We live in California.

Our traffic signals are mostly mounted vertically, with standard red on top, amber in the middle, and green on the bottom. Sometimes the signal is mounted horizontally, with red on the left and green on the right.

The wife and I have been driving for a combined sixty years, and have never received a ticket for a red light violation.

In April, we attended a funeral in northern Wisconsin. We drove back to Chicago in approx. 8 hours. When we got there, my wife saw a signal that was mounted horizontally and seemed to be flashing amber in two of three signal spaces.

Neither one of us, nor our passenger, had ever seen a signal like this before, and my wife, doing at least 45mph, drove through the signal.

Yesterday we received a notice of violation from the City of Chicago for a $100 red light violation.

So, those of you who live up thattaway, what does that signal mean? Does it ever turn red? Does it ever flash in all three positions? Does it flash in one position initially, then go to two flashing ambers to warn of an impending stop?

Personally, at 45-50mph, had I been driving, I woulda gone through it also.

Very confusing situation.

hmmmmmmmmmmm--never been to Chicago, but I suppose had I encountered a flashing yellow signal at an intersection, I would have 'slowed and proceeded with caution'. But I would not have stopped.

It was late in the afternoon of a Sunday, around 6pm, with very lite traffic all around. The photo taken of the rental we were in shows only two other vehicles, behind us.

There appears to be no one waiting at the intersection perpendicular to our line of movement. I'm guessing that "proceed with caution" was not the intended message of two blinking ambers. It must have meant come to a stop, but who signals that with amber? Isn't "stop" what red is for?

I guess what I am asking is "How is going through on an amber" a $100 offense?

Practically everyone knows these photo violations are a gimmick designed to enrich cash-strapped municipalities...half the money generated goes to the city operating the cameras; the other half goes to the company that installed the equipment.

There is so much opportunity for "monkey business," many cities prohibit the installation of these red light cameras.

Roseville, CA yanked its cameras after a short trial with many complaints, but has just re-installed them.

But they don't use a confusing, horizontally-mounted, flashing amber signal...they use the traditional vertical arrangement.

Brochin, are you handy for an explain?

i will step up to the plate

#1 rental

#2 out of town

#3 the computer is smart you ain't

#4 it is all seeing & knows what you did wrong even if you don't

#5 because you aren't gonna drive , fly , or walk back to contest it , they win!

it's a scam

EBB

Don't pay it. Eff 'em.

I lived in Illinois my entire life..I've NEVER seen anything like that....I would definitely protest that one..or at least get an explanation.

I'm with macs

Send 'em a nasty letter telling them you are Never coming back to their stupid state, and if they don't like it, they can come and get you

I checked the Chicago Municipal Code online. Couldn't find anything in there about that. I can't believe Cook County doesn't have any county traffic code, but I couldn't find one (found other county codes, however). I checked for state statutes, but the legislature's page is very unhelpful, and I don't have access to some of the pay sources.

Most jurisdictions will display the number of the code, ordinance or statute allegedly violated on the citation. Do you have that handy? Provide me the code or statute number and I'll see if I can find it a little more easily that way.

ha !! pack's on it!!

Go get Em!!!!

EBB

Pecan-

Sorry, I can't help out too much on this one. I'm not at all familiar with traffic cams or the laws up thattaway. Our department has mentioned installing the cameras, but so far, most of us in the department are against it (mainly because undoubtedly, I would be caught running a red light in my personal vehicle and/or patrol car).

I do know that in our state, the yellow light has to stay yellow for a minimum of something like 1.37 seconds or something like that. But, as another poster already said, you probably got tagged 'cause you were in a rental car. They know you're from out of town and you won't fight it.

I wholeheartedly agree with MACS. Don't pay it.

Thank you for the replies.

My wife is a registered insurance broker in Calif; she must have a valid driver's license.

No doubt Illinois will contact Calif if the fine is not paid, and Calif will suspend the wife's license until the fine is paid.

Is it the contention here that the red-light camera snaps pictures of many vehicles at intersections, but only slaps the pee-pee of out-of-towners with violations, believing that the o-o-t'ners won't return to contest the ticket?

The cameras are OBVIOUSLY anti-semetic!!!!!!!!!!!!

and you are obviously a **pulled by moderator**

**snort**

^Hey......leave your mother out of this!

LOL. You're onto a problem with the "don't pay it" advice. States do report certain offenses to other states. Who reports what to whom, to my knowledge, is not uniform. Years ago, when we got a Driving While License Suspended case in the court where I worked, and the DWLS was based on a suspension in another state, we (on the defense side) would chuckle. The other states were pretty lousy at sharing records and the most the prosecutors could prove here was a No Valid Operator's License (NVOL) in Washington. We'd work most of those for a $50 fine back then (late 80's).

States have gotten a lot more interested in reporting things to one another since then. The number one hammer most states use to force payment of infractions is suspending a license or, if you don't have a license in that state, suspending your driving privilege in that state. Could happen, and could get reported to CA.

Again, if you can toss me a citation to the relevant law from the infraction, I'll try to tell you what the law says.

The rental company will come after you for the fee if you do not pay or have it taken care of, Get Pac the info on the ticket so Your'e a good man Pac.....he can give you a fighting chance.

#18 Nah...just trying to help out where I can. Others do that with plumbing, electrical, etc. help.

In New Jersey, all traffic signals, whether they be State, county, municipal, fall under the N.J.D.O.T. Office of Traffic Signal and Safety Engineering. They all must meet U.S.D.O.T. standards.

Poke around on the U.S.D.O.T.'s website

http://www.dot.gov/new/index.htm 

and see if you can locate something about that. I personally have not seen anything like what you described in New Jersey.