<\/a>Sometime between 2005 and 2014, I got nailed by a red-light camera. I don\u2019t remember the date or the time, but I do remember the flash of light as the camera caught me sneaking through the intersection at the last possible moment of the yellow. And I definitely remember getting the bad news in the mail: a violation notice, a picture of my car\u2014complete with a very clear image of my license plate\u2014and a bill for $100.<\/p>\n

I paid it\u2014grumpily\u2014and promptly pitched the notice. End of story, I thought, but lesson learned. Since then, I\u2019ve been scrupulously careful about not proceeding through an intersection to shave a millisecond off my travel time.<\/p>\n

But last week, I got a reprieve. After years of class-action litigation, American Traffic Solutions (ATS), the company that operated red-light cameras in 27 municipalities, has agreed to a settlement. About 900,000 Missouri residents are eligible to apply for a refund. The total settlement could cost American Traffic Solutions $16 million. I guess ATS has done the math and has decided that $16 million isn’t so bad. It must be a very profitable company.<\/p>\n

According to the tiny print on my postcard, the lawsuit alleged that ATS \u201coperated unlawful camera monitoring systems at various traffic intersections throughout Missouri, and that ATS improperly issued violation notices because the local ordinances conflicted with Missouri state law, were unconstitutional, and\/or the municipalities did not have the authority to enact the red-light-camera ordinances.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s still a case about red-light cameras pending in the Missouri Supreme Court. According to the Kansas City Star<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Missouri cities are awaiting a state Supreme Court ruling this year for guidance on two key questions: Whether it was appropriate to presume the vehicle’s owner was the driver, and whether the city programs can be enforced because they don’t treat the red-light camera tickets as moving violations with points against a person’s driver’s license.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But, even before that decision comes in, ATC\u2014while denying the allegations against it\u2014has settled the class-action suit. Last week, we all got postcards offering us a settlement of 20 percent. One side instructed us to \u201cread the notice carefully.\u201d That wasn\u2019t easy, because the other side was printed in magnifying-glass-ready type (I\u2019m guessing 6 point). It consisted of a long legal explanation of the settlement, smashed into a postcard. Buried in there was information about a website where we could apply for our refund. I had to wade through a lot of gobbledygook to find it [they did, at least, underline the web info]. We have until Feb. 28 to file.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, the application process was relatively easy. I\u2019ve received a number of these class-action settlement notices over the years, but I\u2019ve never filed a claim, because the process is too daunting, and the return\u2014usually less than a dollar–doesn\u2019t seem worth the trouble. (I should probably be more conscientious about these things in the future.)<\/p>\n

Missouri made this refund much simpler: I didn\u2019t have to produce the original violation notice or even remember the date when the camera got me. So, I have now officially applied for my refund.<\/p>\n

And now, I\u2019m going to try not to violate any other laws while I\u2019m waiting for my check.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometime between 2005 and 2014, I got nailed by a red-light camera. I don\u2019t remember the date or the time, but I do remember<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":31063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[294,1726,869,2233,1],"tags":[2258,2366],"yoast_head":"\n