re: Lafayette red light camera ticket--can they send you to collections?

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but it can hit your credit report.

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Hit it, yes. Stay after dispute, NO.

City can have all the contracts they want, they don't have one signed with YOU agreeing to pay.

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It's $25 but I didn't run it. I made a right turn after stopping

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We all think we did not break the law, I had the same thing happen in Plano, TX. The video they sent showed me pretty clear rolling though slowly and not coming to a full complete stop. There were no cars coming and I could see that, but the law says what it says.

You can choose to fight it, but for $25 I would pay it and count it as a learning experience. I roll through plenty of stop signs and lights still, I just do not do it at the ones with cameras

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Basically the same thing happened to me here in Baton Rouge and those frickers are charging me $167! Are the laws different here with regards to credit and what not?

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1. Real tickets will instruct you to contact the court to resolve matter in question while fake tickets (ATS and RedFlex) may tell you not to contact the court. Fake tickets are sent via regular US Postal Mail service, but appear to be "official," which they are not. Criminal citations are sent by registered or certified mail.

2. In Louisiana, RLC and speed camera citations are NOT a criminal offense. They are treated as CIVIL matter, partly because the OWNER of the vehicle is issued the citation (doesn't matter who is driving) and if contested, you won't be awarded the opportunity to go before a judge. Instead, you will have a hearing with an Administrative Adjudication officer (city appointed).

3. CIVIL offenses are NOT reported to the Louisiana DMV or your insurance company.

4. In Baton Rouge, city officials will NOT turn over your Social Security Number to a private company (ATS and RedFlex).

5. If unpaid fine goes on your credit report, simply dispute online with Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Ask them to investigate and validate the debt owed. ATS and RedFlex must provide proof that you entered into an agreement for goods or services or signed promissory note.

6. If threatened with a collection notice or a harassing phone call, do the math. ATS and RedFlex send out thousands upon thousands citations each and every day. This is profitable for them to do, because many people are scared into thinking they have to pay (the media plays a large part in this) and because it's the "right thing to do." But think about the numbers ...

What's the bottom line? If you think for one minute that a company such as ATS or RedFlex, both of whom are located out of state, are going to take the time, energy and resources (think out of state costs, attorney fees and court cost) to go after you in a court of law for a fine of less than $500.00, pay it.

Ultimately, it's your decision and you need to decide what is best for you. But if you're like me and are willing to take the "risk," toss it and go on with your life and don't look back!

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Baton Rouge

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It's been more than a year since Baton Rouge's city-parish administrators vowed to start cracking down on the large percentage of people who don't pay the tickets they get from red light cameras.

But the level of enforcement has not changed, and the amount of money that the city-parish collects from those ticket has dropped significantly over the last couple of years.

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The city-parish has been studying what other cities do with their immobilization programs, and whether they've been effective, said John Price, assistant chief administrative officer with the mayor's office. Booting people's cars is a "significant step," and the city-parish wants to make sure it's the right one, Price said.

Meanwhile, the amount of money the city is collecting from the red light camera tickets has dropped dramatically, from $3.17 million in 2013 to an expected $2.3 million in 2014. The city-parish is budgeting $2.3 million in revenue again for 2015.

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City-parish officials have long maintained that the red light cameras are not intended to be a cash grab, but the drop in revenue indicates that something is happening -- either people are driving safer and getting ticketed less, or the rate of people paying their tickets is even worse than it had been.

It's not entirely clear which is the case. But Chief Administrative Officer William Daniel said it's probably a combination of both -- fewer tickets being issued, and fewer people paying up.

Price agreed that as people realize the tickets aren't being enforced, fewer of them are paying. "Over time, if you don't see enforcement, you do see a drop-off in the amount of voluntary enforcement (payments) that are made," Price said.

By now, many people certainly know that the city-parish doesn't have many -- or any -- teeth if they don't bother to pay up. The Advocate wrote a story in Sept. 2013 saying about 40 percent of the tickets issued since 2009 had never been paid, and the city-parish had never pursued anyone for it, beyond having a collection agency send them letters. The next month, the issue was a factor when the Metro Council was debating whether to renew the contract for the cameras.

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"The cat's out of the bag, you don't have to pay them, so that may be an explanation (for the ticket revenue dropping)," said Council Member Ryan Heck, who voted against extending the contract. He said the issue is a "dead horse."

The problem seems to be there's currently no good way to enforce the tickets.

Price said city-parish ordinances only give them three options: Suing people in small claims court, which isn't worth the cost, using a boot or immobilization device, or reporting to a collections agency. The city-parish has been using the third option, but it doesn't have a whole lot of teeth -- people who don't pay the ticket get a letter in the mail, but credit bureaus typically don't ding people's credit for municipal infractions like a red light camera ticket, Price said.

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Full Article

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How do you know if it hits your credit?

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By checking your credit report.

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. You will waste more than $25 of your time to fight it or eventually pay it.

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Didn't spend a penny. Also, lenders will not pay attention to a hit on credit from a red light cam.

In Lafayette, there are places where the camera actually causes more danger. One place has a new dedicated right turn lane that merges with a major road, much like you merge on interstate. If a car stops there to avoid a "rolling stop" ticket, everyone behind them stops abruptly. And it's all for NO reason. The lane was built to ease traffic flow, NOT hinder it further. No cop in this town would ever think about stopping you for a rolling stop merger at that location.

It's put there for $ only. Not for safety!

I'm sure there are hundreds of identical situation s out there.

Including spots where they've shortened yellow light time to cause more red tickets!

Ive gotten several tickets for speeding. Most were 5mph over the limit. I haven't paid any of them. They threaten, but they can't really do anything.

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Often you can't even make who was driving the vehicle at the time..

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To show you how much of a racket it is, Lafayette stopped sending a pic of the driver on the citation, because it was another large hill to climb when fining a vehicle and not the driver.

Again, it's stupid and criminal of them to try and extort the registered owner.

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Ive gotten several tickets for speeding. Most were 5mph over the limit. I haven't paid any of them. They threaten, but they can't really do anything.

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Exactly and many states have some sort of leniency of how many MPHs you can go over the speed limit.

When I researched it I learned that the courts won't uphold the ticket against you, but that the city can continue to just intimidate you to pay.

My dad has employees often drive his work vehicle for several things and they got a few of these tickets.. and it's just so frustrating because there's no way to make out who was even driving the vehicle and he's always responsible to pay it.. I actually just end up paying it for him because I don't want anything to happen to him.. but when I review the videos there's really nothing wrong. It has to be some sort of nit picky crap because these aren't even for running red lights or stop signs. They say they are going like 5 mph over the speed limit, but it looks so questionable because the vehicles ahead of them are clearly moving faster and I don't see a flash go off.. perhaps it did, Idk.. but who knows.

I understand it's often just $25-$35 bucks but when you have a work vehicle driven by several people a day and no way to determine who is even responsible.. and it seems very bogus.. it becomes frustrating. I know they make sure to go even slower in these spots.. fortunately haven't had any tickets lately.