Manny asked if there's other ways to beat these tickets. Here's a few.
1. In California some police departments send out fake red light camera tickets (Snitch Tickets) which are designed to get you to tell them the name of the actual driver of the car. Snitch Tickets are described in Cal. Veh. Code 40518, which requires that at the top of the page they must say, “Courtesy Notice, This is Not a Ticket.” Despite that totally clear message - that the Snitch Ticket is a fake and thus can be ignored - many people respond and tell the police who was driving the car! (And then the police send that person a real ticket.)
2. It is widely known that in San Mateo County (tickets from Daly City, Millbrae, Menlo Park, and the City of San Mateo) you can get a $100 discount off the fine by going to an in-court arraignment session and entering your guilty plea there.
3. It is worthwhile to look at your ticket to see if it was served on time. Most tickets will contain a statement by the person who put it in the mail. If the ticket was mailed more than 11 or 12 days after the date of the violation, it was served too late and you can “demur” to it and make it go away. That deadline is in CVC 40518 and CVC 23.

