St. Louis City Red Light Camera Tickets Are Still Legal

St. Louis City’s red light camera tickets are still valid and enforceable, for now. On February 17, 2012, St. Louis City Circuit Court Judge Mark Neill ruled that St. Louis City’s red light camera law is unconstitutional because it violates procedural due process by depriving a person of property without allowing that person the right to a hearing, or some other means of disputing the ticket.

The City of St. Louis Will Appeal Judge Neill’s Final Ruling

The ruling on February 17th was Judge Neill’s final ruling in a lawsuit that was filed in 2009 by three people who had received red light camera tickets in the City of St. Louis. In May 2011, Judge Neill issued a preliminary ruling in that same case, stating that St. Louis City enacted its red light camera ordinance without proper authority from the State.

The city counselor for the City of St. Louis, Patti Hageman, has indicated that the city will appeal Judge Neill’s final ruling. The city has 30 days from the date of the final ruling on February 17th to file its appeal. Read Judge Neill’s final ruling on St. Louis City’s red light cameras.

Over 267,000 Red Light Camera Tickets Were Issued in the City of St. Louis Over a 3-Year Period

There are 51 red light cameras located at intersections throughout the City of St. Louis. The cameras were first installed in 2007. During the period of 2007 through 2010, over 267,000 red light camera tickets were issued in the City of St. Louis. Tickets are mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle caught on camera violating a red light traffic signal. The fine for each red light camera ticket is $100.

Vehicle Owners Are Not Given a Chance to Fight Their St. Louis City Red Light Camera Tickets

There is no court date printed on a St. Louis City red light camera ticket, and vehicle owners are not provided with any information regarding how to fight their tickets. If you claim that someone else was driving your car when the red light camera violation occurred, then you will be required to provide the court with the name and address of that person.

Springfield, Missouri is Waiting Until the St. Louis City Red Light Camera Lawsuit is Resolved Before it Turns its Red Light Cameras Back On

Springfield, Missouri turned off its red light cameras in 2010 after the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that Springfield violated procedural due process by using an administrative hearing process for red light camera tickets, rather than allowing defendants to dispute their tickets in state or municipal court.

Springfield was preparing to revise its red light camera ordinance and turn the cameras back on, but the city recently decided to wait until the appeal of the St. Louis City lawsuit is decided, because the language and procedures in the revised Springfield ordinance are very similar to that of the St. Louis City red light camera law.

Should You Pay Your St. Louis City Red Light Camera Ticket?

For now, the red light cameras in the City of St. Louis are still valid and enforceable, and the city plans to keep issuing tickets. If you fail to pay your red light camera ticket fine, the city will submit your account to a law firm located in Texas that the city hired to handle its debt collection. The Texas law firm will send you a letter reminding you to pay the fine, and if you continue to refuse to pay, the law firm can report your unpaid fine to the credit bureaus.

The City of St. Louis Can Issue an Arrest Warrant if You Fail to Pay a Red Light Camera Ticket Fine

The City of St. Louis has the power to issue arrest warrants against people who refuse to pay their red light camera tickets, but at this point, no one in the city has been arrested for failure to pay a red light camera ticket fine.

If you are unable to view the video at the beginning of this blog post, you can see it by clicking on the following link to see the recent KSDK Channel 5 news story regarding should you pay your St. Louis City red light camera ticket.

To read more about red light cameras, see my previous blog posts regarding the latest information about St. Louis red light camera tickets.