Comment by AngryData
How do you allow a vehicle to run a red light that you aren't driving?
How do you allow a vehicle to run a red light that you aren't driving?
You don't even have to 'allow' them. Either you could live in a community property state, where your spouse, even a spouse who has initiated divorce against you, legally also owns the vehicle that is in your name. Or someone could steal it. Or someone could steal or duplicate your plates and put it on a nearly identical car, which happened to a friend who had to spend years fighting all the tickets that were mailed to him when an entirely different car (same make/model) used his same plate numbers.
If you can show that your vehicle or plates were stolen, you won't have to pay the ticket; in NYC that is explicitly listed as a possible defense [1].
The spouse thing honestly seems fine — it just means that you're both responsible for paying the ticket, rather than you alone — but if you have an issue it's with the property laws, not the red light cameras.
[1] https://www.nyc.gov/site/finance/vehicles/red-light-camera-v...
My friend "showed" the plates were not his (he couldn't prove the car wasn't stolen because it wasn't -- they only copied his plate) but they kept sending him tickets because apparently it only counts for one ticket. They wanted him to go through a laborious process every time. I think he finally just stopped challenging them because it took too much time, and probably can't go to that state again unless he wants his car seized.
Sounds like the issue here is that the police aren't doing their job!
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.