Comment by AngryData
Comment by AngryData a day ago
That seems completely fucked to me. Charging people who aren't guilty of any crime with a crime because somebody else was driving their car?
Comment by AngryData a day ago
That seems completely fucked to me. Charging people who aren't guilty of any crime with a crime because somebody else was driving their car?
Easy:
1. Allow someone else to drive your vehicle
2. That person runs a red light
Your responsibility as the vehicle owner is to either not do step 1, or only do it for people whom you trust will not do step 2.
The same "alternative" that there is to every other crime in existence, proving the person you charged with a crime actually committed the crime. The default is suppose to be innocence, not guilty. It is the state's responsibility or problem to prove someone is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, not a citizen's responsibility to prove their continued innocence at all times.
I mean, the state obviously has photo evidence. So you need to show that either the photo was taken in error, that it misidentified your vehicle or that you weren't the legal owner at the time.
When the police come across a car that's parked illegally, do you think they should need to wait around and figure out exactly who left it before issuing a ticket? Of course not; the vehicle owner is responsible for ensuring it's parked legally.
In the same way, it's the vehicle owner's responsibility to make sure their car is not driven through a red light. If they abdicate that responsibility, they aren't innocent!
That's absolutely hilarious. They take a photo of something approximating your vehicle that shows your plate number, toss it in a mail system that loses more than 0.5% of the class of mail used, then according to another poster in NY they impound your car after all this.
Anyplace with the slightest adherence to the rule of law requires the state to positively identify an actual person, not a vehicle owned by a person, that is responsible for a moving violation. And then personally serve that person rather than just coming up with this absolute bullshit excuse that an unreliable mail system with a letter dropped god knows where somehow is legal service.
A lot of things wrong here:
1. Camera-issued tickets are not moving violations
2. Your car will not be impounded for failure to pay (perhaps unless you have many, many unpaid tickets)
3. They have positively identified an actual person: the owner of the vehicle
If the photo is bad, you can dispute it! That isn't presumption of guilt, it's the legal system working exactly as intended: one side presents their evidence, and the other side has a chance to respond.
Even if USPS loses 0.5% of mail (I am skeptical; that seems crazy high) the state sends at least three notices, so the chances of you missing every notice of your infraction is something like one in a million.
I got a couple of them like 20 years ago. Picture was terrible. I just through the ticket in the trash and never thought about it again.
What do you mean by people who aren't guilty? The infraction here is allowing your vehicle to run a red light.