Letter I wrote in early October, fighting my ticket received: Dear Nassau County School Safety Enforcement Program: With all due respect, I am pleading NOT GUILTY and contesting this ticket. At 41 years old, I have an exemplary driving record, because I do not violate traffic laws. As a Medical Record Field Technician (Auditor of Records) / Medical Site Reviewer, one of my responsibilities is to drive to and from sites, and I take precautions to always be alert to my speed and surroundings. I’m not even sure where to begin with my contesting of these allegations. I’m confident there is a problem with your camera. I was in Forest Hills, NY on 9/12/2014, until just after 12:00 PM, and I have parking receipts to prove that (time and date stamped). At that point, I drove home to Bay Shore. I have to check in with work four times a day (once upon leaving home, then upon arriving at the audit site, then upon leaving the audit site, then upon returning home), as well as complete my work assignment over the internet by uploading the files to their secure location. As such, it is logged what time I left Forest Hills on Friday 9/12/2014 (12:11pm) and what time I arrived in Bay Shore (2:11 pm). As with the parking receipts, once again, I have time-stamped proof of where I was at what time via the logged telephone calls with my Field Tech Coordinator. I have a daughter in Elementary School and I must be home to meet her bus. There is no way I could be in Plainview at 2:50 PM, when I must be available for my daughter shortly after that. Additionally, I am very aware of school zones, so when I approach a sign alerting me to a school zone and/or a speed limit change, I make adjustments to the speed I am driving. If this ticket were accurately portraying my driving, I would have let up on the gas to slow down to the new speed limit, I never “slam on the brakes” as this is a dangerous practice, which can result in being rear ended and/or loss of control of the vehicle. Regardless, your camera is stating this is almost 3PM near a school during school hours. Again, I must suggest that there is something wrong with your camera’s date/time stamp, and definitely the speed calibration. At that time, during a Friday in the school year, that street would not be so empty. Additionally, nowhere in the photos can there be seen any “School Zone” flashing lights, further proving my statement that this was not a Friday at almost 3PM in mid-September. Due to the nature of my employment, I am sent all over the area, from Montauk to Westchester County. So, I am not denying my vehicle crossed that camera’s path at some point, but it was most certainly not at that time on that date. A simple search on Google reveals that Mr. Edward Mangano himself admitted that there are multiple problems with these cameras, “A speed-camera program in one Long Island county issued almost 40,000 tickets over the past month. Theyre all being expunged. A malfunction with the cameras caused them to cite motorists who didnt deserve the citations, according to Edward Mangano, Nassau Countys top executive. As a result, the county plans to dismiss more than $2.4-million worth of tickets. Motorists who already have paid their citations will receive refunds. I dont have a high confidence level that the cameras were operating at statutory levels, Mangano tells Newsday. So we are declaring amnesty with all tickets issued this summer. Six cameras responsible for the improper citations are located in school zones. Problems arose because the speed limit changes between 25 miles per hour and 40 mph, depending on whether the schools are in session. In some cases, motorists simply were not aware summer school was in session. In others, the cameras recorded violations at incorrect times.” At the very least, this ticket represents an inaccurate speed due to incorrect calibration of the recording device. However, more importantly, it also represents an inaccurate time and date stamp. Mr. Mangano readily admits many egregious malfunctions have been occurring with these cameras, and it appears this is clearly one of them. As such, given all the evidence above, I am not requesting a hearing, as I feel this would be a waste of taxpayers’ money. I am respectfully requesting that this ticket, clearly issued in error due to malfunctioning cameras, be dropped and dismissed. I await your reply.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 23:56:08 +0000
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