There's laws, and then there's interpretations of laws. Often those are two different things. There's going to be different localities interpreting what they think the law is for MBs differently. Until the state attorney general writes an opinion about it, it's up to each locality to decide how to enforce a law, or if there even is a law against something. They can basically do whatever they want until someone mounts a challenge in court. Remember most tickets get paid without a challenge.
President Bill Clinton proved to me that if you're not a lawyer, you're not qualified to know if a law has been broken, so no matter how much it looks like you're a guilty rotten rat sob, you'll never really no until a jury finds you guilty. Ask OJ. If you don't value freedom that much just pay all your tickets without a challenge.
I'll give you a good example of what I'm talking about. You've heard of the beloved red light cameras. The first one in Texas was installed in Garland, Texas. Since Garland was first, they wrote the guidlines that ended up being copied by everyone else in the state that decided to install the cameras.
Then here I come one day waiting in the left turn lane at a light with a red light camera in Garland Texas in my work truck. I was about 3 cars back in the line. The first car was stalled. Traffic was heavy and it took me 3 lights to get around it. When I findly got a chance to go the light turned red just as I made my move.
A couple weeks later I get a ticket for running the red. Included with the ticket was a picture of the back of my truck in the intersection on a red. The ticket said to send $75, or if you're stupid enough to want challenge it, you can request a hearing with a camera red light employee to decide your guilt for an extra $40. I requested a hearing.
The CRL employee showed me a video of my truck going through the intersection. He said is clearly shows me entering the intersection on a red. He said it was really close, and he saw that there was a stalled can in the front of the line, but he had to follow his guidelines.
Showing me the video of the evidence was a big mistake. From the angle of the camera you couldn't see exactly where the front of my truck was in relation to the stop line. I informed him that the front of my truck was 1 inch past the stop line when the light turned red so therefore I had a right to clear the intersection. That's what I was taught in caveman driving school.
He then informed me that the intersection didn't start at the stop line, it started at a line parallel to the curbs of the intersecting street. That was about 10 feet farther than the stop line. A great interpretation of the law if you want to write a lot of tickets.
That was in conflict to what I was taught in driving school, so I ask him if he could show me the statute where it said that. He said it was in this big book on his desk, and it would take a long time to find it. I told him I made the time to come to this hearing today so knock yourself out finding it, I got plenty of time. He opened the big book to exactly the right page on the first try.
It said,
An intersection will be considered to start at a line parallel the curbs of an intersecting street,
in absence of a stop line.
I looked at him in disbelief, expecting him to say something like oh I didn't know that ticket dismissed, but instead he said, well that doesn't matter, my guidelines say the intersection starts at a line parallel the curbs of the intersecting street, and that's what I have to go by. I informed him I didn't agree with his decision.
He said the state allowed me to appeal his decision in municipal court, but it would cost, you guessed it, extra. He said if I would just pay the ticket he would wave the $40 hearing charge. He also informed me that even if I win the appeal the state gets to keep the money for the appeal.
To make a long story short I won in appeals court. They gave me back my original check uncashed, for every penny including the appeal charges. I had a local TV station waiting outside the courthouse with cameras rolling showing my check in hand, and I got to inform the world on TV that Garland Texas was not following Texas law and ripping people off for millions of dollars.
Red light cameras in Texas are ticketing motorists who had legally entered intersections.
Texas Red Light Camera Offenses Require Imagination