Radar Van Speeding Ticket

[byThorbyOdin]

My question involves a speeding ticket from the State of: Oregon

Just got a traffic citation in the mail for supposedly having exceeded the speed limit supposedly from one of those parked photo radar vans. This is our first experience with a speeding ticket and I was wondering:
1. Is there a way to get the court date postponed (we're going to be out of town that day)? How do we do that?
2. Is there any possibility of success fighting one of these automated tickets when no cop was present? The more I read about this the more it appears to be a scam with some private outfit owning the camera installations and operating “on behalf” of the city.
3. Is there a location where the OR ticket rates are mapped to excess mph over the posted speed limit (I googled this without luck). The ticket of 240+ for 11 over seems a tad excessive...
4. Do automated tickets count against the driving record (in other words do they affect insurance)?

[blewis]

Oregon law governing the use of photo radar can be found in ORS 810.439. It's a fairly long statute, so I'll just post the first section:

§ 810.439
Citations based on photo radar
(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the jurisdictions using photo radar:

(a) A citation for speeding may be issued on the basis of photo radar if the following conditions are met:

(A) The photo radar equipment is operated by a uniformed police officer.
(B) The photo radar equipment is operated out of a marked police vehicle.
(C) An indication of the actual speed of the vehicle is displayed within 150 feet of the location of the photo radar unit.
(D) Signs indicating that speeds are enforced by photo radar are posted, so far as is practicable, on all major routes entering the jurisdiction.
(E) The citation is mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle within six business days of the alleged violation.
(F) The registered owner is given 30 days from the date the citation is mailed to respond to the citation.
(G) The jurisdiction operating photo radar complies with the requirements described in ORS 810.438 (Photo radar authorized).

There are also some restrictions listed in ORS 810.438 that might be of some interest.

As you can see from ORS 810.439 (5):

(5) The penalties for and all consequences of a speeding violation initiated by the use of photo radar are the same as for a speeding violation initiated by any other means.

So, yes, it WILL go on your driving record.

Oh, and call the Clerk of the Court to find out about a continuance, since you'll be out of town.

Barry

p.s. I found the "base fines" for Oregon. Here's the .PDF file. It looks like your fine is for 21 over.