How To Beat A Red Light Camera Ticket In Texas

There are nine intersections in Austin, armed with a red lite camera. You lot might not notice them, but roll through a scarlet calorie-free or roll past that white cease bar painted on the ground and you're likely to stop up with a $75 ticket in the post.

Austin is 1 of 60 cities across Texas to have installed red light cameras. Several of those cities have gotten rid of their cameras; mostly because when voters have a say, they vote the cameras out of town.

Simply, a KXAN Investigation of how these cities installed the cameras shows nearly all are not in compliance with state constabulary—the police that gave cities the right to charge a civil fine for running a carmine light.

Before Sept. 1, 2007, at that place were no rules on how much Texas cities could charge for running a blood-red light. There were no rules on how cities could contract with camera companies with respect to keeping cameras from beingness used to fill quotas and exist turned into money makers for cities.

With the passage of Senate Bill 1119 in 2007, that all inverse. The new law gave cities the right to charge drivers ceremonious fines for carmine low-cal running instead of the criminal penalty. The police became part of Texas Transportation Lawmaking, Department 707.003.

The law had one major requirement before a city could install a reddish low-cal photographic camera: perform a traffic engineering study. Those studies required cities to look for other adjustments that could be made to an intersection to reduce crashes before installing a carmine lite camera—or to aid reduce the chances of people running a blood-red light.

In lodge to notice out which cities complied with the law, KXAN filed public records requests with every city that we could notice records of always using a red calorie-free camera. KXAN received records from 50 cities. Our assay of those records shows only three cities appear to have conducted a traffic engineering study that was signed and sealed by a licensed Texas engineer: Abilene, College Station and Southlake.

"We found—more than once, on multiple, multiple occasions…at that place'south a lot of cities that just didn't comply with this traffic engineering study requirement—at all," Russell Bowman told KXAN. Bowman is an chaser in Irving and got a red light ticket in Richardson, Texas in November of 2012. Bowman said he wasn't driving the auto at the time, but someone in his family was. Bowman still got the ticket and would have to prove it wasn't him running the red light.

Bowman chose to fight the $75 ticket. It was nothing more than a fight on principal, Bowman said.

"They ticketed the wrong guy this time," Bowman told KXAN investigator Jody Barr.

Bowman filed records requests with Richardson's metropolis hall. The lack of response, he said, caused him to sue the city.

Knowing the state required cities to perform a traffic engineering written report for each red light photographic camera as of Sept. ane, 2007, Bowman wanted to see if Richardson ever performed the study. Richardson officials, Bowman said, never answered his request to see their study.

"I know why they didn't respond to my alphabetic character because they never did those things," Bowman said. "When I'm looking at the statute, it provides that if the traffic engineering study is non done, they can't impose a reddish light camera penalty—they just can't—the statute prohibits information technology."

Lack of an Engineering Study

Our analysis of the 49 cities that responded shows only Abilene, College Station and Southlake hired professional engineers who signed and sealed those cities' engineering science studies.

"We did non desire these to become piffling ATMs forth the highway," State Rep. Jim Spud, R-Houston, who co-authored the 2007 red light camera law, forth with erstwhile Dallas-area State Senator, John Carona. Carona—who lost his seat in 2015—declined to participate in this report.

Lawmakers took suggestions from the engineering field before writing the red light law so they could clearly particular that requirement in the nib, Murphy said.

"Part of the applied science written report is to say: are there other things y'all can exercise because in that location are measures that are much easier to do, sometimes they're less expensive," Murphy said. "It was to say the weather merit a ruby-red lite camera and there is no other alternative."

On Aug. two, the city of Austin sent KXAN a response to a public records request, asking the metropolis for its traffic engineering study. What nosotros got back was 10 pages titled, "Cess Sail: Engineering science Countermeasures to Reduce Ruby-red-Light Running."

We looked for an engineer'southward proper noun on each of the pages. At that place wasn't one. At that place as well isn't an engineer'southward seal, identification number or signature on any of the x pages.

Nosotros showed Austin'southward study to Rep. Tater. For comparing, nosotros also showed Irish potato a copy of Abilene's 109-page engineering report; a study Irving Attorney Russell Bowman calls the "standard" for how these studies should be washed.

"Conspicuously, these are in two dissimilar worlds," Tater said equally he looked over Austin and Abilene's studies last month. "This is non a sealed written report. Information technology does not identify the level of detail and it doesn't seem to have any options."

Aside from College Station, Abilene, and Southlake, our enquiry shows almost every other city we got records from did what Austin did. Those cities performed assessments of each intersection, keyed in figures on the assessment sheet and provided those to us as their traffic technology studies.

The just other city with a signed, sealed study that appears to run into the requirements of the applied science study was the city of Willis. Willis didn't perform its engineering study until more than 5 years later installing its cerise light cameras and did then amidst a lawsuit over its cameras, co-ordinate to records provided to KXAN past the city.

Austin's Red Calorie-free Cameras

Cities Could be Forced To Issue Refunds

The concern with those fighting cities similar Austin in courtroom is that those cities might be forced to repay the money it has nerveless one day. According to figures from the Texas Comproller's Office, cities have netted around $537 million from red lite camera tickets since 2008.

Nosotros tried for near three weeks to have someone from the metropolis of Austin's Transportation Department interview with u.s. as function of this investigation. For nearly 3 weeks, the urban center would non provide an interview.

The city'south transportation section sent us an email, defending the urban center's position on its engineering study requirement of the red light camera law. Transportation spokeswoman, Cheyenne Krause, wrote in an Aug. 17 email: "The Austin Transportation Department completed a traffic engineering report, as required by state law, in 2008. Per section 1001.053 of the Texas Engineering Practices Act, a seal is not required if the project is a public piece of work that does not involve electrical or mechanical engineering if the contemplated expense for the project is $xx,000 or less."

Nosotros wanted to run into if the urban center installed the nine cameras without any sort of electrical or mechanical engineering, forth with the cost of the projection. We filed a formal request under the Texas Public Information Act on Aug. 22. On Sept. 6, the city turned over 26 pages to KXAN.

The 26 pages show engineering drawings from REDFLEX Traffic Systems, the company the city contracts with for its red light cameras. Each page contains an engineer's seal and signature, indicating engineering piece of work was performed equally function of the design and installation of the urban center's crimson light cameras.

The city told KXAN it did not take any records related to the "full cost of the design, technology, planning, materials, equipment installed, labor costs, and construction" for any of the ix ruby-red light cameras, Austin Transportation Section employee Joana Perez wrote in a Sept. 7 e-mail. The city claims information technology had nothing to do with the installation of those cameras and Redflex, the private camera company, installed the cameras on its own.

The documents appear to contradict the city's Aug. 17 statement indicating that it did not demand a signed, sealed traffic engineering study.

Russell Bowman, the Irving attorney who successfully sued the city of Richardson over its cherry light cameras, told KXAN, the metropolis of Austin is "apartment out mistaken," in its interpretation of the Texas Engineering Practices Deed.

Krause wrote in her email there'southward bear witness the city's engineering assessments looked for alternatives to the cherry-red lite cameras because, "…rather than recommend ruby-red low-cal cameras at some locations, the study resulted in pattern and bespeak timing changes."

After the Transportation Section denied our requests for an on photographic camera interview to address the allegations, KXAN asked for an interview with Interim Urban center Manager Elaine Hart. The metropolis denied each request to interview Hart, who is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the city.

Many of the cities that did non perform any type of written report told KXAN they were "grandfathered" into the country's 2007 carmine lite camera law and were exempt from the traffic study if they signed a contract with a red light photographic camera company before Sept. i, 2007.

"There was no grandfathering of this law," Rep. Murphy told KXAN. "Every red low-cal photographic camera in the state of Texas must have this written report done."

Irish potato explained the section of the police dealing with cherry-red light photographic camera contracts is what many cities are disruptive with a grandfather clause. The confusion comes from the department that states, "added by this Act, applies only to a contract entered into on or afterward the constructive appointment of this Deed."

The Sept. 1, 2007 "grandfathered" engagement only applies to contracts, non the implementation of and operation of red light cameras, Bowman said. "The contracting of a carmine light camera programme has absolutely nothing at all to do with how those cameras are operated and used to fine drivers," Bowman said. "And, those attorneys those cities are hiring know that."

Bastrop, which once had a red light photographic camera that nerveless $ii.8 million in fines, hired a Fort Worth attorney to aid the city defend itself in a lawsuit filed by people ticketed by red calorie-free cameras. The attorney, George Staples, wrote in an email response to KXAN that Bastrop and cities like information technology that signed contracts before Sept. 1, 2007 did not take to conduct a traffic engineering study. "I run across no point in researching the history and determining whether 707.003 [the law] was followed or not followed. It is every bit irrelevant to me as confederate statues. I encounter no point to trying legal bug in the news media; my forte is the courtroom room. It also pays better," Staples wrote.

But the lack of an official traffic applied science study isn't the only part of the law cities haven't conformed to. The red light photographic camera law requires that cities compile almanac crash data for each intersection with a carmine low-cal camera and plough those reports into the Texas Department of Transportation, which are then posted for the public to run across.

Nosotros showed Murphy our assay of TxDOT records that show 29 of the 59 ruddy light camera cities have not consistently submitted annual reports to the country bureau.

TxDOT records show the metropolis of Austin didn't submit annual reports for 2010 and 2012. KXAN requested those records just the city did not provide any documents for those years.

TxDOT's spider web site shows the metropolis of Hutto, for example, never submitted whatsoever almanac reports after it installed cameras in November 2009. Circular Rock never submitted its 2011 or 2012 annual reports and the city of Diboll hasn't submitted whatsoever reports since 2011, TXDOT'due south accounting shows.

Fifty-fifty though the law requires the information to be filed with TxDOT, the bureau says it doesn't have the authority to enforce cities to comply. "TxDOT's role is to provide crash data and publish the red lite camera reports," the agency wrote in an email.

"TxDOT's supposed to get those reports and then we can monitor: were they successful? Adept data leads to proficient decisions. Correct now it appears we're not getting it on the front stop, which makes it really hard to compare on the back end," Murphy said.

After because the results of what nosotros uncovered in this KXAN investigation, Tater said he'due south going to do something about it in the next legislative session.

"I will suggest the folks in transportation they do some sort of an acting study on this and discover out what the compliance issues are," said Murphy, "and be talking most putting some penalties in, some sanctions in or some relief in if people aren't using these cameras as nosotros designed them to be done."

As for the half-billion dollars collected in the last decade with these cameras, Murphy thinks cities could exist facing some trouble for not having the authorisation to fine drivers this way.

"A lot of cities could potentially be on the hook for millions," Barr asked the lawmaker.

"I retrieve that could very well be the case," Murphy said.