A new twist in defending against red light tickets has occurred in recent years, with the introduction of photographic automated enforcement systems, also known as red light cameras. These devices work by triggering a camera as a vehicle passes over a sensor in the intersection when the light is red. The camera takes pictures of the vehicle’s front license plate and driver. A citation is then mailed to the vehicle’s registered owner, supposedly after a police officer checks the photo of the driver against the driver’s license photo of the registered owner.

The Driver Is Usually Liable, Not the Owner

In most of the states that allow photo enforcement of red lights, the law states that the driver, not the vehicle’s owner, is liable for the ticket. (New York treats red light camera violations like parking citations, making registered owners responsible without regard to who was driving when the camera snapped the photo.) In states where the driver—not necessarily the owner—is responsible for the ticket, and the owner was not driving at the time of the violation, the owner can fill out an affidavit, swearing that he or she wasn’t driving when the violations occurred.

There are a number of possible defenses  for a red light camera ticket we can help!