Contesting Automated Speeding Ticket

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chadly82

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Maybe. Who can remember how fast you were going at a particular time in a random day? FYI, this is one of those tickets in the mail deals.
Don’t pay the camera fines or listen to those who say “you were speeding so you need to pay” contest it.
 

CascadeClone

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Oct 24, 2009
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It's my understanding that if you don't pay them, they can't really FORCE you to pay them.

Several people here in the office (in CR) have multiple camera tickets, have chosen not to pay them, and have suffered no ramifications. They seem to be certain that paying them is optional.

I could be wrong!
 
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chadly82

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It's my understanding that if you don't pay them, they can't really FORCE you to pay them.

Several people here in the office (in CR) have multiple camera tickets, have chosen not to pay them, and have suffered no ramifications. They seem to be certain that paying them is optional.

I could be wrong!
I’ve never paid one, haven’t had any consequences yet.
 
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Bipolarcy

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Camera tickets in iowa are civil penalties. They dont go on your driving record, they arent reported to anyone. They are a way for local governments to bring in more revenue under the guise of making streets safer.

I was born and mostly raised in Iowa, but I don't live there now, so I didn't know that. But it seems that's pretty much a law with no teeth.

I don't know about Iowa, but where I live, they have laws against speed traps, where a town sets up officers on an interstate or main thoroughfare that is only vaguely in or on the fringed of the town's jurisdiction to catch speeders to boost the town's revenue. There's a formula they go by. If too much of the town's revenue is from speeding tickets, that town is deemed a speed trap and they are ordered to cease patrolling the part of the jurisdiction that generates the most revenue. I often wondered how traffic cameras could be anything but a speed trap. I guess that's how they get by with it -- making the payment of the fine voluntary?
 

Gorm

With any luck we will be there by Tuesday.
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If everyone stopped paying those fines, the cameras would disappear very quickly. I've been told that the outfit that operates those cameras gets money on a ticket IF THE PERSON PAYS OR NOT. A city would love to keep shilling out funds with nothing coming in return.
 

06_CY

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Apr 11, 2006
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I would think they would have to prove it was you driving the vehicle.

Nope. Ticket goes to vehicle owner. The owner is responsible for those that drive the car.

When red light cameras were brand new, my mom got a ticket for not fully stopping before turning right at a red light. Problem was, she wasn't in that city that day. Her car was at the dealer getting worked on and the worker was test driving to see if the issue was fixed. The dealer ended up taking care of the ticket.
 

Trice

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Freeze your credit and then ignore it.

Freezing your credit doesn't prevent creditors from posting negative information to your credit report.

I don't know whether camera operators or municipalities report non-payment of camera tickets to credit bureaus or not. But if they do, freezing your credit won't stop them from doing so.

(People should still freeze their credit reports. Just for other reasons, not this.)
 
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VeloClone

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Jan 19, 2010
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If you regularly speed you should expect that you are going to get a ticket from time to time. If you get a ticket, pay the damn thing instead of crying about it. I get tickets and I pay them when I do.
 

ISU_Clone_28

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Mar 27, 2006
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when I got one in Arizona I just responded that it wasnt me and ignored it and nothing else came of it. But when I got one here in IA it didn't matter. It said if you dont pay it they just hold your state tax return until you do.... and they did. Easier to just pay it unfortunately.
 
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Gorm

With any luck we will be there by Tuesday.
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Trice

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when I got one in Arizona I just responded that it wasnt me and ignored it and nothing else came of it. But when I got one here in IA it didn't matter. It said if you dont pay it they just hold your state tax return until you do.... and they did. Easier to just pay it unfortunately.

This also happened to me in Arizona years ago. At the time I did some research and an article similar to this one was really helpful. I was able to duck it because I lived out of state and they don't go to the trouble of serving people in person who aren't local. I also didn't go to their web site and acknowledge receipt of the ticket. Instead I watched the county court web site for my case, and sure enough on day 91 it was dismissed. (None of this saved me from an extra charge from the rental car company.)

I have no idea how Iowa manages its process, but if they're going so far as to seize tax returns then my guess is your options are limited; they'll get you one way or another. This story is a few years old but if the data holds up, it sounds like relatively few people contest but 25% of those who do succeed. If you like those odds, that might be the best bet.
 

derpyherky

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200.webp
 

ArgentCy

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That's what I thought was happening. Because I knew that Arizona got rid of them because no one was paying.

Our local town had a speed car for a while. It's gone thank goodness because the company pulled out. Let's see, vandalized at least once. Run into a time or two. Then the frosting on the cake was a scandal involving a fired cop. Long story short (cops were letting their friends go and not writing them tickets (shocking I know)), some cop was fired for something and exposed it because he was mad, city loses a lawsuit or two, lawyers made a ton of money and tax payers were fleeced. Safety completely unchanged.