How to Beat a Red Light Camera Ticket: Work for the City

By Prescott Carlson in News on Apr 8, 2010 8:40PM

How many of the small group of average citizens that challenge their red light camera tickets get them dismissed? One percent? Five percent? Well, if you also happen to work for the city of Chicago that number goes up closer to 70 percent.

The Sun-Times reports that of the 2,685 red light camera tickets issued to city vehicles since January 2007, 1,830 of them were eventually dismissed. And they weren't all thrown out because the vehicle was an ambulance or police car racing to a call:

"One time, we had a situation where the inspector general's office was following an employee to make sure someone was living in the city," said Scott Bruner, director of the city's Department of Administrative Hearings.

"The employee made a right turn. By the time the investigator got to the intersection, the light was red, so he followed, got a ticket and talked to the Revenue Department about getting the ticket withdrawn because he was on official city business."

The city did not give the S-T any indication of what percentage of the tickets were given to emergency vehicles. Department of Revenue spokesman Ed Walsh told the S-T that the tickets are not an issue, and the number issued to city vehicles is a pittance compared to the overall total of 1.89 million tickets mailed out, saying, "With city employees, it's an issue of human error, just like it is with some drivers. But when you compare it to total ticket issuance, it works out to be less then one-tenth of 1 percent."