Red-light and speed camera notices

A notice that arrives in the post weeks after the event is often not the same kind of thing as a ticket an officer handed you at the roadside. In many states a camera citation is a civil penalty issued to the registered owner of the vehicle, carries no points, and never reaches your driving record or your insurer. In other states it is treated exactly like any other moving violation. The difference is worth establishing before you decide what to do.

Sent to

The registered owner, not necessarily the driver

Points

Often none — but this varies by state

Arrives

Typically 2–4 weeks after the event

Evidence

Photographs and often video, viewable online

Work out what you have received

A genuine notice states the issuing agency, the date, time and location, the vehicle registration, the amount, a deadline, and a code or web address for viewing the images. Look at the images: they should show your vehicle, your number plate legibly, and in a red-light case the position of the vehicle at the moment the signal changed.

Then find out how your state treats it. The question to answer is whether the penalty attaches to the vehicle as a civil matter or to the driver as a moving violation, because that determines whether points and an insurance increase follow. Your state's official traffic or court website is the place to check, and it is the difference between a fine to pay and a case worth contesting.

Grounds people actually win on

• You were not the driver. Where the penalty falls on the registered owner, most jurisdictions accept an affidavit naming who was driving, or evidence that the vehicle was sold or stolen. Deadlines for this are short.
• The photographs do not identify the vehicle. An unreadable plate or a different make is a straightforward defence.
• The signage was inadequate. Many states require camera enforcement to be signposted; a missing or obscured sign is worth photographing.
• Signal timing. Yellow-light intervals are set by regulation, and where a short interval has been documented at a junction, citations have been dismissed in volume.
• The images do not show the offence. In a right-turn-on-red case, for example, whether the vehicle came to a complete stop is often genuinely arguable from the video.

Paying, and what happens if you do not

Where the notice carries no points, paying is usually the sensible end of it. Where it does carry points, treat it like any other citation — contesting a ticket or reducing what it costs applies in full, including traffic school where offered.

Ignoring it escalates differently depending on the state: late fees, a hold on renewing your vehicle registration, referral to a collections agency, or in states that treat it as a moving violation the same suspension risk as any unpaid ticket. A civil penalty that goes to collections still damages your credit file.

If you have sold the vehicle and notices are still arriving, the underlying problem is the registration, not the ticket. Complete the transfer of title with your state's DMV — see registering a car — or notices for someone else's driving will keep coming to you.