In researching it, the village website shows she has 4+ (another $400!) more since then, that we have not yet been notified of. She most definitely would have corrected this behavior had she known sooner or had been pulled over by an officer. One month is a long turnaround time to be notified. Is there any hope if she goes to court and makes this case, she'll only have to pay the first and then any that occurred *after* today (the notification of this first one)?
Your daughter is deemed to know the law. Right turn on red rules have been in effect a long time, and the cameras have all been publicized to catch those who disregard the law. Additionally, most camera intersections are very well marked. There isn't much chance your daughter can cut a deal for the remaining 4 tickets by going to court on the first one. However, if she hires an attorney, perhaps the attorney can negotiate some sort of deal with the prosecutor for a lump sum settlement. That will depend upon the prosecutor as well as the village involved. These red light camera tickets generate money for local villages and for that reason, many municipalities take a hard line approach.
Every city has attorneys who make a bundle off of traffic tickets and handle many at a time. It is a cottage industry. Try Googling for someone and reading there reviews, checking there bar status, and calling a few. There are tricks to the trade in fighting traffic tickets and often said attorneys charge a flat fee.
I am a bit confused by what you have written. Did you check the McHenry County website and found 4 tickets or the Village of Lakemoor website? The reason why I ask is that if you are seeing four (4) tickets on that website than these are not Police issued tickets. Rather your daughter (or someone driving that car) has triggered the red-light camera (I am presuming at 12 & 120) several times.
Just so you can check for yourself, the McHenry County online court system (where you can look to see if your daughter has any police issued citations) can be found here: http://68.21.116.46/wow65/runApp?id=0
Not to get into a long how the law works lecture but basically the 6th Amendment to the US Constitution (highest law of the land) contains a right called the Confrontation Clause. What this says is that in every criminal case, under our system of laws, an accused has the right to face (meaning challenge, ask questions of, force them to prove their case, and essentially confront the witnesses against them) the accuser. The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution applies this Federal law to the states.
So why does this have a bearing on your daughter's 4 tickets? If she had been issues a citation from a police officer, she would have been given a ticket and would have an opportunity for a day in Court to plea, fight, and confront that officer. In the pursuance of revenue in the theoretical name of public safety, the red light cameras (which also check for Hollywood stops which it sounds like your daughter has performed several times) are considered civil offenses. This means that your daughter has not risked her license, her insurance will not go up, and this does not go on the driving record. In a criminal traffic ticket issued by a sworn law enforcement officer, the driver is given citation. With these red light cameras, the car or more specifically the owner of the car is given the ticket.
You should know that a police officer can stop a driver for not coming to a complete stop at red lights or running through an intersection and those tickets are criminal traffic tickets. I take it your daughter is young. You should be aware that in Illinois, young and new drivers do not get many chances to accumulate tickets before risking license suspension.
If you own your daughter's car, you are being held to pay for a civil red-light camera ticket. If your daughter lets a friend drive her car and they roll through a turn on red or through the intersection - the owner (I am presuming you) get the ticket. There is usually a web link on the tickets. Sometimes you can even see who was driving.
You do have an ability to request a pseudo-hearing, usually held by a retired Judge. It costs a fee, and as there is not a Police Officer there for your attorney to cross examine or for you to hope does not show up, you are not likely to obtain a dismissal. It may be possible to negotiate a lump settlement on all of the outstanding tickets and if you want an attorney to help you with that, I do give a free consultation.
It is possible that your daughter was unaware of her driving habits but give her some slack as she has not been stopped four (4) times and not told you. She may have seen the flash of the red light camera, but she might have presumed it was not for her. In any event, now is a good time to review basic driver's safety with her and make sure she is the only driver of the car you own and have to pay the tickets for.
One tiny other nitpicking point - today is Veteran's Day (Observed) and your friendly neighborhood postman was not working. FedEx and UPS may be working, but I doubt they delivered you the ticket as this would cost the Village quite a bit more than a postal service stamp.
Best of luck. I hopes this helps. Semper Fi.
