Photo Radar Ticket Question

navycpo7 wrote:

Nmysys wrote: Thanks all for the information. Actually it is a photo radar ticket from the City of Denver, was apparently at the intersection of Federal and 285 (Hampden) eastbound. I truly do drive the speed limit and follow the rules as best as I can. Traffic at 8:30 in the morning is heavy and 90% of the vehicles were passing me, as usual. I'm not trying to get away with anything, but unless I accelerated to get through the light because it changed to yellow, I really don't see how I could get caught speeding there in the construction zone. From just before Kipling to that point I was literally driving on cruise control to stay at the posted 45MPH speed limit, it dropped to 40 for the last 1/2 mile to Federal and I kicked off the cruise control by tapping the brake, as I always do, and it appears from driving there again yesterday, that their must be photo radar cameras hanging on the cross beams of the poles holding the traffic signals.

The reason I started the thread was that a friend told me about that particular news article that says it must be presented to you in person by a police officer, and I wanted to see if anyone else has had the experience. Besides, maybe someone reading this will avoid a photo radar ticket there in the future, as a result of reading this thread.

I would question a ticket from the city of denver at that intersection. I believe (could be wrong) that would be in the sheridan area, not denver area. May even be littleton.

Good point - I got one there and it was Sheridan. I beat it in court.

When I got my ticket, there were points put on my license (minimal) and I was told I could avoid the points if I paid it before 30 days or I could to to court to fight it...problem was the court date was after the allowed timeframe to pay it for the points to not show up...so I just paid it.

They'll get ya coming and going

ComputerBreath wrote: When I got my ticket, there were points put on my license (minimal) and I was told I could avoid the points if I paid it before 30 days or I could to to court to fight it...problem was the court date was after the allowed timeframe to pay it for the points to not show up...so I just paid it.

They'll get ya coming and going

I'll do a little research, but I don't think they can put points on your record for a photo-radar speeding ticket in Colorado. I'm not sure about a stop light ticket though...I think that they can with those.

I pass this stretch of road only on the occasional Saturday, and not once in recent months have I seen any construction to justify the 25 mph "work zone" speed limit. And yet nearly every time, a photo-radar van would be hunkered down on the west side, picking off one unsuspecting mark after another for having the nerve to drive in the 30s on a stretch of road where such speeds would seem to be as threatening as a scooter.

If Denver is so determined to fill its coffers with unearned loot, it might as well deputize a troupe of pickpockets and deploy them on the 16th Street Mall. At least then there'd be no pretense of serving the public interest. Instead, the city's photo radar enforcement program serenely assures us that they choose sites "based on best use of resources and complaint areas" and to "increase public safety."

If only. It's hard to take such claims seriously when photo-radar vans seem parked habitually where the pickings are easy — say, because the posted speed is well below traffic flow or indeed lower than adjoining stretches of the same road.

For what it's worth, Denver ranks fifth nationally on a list of 25 cities "with the highest number of speed trap locations over the past two years," according to the National Motorists Association. The NMA's list relies upon motorist reports as opposed to scientific surveys and so should be taken with caution. Yet there is no doubt that the photo-radar law is routinely abused — in terms of where and how contractor vans are deployed, the visibility of warning signs, and the way the public is misled about the law itself.

Most people assume a photo-radar ticket is equivalent to one handed to them by a police officer. But it is not. Thanks to legislation that anticipated the technology's abuse to raise revenue, photo radar tickets aren't reported to the department of motor vehicles and won't rack up points against your license. Your car can't be booted for unpaid fines. And, most interesting of all, according to criminal defense attorney Gary Pirosko, you "have to be personally served" before you actually have to pay — and service must occur within 90 days or the ticket goes away.

Pirosko, who has fought photo- radar shenanigans since the beginning and once got a judge to suspend Denver's system until it was reformed, told me, "The public is sick of cities using them as an ATM machine. I'm telling people to follow the law. Make them serve you personally."

And if you do, don't answer the door to strangers for awhile.

In the tickets it mails to motorists, Denver does say they won't be reported to the state. But the only hint of the personal service mandate is the warning that the assessment "may be served to you" if you don't pay by a particular date.

When Fox 31's Heidi Hemmat did a report on photo radar in April, Denver police brushed off her questions about personal service — as well they might, since ignorance is the best assurance of docile payment.

Make no mistake: Docile payment is the right call if you were speeding recklessly. If not, though, it seems you have an option.



Read more: Carroll: Photo-radar cash cows - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_18905954?source=pophome#ixzz1Yc1Pyt94