Cary’s red light ticketing program is now the subject of a big court case, now that a Wake County judge has granted class-action status to the case. If Cary loses the case — which hinges on what plaintiffs contend are tickets and penalties they didn’t deserve — the town could be on the hook for repaying penalties to thousands.
Ridgeway’s seven-page order gave no details about how the affected drivers would be identified, or whether they would be notified about the lawsuit. Ridgeway said it was not clear how many drivers were affected. He wrote that attorneys for both sides had provided estimates ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands, depending on how narrowly the judge defined the class of plaintiffs.
Ceccarelli said he figured the ruling would make tens of thousands of drivers eligible for refunds of their tickets, if the plaintiffs win the case. A Cary town spokeswoman pegged the number somewhere below 9,000. Ceccarelli said he expects the case to go to trial in January, unless the two sides agree on a settlement.
JLF’s Fergus Hodgson has written many times about the problems with red light cameras. You can find some of his analysis here.
