- A judge in Broward County, Florida, dismissed a red-light camera ticket and ruled the law unconstitutional because it shifts the burden of proof onto vehicle owners rather than the state.
A routine traffic citation in South Florida has exploded into a legal flashpoint with the potential to shake the foundations of automated traffic enforcement across the state.
A judge in Broward County has dismissed a red-light camera ticket and ruled that the law used to issue it is unconstitutional. The decision centers on the way Florida assigns responsibility for violations captured by automated cameras at intersections.
The Case: A Ticket Mailed to the Owner, Not the Driver
The case began with a citation issued in the city of Sunrise after a traffic camera recorded a vehicle entering an intersection against a red signal.
As is common under Florida’s red-light camera enforcement system, the ticket was mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle rather than to the driver who was actually behind the wheel at the time.
The vehicle owner challenged the citation in court, arguing that the statute governing red-light camera enforcement forces the owner to prove their innocence. Instead of requiring the state to identify and prove who committed the violation, the law presumes that the registered owner is responsible unless they can prove otherwise…