CITY lawmakers eliminated an automatic ticketing program after a lawsuit was filed — drivers were unfairly cited.
An automatic traffic ticket program only lasted a few months before it was canceled.
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Drivers in Tuskegee, Alabama, rejoice as a 20-page lawsuit suspends the speed camera program at the end of July, according to the NBC affiliate WRBL.
The lawsuit was filed against the city and those who monitored the radars.
The program began earlier this year and has been installed on three roads near the schools – Franklin Road, Montgomery Road and Chappie James Drive.
Because the cameras were in or near a school zone, several drivers were cited for traveling above the 20 mph speed limit.
Some fines were as high as $330 per ticket.
Tuskegee Mayor Lawrence Haygood cited “procedural difficulties” with the program before halting it.
The action involves nine plaintiffs, but many others were included in the group of drivers unfairly cited.
Until the process is complete, the city said any unpaid camera tickets will be void.
Those who have already paid their fines will be fully refunded.
Jenae Whitfield lives near one of the cameras and took to Facebook to air her grievances regarding the show.
She reposted an announcement of the impending refunds and included her own story.
“If you paid a ticket to the traffic cameras in Tuskegee, they are sending refunds via check to the person who had your name on the ticket,” his repost read.
Whitfield then told her friends and followers how many tickets she received from the cameras.
“These jokers sent me six tickets!” she he wrote.
“They would have to look for me in Montgomery because I wasn’t paying. It was ridiculous.”
She said it appeared the city was looking for ways to generate additional revenue through unfair means.
How to fight a speeding ticket
According to a legally reviewed post, there are five effective strategies for fighting a speeding ticket if it was issued improperly.
- If stopped and a ticket is issued, drivers can discuss or dispute the driver’s personal opinion. When issuing a speeding ticket, the police officer is required to write his opinion and come to an “objective” conclusion. If the fine was written based on this judgment, it can be challenged. An example would be if you were traveling at 75 mph in a 65 mph zone because other people were traveling at the same speed, you could argue that it would be more dangerous to travel at 65 mph.
- You can challenge the police officer’s presentation of evidence. If you’ve been ticketed for something like running a stop sign or making an illegal U-turn, you can’t contest it if a police officer saw you, but you can take things to court like eyewitness accounts, diagrams, or photos.
- Argue that the ticket was issued due to an “error of fact.” This is complicated, but a “mistake of fact” is a mistake made by a driver over a situation that was beyond their control, or if a driver legitimately did not know they were violating the law. For example, you were driving in two lanes because the lane markers were so worn out that you couldn’t see them.
- You could say the circumstances justified his direction. You could say you were speeding to pass a possibly drunk driver or avoiding an accident by quickly changing lanes. However, the argument will not work if there is evidence that you continued to speed after passing.
- Similar to the above, it could be argued that speeding was necessary to avoid harm. The key is to argue that if you weren’t speeding, you or someone else could have been injured.
- Consult a traffic lawyer if all else fails. Many have free consultations to decide whether or not there is a case.
Source: Find Law
“It was a setup to get revenue from innocent people like me,” she continued.
“I’m glad the citizens came together to take them down.”
In the comments section, she wrote that half of the tickets she received were issued when she was visiting her mother.
“I got two tickets for three different trips to visit my mom,” she explained.
“One ticket going and one when I left. Each one was $135. I usually try to do the right thing, but they left me very confused.”
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
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