.

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No no and no

I see all of your points. I do see the error of judgement at that time and i'll probably be more responsible as well.

Having said that. The city of Orlando will lose my patronage for a while because i think not giving a warning and going straight to fining is absurd considering i have a spot free driving record. I've never received a citation in my life.

And i when seeing the pictures of my car etc, i feel intruded upon and a little violated i really don't like being spied on.

Trust me...In Florida with all the illegal drivers and reckless drivers (speeding, weaving in and out of traffic, cutting people off etc.) I feel passing a light at the moment it turns red and getting fined for it is a bit considering the circumstances, i understand pedestrian safety, but i was also considering my infant son in the car, if i was to get rear ended i'd hate think what would happen.

I know some will say what if you were hit in the front? but it was at the moment the light turned red and the light has a 10 second delay before the other sides light turns green.

I guess there is no way to win the argument. I am mostly mad at the pictures....creeps me out!

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2007 Fender MIM Strat Midnight Wine
1965 Univox HR-2 "Lawsuit" ES-335 Knockoff
Ovation Celebrity Shallow Bowl

First off mate, can they prove its you driving the car? Have they got a clear photo of you as the driver where they can identify your face? If so just pay the fine. Make sure they have though, they have a duty to disclose evidence to you. They cant withold it. Also there have been cases of digital pictures being enhanced that have been dismissed as evidence under the tampering with evidence rules.
I once got out of a speeding ticket by saying the car was in several garages around the time of the alledgedoffence (important word, dont even admit there was a offence, you are seen to admit guilt in doing so). Could the driver have been one of those people? You cant be sure.
They asked me for the names of the garages. I didnt give em any, in the end I blamed a relative who lives abroad that I said was visiting, so they had no jurisdiction to prosecute them. That doesnt work here now, they want to see proof of their entry into the country. Though I dont see how thats right, your meant to be innocent till proven guilty. The onus is on them to prove your (you as a individual) guilt.

If the worst comes to the worst, take the case to court and refuse to perjure yourself. You cant remember who was driving, so your not going to offer a name and lie to the court.

We've all made mistakes when driving. Just learn from em I say. You need to research all of the above to see if it applies to your legal system, half of it doesnt apply to ours anymore.

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No no and no

Downward, I'm not saying you should try this, but it's worth a shot:

Check your state laws. If they're like Arizona's, it means you have to be served, in person, in order for the hearing to take place. If not, the ticket will be dismissed. It's not just the ticket, it's your insurance rates you have to be concerned with, as well. Nobody got hurt, so nothing wrong with looking out for #1.
This is how it is in AZ for photo speeding tickets. Red light running, I dont know. Probably the same deal.

Just dont answer your door for strangers.

I work in the Security industry and I can tell you that almost everywhere you go, no matter where you are at, you are on some sort of camera. Even if you don't realize it, you're on a camera. A little strange to think about? Yes. Luckily people don't think about it.

Ryan being as though your in the industry do you know where I may find details of the case in Scotland where a guy was snapped speeding and got the case thrown out of court. He made a counter claim against the police force for an invasion of privacy.

The whole thing is just one huge money making scheme. The guy who invented the gatso proved it's a major cause of bad driving. People drive starring in their rear view mirrors when there are cameras around. Their constantly looking for the flash.

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No no and no

Yep. Some car rental agencies already track a lot about what you do while you have the car. People have found themselves assessed with a speeding surcharge or others when they returned the car. Turns out the agency can unload the on-board memory and determine those things.

Another thing they catch people at is crossing state lines when your rental agreement doesn't allow it. Here in SoCal, people sometimes rent a hot car to go to Las Vegas. It will cost you big time the minute you cross the CA/NV line with some agencies. Like you say, the OnStar or similar are always on and that's how they know you did it.

There's also talk of a mandatory "black box" in cars in the not too distant future. Cops can plug a portable unit into a jack outside your car and get your speed and other items. And we know from the on going Toyota case that some cars already have a black box. They disputed the cases in NYC and San Diego by saying the black box (as put in the press) showed that neither driver had ever applied their brakes as they claimed.

What's next? Big Brother ... maybe. My first boss where I work now was hired on a project that was too advanced for the time. But the idea was a car computer with comprehensive sensors for everything. There would be front and rear radar to speed/slow you as necessary, it would detect if you were drowsy, override inappropriate braking for conditions and would do a lock out if you were DUI.

On a more advanced note, they even hoped to eventually have an interstate network that would constantly communicate with your car. It would download this state's speed limit (which you couldn't exceed). They even planned for moving your car off to a rest stop after X hours of driving whether you liked it or not. In short, it was designed to prevent you from drivinig poorly and also to be in constant communication with law enforcement and other agencies. Your only job -- to steer.

We already have some of this technology in cars just 15 years after the start up he joined went under. The rest can't be far off in terms of what the car can do. Whether they will or not I guess depends on what forces want it and who doesn't.

As a moderately frequent interstate driver, I liked their proposed Interstate self-driving by 2030 goal. This company believed that with enough sensors along major interstates, you could plug in your destination and 2030 cars could steer themselves. Then, they thought that perhaps this technology could evolve to major state highways by 2050. They hoped however to demonstrate the self-driving car in Hawai'i by 2020. 10 years from now, small state ... I bet it's possible!

Honda already make a car that follows the white lines on the motorway (freeway) and prevents the car inadvertently wandering. it also has sensors on the front that sense distance from the car infront and ready the brakes at a certain point.


It's all just another step towards a worse road system. Some bigwig at company that produce the gatso gun took a problematic section of Rotterdam and removed all street signs. Took all the white lines off the roads and turned off all the traffic lights. The accident rate dropped by 80% during the course of his experiment. The reason for the improved driving, people were forced to think about what they were doing. Instead of driving like mindless zombies, they had to consider situations.

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No no and no