Red Light Camera Citation

[rseas]

I recently received a red light camera citation for failure to stop at a red light in Fife. The citation provides a link to a representative video of the event and my video clearly shows me slowing on the yellow light and stopping as the light turned red. The infraction occurred on southbound 84th Avenue East at 20th Street East in Fife. Basically just off the freeway at the 84th Street exit in Fife. Here is my quandary; in that the video clearly shows me stopped at the red light I could request a hearing and have the citation overturned. But to do so I will have to take a day off of work and drive to Fife to spend the day sitting in a courtroom to fight the infraction. I will lose a day of vacation and have to drive from Burlington to Fife the day of the hearing. To fight a 124.00 ticket I will have to incur the following charges:

• 1 Day of Vacation: Approximately 341.00
• Transportation to Fife/Fuel Expense: 49.00 or 115.70 computed as the federal mileage reimbursement.
• Value of My Time: 7 hours or 298.00
• Meals/Incidentals/Parking: 15.00-20.00
• TOTAL Expenses to Fight a 124.00 Citation: 694.00 to 774.00

What should I do?

[Bodofish]

Win your case and sue the city for damages. Camera tickets have been shot down all over the state. In one case a city had contracted a third party to review the footage and issue the citations. They had to pay back huge dollars as it must be done by one of their sworn police officers. If the video clearly shows you stopped, hammer them.

Go get 'em!!!!!

[drysuperfly52]

from skagit to fife, just pay it and forget about it. it doesn't get reported to your auto insurance.

but based on the value of your time alone @ 298 -$124 for your ticket leaves you with $178 and 7 hours to go fishing.thats sounds way better then going to work or driving all day in traffic to prove a point and not pay.

[natetreat]

Hire an attorney. There are a few traffic citation attorneys that you can hire and they show up to court for you, and will get it fixed. You get to work, the attorney costs less than not working and you don't have to suffer from injustice. Also you can write in your appeal to contest it. My wife did that for our traffic cams here in Lynnwood. YOu're at the mercy of a judge and his opinion when he reads your letter and reviews the tape, but it can work too. But I know for a fact that there re a few good traffic attorneys that can get you off scott free for a ticket like that. I think that traffic fines are way to ridiculous these days.

[RiverChromeGS]

Dont you hate that BS? same thing happened to me in the example of my baker lake ticket, yea i decided to fight it, but it cost me 3 different court dates and simply took WAY too much time, thats how they get their money i guess

[G-Man]

The city of Fife gives you the option to a contested hearing by mail. Used to be you had the right to appeal a decision not in your favor, but that looks to have been changed. Here is the link to the details which has a link to the form you need to fill out along with instructions.

http://cityoffife.org/?p=city_departmen ... ctions_FAQ

At a minimum, make them do some extra work before extracting any money from you. Along with Lynnwood, the city of Fife is on my boycott list because of their extensive use of traffic cameras and I've let their city councils know it.

[rseas]

Thank you for your reply's and G-Man thank you for the link. I'll keep everyone posted.

[Chumknuckle]

Fife is terrible. I got one at 54th by the Poodle Dog. I just sent it back with a note that the vehicle was in the shop and it was a mechanic driving, solved. Anyone ever notice that there are no street names at this intersection?