How To Beat a Photo-Enforcement Ticket

• Don't speed or run red lights. (Don't run red lights. Well, okay, but never speed? Hello!)

• Know where the cameras are:

Paradise Valley:
Three intersections with red light and speed cameras: Tatum Boulevard and Lincoln Drive, Tatum Boulevard and McDonald Road, and Lincoln Drive and Mockingbird Lane. The Town also uses one speed van parked in varying locations.

Phoenix:
Go to www.photoenforced.com and do a search under Phoenix.

Scottsdale:
www.ci.scottsdale.az.us/photoradar/locations.asp

Chandler:
www.chandlerpd.com/fight_crime_photoredlight.htm

Mesa:
www.cityofmesa.org/police/traffic/speed_radar.aspx
www.cityofmesa.org/police/traffic/redlight_cameras.aspx

Tempe:
www.tempe.gov/police/PIO%20pages/photo_radar_shedule.htm
Two intersections with red light cameras: Southern Avenue and McClintock Drive, and Broadway and Rural roads

• Cross-register your vehicle with your spouse's. (The name of the person on the ticket, which is taken from the license plate, will never match the driver in the photograph. You can then have the court or police dismiss the citation.)

• Register your vehicle under the name of a corporation, limited liability corporation, limited partnership business, or family trust. (If a citation or notice of violation comes in the mail, trash it. Police and courts will take no further action. It may cost as little as $100 to form an LLC. See this Website for details: www.cc.state.az.us/corp/filings/forms.)

• Ignore the ticket and dodge the process server. (This takes some finesse, but it can be done. For instance, you could stay quiet and unseen when strangers come to the door. Servers are more likely to come in the evenings or on weekends. If the ticket isn't served or signed, it must be dismissed from the court after four months. Check the status of your ticket on this Web site: www.supreme.state.az.us/publicaccess/notification/default.asp.)

• Register your vehicle with a P.O. box as the mailing address. (The MVD will also require a physical address, but may only give the photo-enforcement company the P.O. box. Then, while you ignore the ticket, the process server can't find you.)

• Contest the ticket. (Judges do listen to excuses, such as whether your speed was reasonable and prudent even if it was over the posted speed limit. See the Web site www.photoradarlaw.com for possible defense ideas.)