Do You Have To Pay A Red Light Camera Ticket In Delaware

Pay that Red-Lite Photographic camera Ticket No Affair What

Editor'southward Note: This post originally appeared every bit an NMA Weekly E-Newsletter #605 emailed to members in Baronial 2020. If yous would similar to receive the newsletter, join today the thousands of other active motorists who have made that choice!

The Delaware Supreme Court ruled recently that ruby-red-light camera ticket fines under $100 cannot be appealed beyond local courts. Delaware Lawmaking Section 4101 states:

"A person constitute responsible for a ceremonious traffic law-breaking shall take a right of repeal only in those cases in which the civil punishment imposed exceeds $100."

Stanley Lowicki challenged his May 2017 $172.50 cherry-red-light photographic camera ticket for the reasons well-nigh of the states do—he wanted to prove his innocence. Later he learned that he could not challenge the ticket beyond the local traffic court, he decided to take on the system instead. His example has been winding up through the state courtroom system e'er since. Lowicki argued in both lower courtroom and the Country Supreme Court that the unabridged amount of the ticket should exist considered under Code Department 4101, not simply the bodily traffic fine. Here is the breakdown of Lowicki's cerise-light camera ticket.

RLC Fine	$75.00
Court Costs	$25.00
Court Security Fee	$10.00
Transportation Trust Fund	$37.fifty
Land Police Fund	$ 7.50
Local Law Enforcement Fund	$ 7.50
Ambulance Fund	$10.00

As you tin see, the cost of the basic violation is $75.00. The additional "fine" of $97.50 was composed of tacked-on fees, which country law ignores when considering the $100 threshold.

Credit: Province of British Columbia

Due process, guaranteed nether the US Constitution, has broken down in Delaware at the most basic level—the lowly traffic ticket. If citizens cannot exercise their constitutional rights to fight traffic tickets, how can they protect themselves from governmental overreach?

The Delaware police that authorized traffic cameras does not let tickets to exceed $110 for a fine paid on time, and additional courtroom costs/authoritative fees may not exceed $35.00. It likewise declares that no assessments "other than those specified" may exist imposed. That fee restriction became moot, according to the land, when two years later, lawmakers permitted the levying of charges for a variety of purposes, such as those shown in a higher place for all court cases.

As more states attempt to ship traffic tickets to civil court, due process volition suffer at the most bones level. Instead of "Innocent until Proven Guilty," the dictate will be "Guilty, no affair what—pay up or else."

The Delaware Supreme Courtroom ruling spreads the compensation among many agencies and makes "Policing for Profit" wait better than e'er for cash-strapped cities and states.