Thursday, July 6th, 2006
Got my first speed camera ticket in the mail yesterday.
Apparently I was going 59 in a 45 in a section of D.C. Random thoughts:
The ticket is for $50, no points. Just about the right amount of money to make a fight seem futile.
I don’t drive fast. But it’s certainly possible I was doing 59. The camera is at the 3rd Street tunnel in D.C., just before the ramp onto Massachusetts Avenue. There’s clearly no traffic in the picture, which was snapped on June 3, a Saturday. What’s more, that stretch of road is still interstate. In the photo, I have my left turn signal on, which means I’m merging. If you’re familiar with the area, you’ll know that if there’s any oncoming traffic at all, it would be damn-near impossible to merge at 45 miles per hour. To even try wouldn’t be safe.
The frustrating thing — and why I think traffic cameras are fundamentally unfair — is that I have no idea if I was actually speeding or not. I certainly don’t remember if I was doing 59 on June 3 at 6:04pm. I may have been. Or the camera may have been lying.
Unless anyone knows of an low-hassle way of fighting, I guess I’ll suck it up and fork over the fifty dollars. Maybe I’ll write something fun in the check memo.
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on Thursday, July 6th, 2006 at 1:54 pm by Radley Balko
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