Channel 2 fixes another red light camera ticket error
When last we checked in with KPRC-2's Ask Amy, she was helping a wrongly ticketed red light runner clear her name. At that time, we noted the moral of the story was to call local media if you received a ticket in error, because MayorWhiteChiefHurtt are not interested in helping red light camera victims.
Well, Ask Amy is at it again, cutting through HPD's uninterested bureaucracy, helping a red light camera victim:
After months of calls to the city's red-light program division, she's asking Amy to help clear her name. KPRC Local 2 Investigative reporter Amy Davis has yet another case of a driver getting the red-light runaround.
Christina Tyler tried to solve this problem herself. She said she spent four months making calls, filling out paperwork and faxing it in.
When none of that worked, she called Amy.The camera flashed at the corner of the Sam Houston Parkway and Bellaire Boulevard and Christina Tyler got the ticket.
There's the first problem."It was a picture of a vehicle I used to have," Tyler explained. "I haven't had it in over five years."
When Tyler last saw her Toyota Echo in 2004, it was smashed up from a car accident. She said the other driver's insurance company told her it couldn't be repaired.
But five years later it's back on the road, apparently running red lights, and doing it all with Christina Tyler's maiden name still on the title.
"It's not fair that someone's driving around with my identity for five years for crying out loud," Tyler told Local 2 Investigates. "I just don't think that's right."
Tyler called the city's red-light camera program and tracked down every document they asked for – no easy job after five years, four moves and a marriage.
You'll be shocked to learn that, after Christina Tyler provided everything HPD asked for, she still received warning letters telling her to pay up or else:
The last one came from an attorney's office and told her the city would file a civil suit and block her from registering her vehicle when the plates expired if she didn't pay up.
And there you have it: The city is now threatening not to renew vehicle registrations for those who have not paid red light camera fines, even if the ticket has been disputed.
So Ask Amy called HPD and voila! the ticket was deleted. That led Ask Amy to ask HPD why it takes a call from KPRC to clear up ticketing errors:
HPD chalked it up to yet another isolated case and said drivers have to remember the red-light camera program is still young. They said the city is still working out the kinks.
So HPD is doing on-the-job red light camera ticketing training? At citizens' expense? To the tune of millions of dollars in revenue? How many people have tried to fight a ticket and given up? How many years does it take before the kinks are worked out?
Is it shenanigans or incompetence? Frankly, it's outrageous, but that's MayorWhiteChiefHurtt's government for you.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/19/09 06:05 PM | Houston Politics | Print | Comments (11)
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