It’s a simple case of mistaken identity that’s leading some city officials in Davenport, IA, to question the fairness of red-light traffic cameras.
Alderman Steve Ahrens has asked to review the city’s policies for fighting one of the municipality’s new red-light cameras after a resident complained of receiving a ticket in the mail for someone else’s red-light violation.
According to the Quad City Times, resident Deven Miller was sent a ticket after one of the cameras, which were installed last year, photographed the license plate of a car running a light. Unfortunately, some of the characters on the plate were illegible, and when officers took a guess at the license number, they guessed wrong, and subsequently sent the citation to Miller.
But the misread license plate was just the beginning of Miller’s problems. She followed the instructions for fighting the ticket and took time off of work to show up in court, only to be told that no one was available to hear her case, the Times reported.
“She didn’t get anywhere following the instructions on the ticket,” Miller’s father, Brian Chaney, said during a City meeting. “If that happened to my daughter, how many others has it happened to?”
Miller’s ticket has since been dismissed, and she has received an apology, the Times said.