Anyone who has ever received an automated ticket from a red light camera knows the sinking feeling you get when you see the envelope. Many of us will even open the letter, hoping that when we see the photo included in the ticket, we won’t recognize ourselves or our car.
A post is going viral on Threads after someone had a similar experience. Only instead of finding an unfamiliar face staring back at them, they had to admit that they were 100 percent at fault. “I just got my first red light camera ticket in the mail. And let me tell you… I just watched the video clip…,” the post from Threads user @___xomila began. “And I ran the s–t out of that red light! Let me go on and pay that $50.”
The honesty (and hilarity) of the post caused it to go viral, and it received more than 6,300 likes and hundreds of comments less than 24 hours after it was posted. But it wasn’t just people laughing at the post itself that had it gaining traction. Instead it was all the other people who shared their own tales of getting rightfully caught in the wrong.
Based on this thread, it would appear that red light cameras are way more accurate than you might have guessed.
People Laughed at Their Own Misdeeds
View on Threads
There didn’t appear to be shame in anyone’s game in the Sept. 24 post. People jumped at the chance to share their own stories about getting busted by the infamous cameras. “The last time I got one of those I felt pure outrage and insisted that the machine was wrong,” one person wrote. “Then I watched the video. Once I stopped laughing, I paid the ticket.”
Not everyone thought they were looking best in their photos, though. “I got a camera ticket on the highway—I looked at the picture and there I was plain as day going 90 on 85N in a bonnet,” one person wrote.
Some People Used Their Photos for Their Profile Pictures
Red light cameras aren’t exactly known for taking Glamour Shots, but that didn’t stop some folks from using the surprise photo in their profiles.
“A friend of mine got one and the front cam showed her driving with an ‘ooooh s–t’ face looking right at the camera,” one Threads user wrote. “It used to be her Facebook picture for a long time. Those cameras aren’t messing around.”
Less Than Half of the U.S. Uses Red Light Cameras
If you find yourselfAccording to the online legal advice website Nolo, less than half of the states in the U.S. allows the use of these types of automated cameras for ticketing purposes. So, if you’ve never heard of these kinds of tickets, that may be the reason why.
But, for those of you living somewhere that they are allowed, Nolo says you don’t have to pay an incorrect red light camera ticket just because it arrives at your home. The website suggests reviewing the ticket to make sure all of the details and photos match your information.
If you’re like all of those commenters in that thread, and the photo or video is undeniably of you, you may have a few other options when it comes to fighting the ticket, depending on where you live. Of course, your best defense is a good offense, and that means obeying the traffic laws in your area, especially when you’re driving through an intersection.