Caught by a red light camera in a rental car...advice? (Los Angeles: credit card, school)

[6i9]

Hello

Before you scold me for running a red light and endangering all the cars out at 2AM, I understand it was my fault for being in such a hurry.

I was making a right turn on red, but didn't come to a complete stop because I saw that the light was turning red for the cross-traffic and that my light should turn green. I misjudged the timing, and turned right just before the light turned green and saw a flash.

I was in a rental car, and my understanding is that the rental company will eventually bill me the ticket. However, do I receive points on this violation? I believe Ive read that in rental car contracts, the company has the right to plead guilty for you and that you can't contest it. Furthermore, the time it takes to process and forward the ticket to me will have long past the deadline to contest it anyway.

Also, to complicate things, I am moving next month and I am afraid by the time the ticket is sent to me, I'll have moved out of my current place.

I don't mind paying the fine, but I want to know if this will indeed show up as a court violation, or will this be a "snitch ticket" issued by the private contractors who operate the red light cameras (that don't carry points)?

My big concern is the points here, and also what happens if I move before the ticket gets mailed to me?

Thanks in advance

[BRinSM]

i would call the rental car company and let them know what happened. my wife was in business on chicago last year and the same thing happened to her. all of a sudden there was a $100+ charge on her credit card. it ended up being the rental car company that billed her on the credit card they had on file. i'm not too sure about points though, are you licensed in CA? if so, i'm guessing you'll have to take traffic school to avoid points. if you're from out of state, i understand that some states share moving violations and others don't. good luck either way.

[6i9]

Yes, I am licensed in CA. I forgot to mention this is in Los Angeles, CA

And if it helps at all, the rental company is Enterprise

[Chichappens]

Pay the ticket it willjust haunt you for the rest of your life

[ferretkona]

Originally Posted by 6i9

,,,I don't mind paying the fine, but I want to know if this will indeed show up as a court violation, or will this be a "snitch ticket" issued by the private contractors who operate the red light cameras (that don't carry points)?

If you do get a ticket it will be enforceable by PD. All the red light tickets in CA come with points.

Have you been in the intersection since? Most right hand turns can be made on red, the only illegal ones are clearly marked by signs. The camera will not know if it was a rolling stop.

[Joseph Marnix]

Dispute it. Those red light camera tickets have 2 or more photos taken.
You can to see the 2 consecutive shots of you past the intersection plane and your car in the middle of the intersection during the red light.

If you were turning right, the camera shots have no proof that you were rolling-stop. If you turn right, the 2nd shot should be empty of your car because you turned right instead of running the red light.

[6i9]

Right turns are allowed on red at that intersection. I will double check.

So redlight camera tickets for rolling stops on red don't hold water? I'm just worried that I wont get the ticket in time because I am moving out soon.

Is there a way to request the ticket sooner? Or do I just need to wait for Enterprise to complete their affidavit forms and have the ticket resent to me

[Drathen]

Originally Posted by 6i9

Right turns are allowed on red at that intersection. I will double check.

So redlight camera tickets for rolling stops on red don't hold water? I'm just worried that I wont get the ticket in time because I am moving out soon.

Is there a way to request the ticket sooner? Or do I just need to wait for Enterprise to complete their affidavit forms and have the ticket resent to me

If you think about it, how can they prove with a couple of pictures that you did a rolling stop? Besides, I'd wager a guess that they're probably not going to hassle with using red light photos to ticket rental cars, especially if its a minor infraction. What if you had several drivers listed on your rental agreement and one of these other drivers was driving the car during the infraction? It wouldn't be fair (nor legal) for you to get points on your record for someone else's poor driving. If you're really that concerned, why not call the traffic divison of whatever city you were in and ask them if you received a ticket or not?

I rented cars extensively for work between 2005-2008 and there were at least two times I'm sure I was caught on camera. One was at the Bay Bridge toll booth where I got confused (was one of my first times) about which lane to be in and I ended up in a fasttrak lane which I thought was a normal pay-at-the-booth lane. I pulled up to the booth and there was no one there so I looked around and a car in the lane on my right flew by. Thats when I realized the type of lane I was in, so I took off without paying the toll as I didn't want to get hit from behind. I never heard anything from the rental company or CHP about not paying the toll.

[CapnHawk]

LAPD has several traffic officers assigned to the red light camera detail. I attended a presentation by one of the officers on how the system works. Sorry to say, if the camera got you, you will be ticketed and those cameras provide iron-clad proof that you were in violation.

[nydeb]

Recent returned from a business trip in LA - I got a little confused in West Hollywood, looking too hard at street signs and not the status of the traffic light. I thus did receive a ticket in the mail today - not a surprise. What IS a surprise (read: shock) is the penalty: $497 for the ticket, an additional $30 charged by Hertz, and 1 point on my license.