Dismissal of Right Turn Tickets Sought

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Memphis Police Department plans to speak with the city attorney about dismissing the tickets of people who rolled through their "right turn" on red.

This comes just a day after the MPD told FOX13 it was changing its ticketing policy. Over a three day period, the Memphis Police Department studied tickets issued by the red light cameras and found that roughly half of the tickets went to people who were turning right on red.

Steve is one of those people who got a notice in the mail.

"Its frustrating to receive a ticket on something you did not do," says Steve. "It seems like there should have been more testing and things like that to prevent this."

Over a three day period, the MPD reviewed 2,703 red light violations. 2,083 were rejected. Of that, 1,340 were drivers rolling through a right turn on red. From now on the ticker will not be automatic, but be considered officer discretion.

"I would just tell the citizens you are supposed to come to a stop, but were not going to write right turn on red, unless there's a traffic crash and you're at fault," says Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin.

Moving forward, these drivers will not get a ticket, but what about the hundreds, maybe thousands who have already received a summons? The city attorney says people who were issued a right on red ticket should still come to court, but expects the ticket will be dismissed.

But Steve says going to court is too much of a hassle.

"I don't know if it's worth the time really," says Steve.

Still, Steve says the streets of Memphis are safer with the red light cameras watching.

"It's for a good cause and hopefully at the end, traffic in those sections, traffic accidents will go down," says Steve.