Houston Coalition Against Red Light Cameras

Tips on fighting red light camera tickets

The Houston CoalitionAgainst Red Light Cameras founder offers three reasons for refusing to pay the optional red light camera fine.

Captain H. F. Van Der Grinten advocates non-payment of ared light camera ticket fine because this fine is virtually voluntary.  According to a written statement from the Director of the Fort Bend Tax office vehicle registrations will not be denied because of outstanding RLC fines.

Captain Van says that, “If I received an RLC ticket in Sugar Land and I felt that I got caught fair and square, I would feel morally obliged to pay the fine.  However, there are three good reasons that I would refuse to pay.”

1. The citation is issued to the vehicle owner of record, not the driver.  If there is any doubt on my part, as the vehicle owner,who was the offending driver I would refuse to pay because to do so would be construed asinadmissible self-incrimination.
2. If the straight through or left turn violation occurred less than one second into the red light period I would refuse to pay because the city knows that increasing the yellow time by one second dramatically reduces the number of violations and the city steadfastly refuses to do this.Note: The violation time into the red light period is indicated above the photographs provided in the citation.
3. If the violation was for a rolling stop violation on a permitted right turn during a red light I would feel justified in paying a fine of only $7.50 because I have proof that this violation is only one tenth as serious as a straight through violation and the fine should reflect the seriousness of the violation.  Since the city will not accept this reduced fine I would pay nothing.  Note: 60% of the citations issued are for rolling stop violations on a right turn during a red light.

Captain Van’s petition to ban red light cameras in Sugar Land has now reached 37% of the 2,600 signature goal needed to place the issue on a public referendum.

Please direct any questions on the above to:

Helwig F. Van Der Grinten
Founder, Houston Coalition Against Red Light Cameras (as they are presently utilized)
Email: CaptainVan@aol.com
Web page: www.houstoncoalition.net
Home page: www.captain-van.com