Maryland photo radar citation process proper?

[971821]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pa.

May I ignore Md. photo radar mailed citations
as a resident of Pa without great concern?

Anyone know if a regularly mailed citation meet the criterion for being
properly legally served in Md?

If it is not proper service, I cannot believe Md. would contract a process server to try and collect on a $40 fine?

Anyone have any expertise in these matters of Maryland law?
Please keep responses to Md. since it does not matter what other states do.

Thanks

[IsabellaSoriano]

Originally Posted by 971821

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pa.

May I ignore Md. photo radar mailed citations
as a resident of Pa without great concern?

Anyone know if a regularly mailed citation meet the criterion for being
properly legally served in Md?

If it is not proper service, I cannot believe Md. would contract a process server to try and collect on a $40 fine?

Anyone have any expertise in these matters of Maryland law?
Please keep responses to Md. since it does not matter what other states do.

Thanks

you are aware that should you chose to ignore that $40 fine, it will increase,, and increase, and increase until it's much more than $40. yes?

and your driver's license being suspended. so throw in the cost for fees in case you get pulled over for driving on a suspended license, car being towed....then the re-in statement fees. then insurance fees go up.


go pay your ticket.

[Maestro64]

I'll tell you how this works....

It does not matter is MD served it properly, it does even matter they have any proof you ever got it in the mail. If you fail to pay, they will contact PA and tell them you did not pay a MD ticket. PA will then contact you and tell you if you do not clear the matter up with MD they will suspend your license or at least not allow you to renew it when it comes due.

Since you are out of state, there is no real due process since MD will not have to prove to PA you were actually issues a ticket. States take others states word that, You are basically stuck between between a rock and hard place. MD know this too.

Not if MD does not notify PA of the outstanding ticket, the next time you are in MD and if you get pulled over it could show up and their could be a warrant for the outstanding ticket.

So you option is to drive back and contest the ticket or pay. Ignoring is not an option these days

[971821]

Since no one has helped much on the issue of legal service in Md. I have done some more research. There is a wealth of information out there about photo radar with much discussion regarding rights of the accused.

Photo Radar law is different than officer issued citations in most states that use it, especially regarding issues of being properly and legally served.
In Arizona a prominent attorney on this issue, Ms. Kayler, recommends you ignore the incident until properly being served.
See [url=http://www.photoradarlaw.com/]Photo Radar Tickets Arizona[/url]

Montgomery County, Maryland's photo radar program specifically states that it does not add points to your record or report the incident to insurance. I think they do this to encourage remittance by fearful, uninformed motorists in an effort to balance the county defecit.

After all it is only $40, so what if one's constitutional rights are trampled on a little bit. Beware folks this is how it starts, just a little bit at a time so you won't notice or mind.

Nearly all the photo radar programs in the country are administered by a private company, who shares in the fine fee and are foreign-owned. You can feel even better now knowing some of your hard earned cash toward the fine is leaving the country.

The citation is sent to the vehicle owner, regardless of who was driving. No forward picture of the driver is being taken for identity confirmation, only a rear shot of the car.

RIGHTS
Everywhere in every state in the US we as citizens are protected by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights specifically the 14th and 6th Amendments which confer the rights of "DUE PROCESS" and "TO BE CLEARLY INFORMED OF THE NATURE AND CAUSE OF THE CHARGES AGAINST HIM".

DUE PROCESS - The idea that laws and legal proceedings must be fair. The Constitution guarantees that the government cannot take away a person's basic rights to 'life, liberty or property, without due process of law.' Courts have issued numerous rulings about what this means in particular cases.

The Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the deprivation of liberty or property without due process of law. A due process claim is cognizable only if there is a recognized liberty or property interest at stake. Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 69 (1972).

The Sixth Amendment, which is applicable to the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, see In re Oliver, 333 U.S. 257, 273-74 (1948), guarantees a criminal defendant a fundamental right to be clearly informed of the nature and cause of the charges against him. In order to determine whether a defendant has received constitutionally adequate notice, the court looks first to the information. James v. Borg, 24 F.3d 20, 24 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 115 S. Ct. 333 (1994). 'The principal purpose of the information is to provide the defendant with a description of the charges against him in sufficient detail to enable him to prepare his defense.' Id.

First class mail does not meet the legal standard required by the 6th and 14th Amendments. I believe that every court in the land must agree.

I think I will take the risk that a process server will never appear at my door.
Let them go after the easy ones.

If Maryland has become so euro-socialist and now ignores the US Constitution such that it considers a first class mailing of a citation by a non-governmental entity to be legal service, then I will never again be spending a single penny there and will avoid traveling to Maryland in the future.

[AHA]

Imagine how easy it is to avoid putting yourself in this situation.

[Maestro64]

971821,

Everything you said is correct, and most everyone here would agree and you have a right to ignore it and not pay if you like. Your logic is also probably close on the fact they will not show at your door and focus on the easy one's.

If you search this form and others you will find a bunch of people who came looking for advice about tickets they ignored and the government came looking for them years later.

I will also tell you, if they do come looking for you later, you could probably fight it in court and show how they failed to excuse their responsibilities correctly, therefore, you're not responsible and could win. However at this point that $40 ticket could have cost you $1000's to clear up the mess they created for you.

Like I said, MD will most likely notify PA for failure to pay, which does not cost MD anything extra... Look up Driver License Compact

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driver_License_Compact]Driver License Compact - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/url]

I personally do not agree with these tactics and I am all about fighting every ticket since many are suspect to begin with, However I am a realist and know when it is a lose lose situation.