In Bellevue, WA the city takes VIDEO as support for the conviction. The prosecutor will show you the video before you go into court to fight your ticket. In my case group they had video of both stop sign violations and school zone violations. They expect/want you to ask for mitigation and they will reduce by about 40%. They also charge it as a ‘parking violation’ so people tend not to fight it.
I decided to fight the thing (school zone). I did not see lights that day and i drive that road 8 times a week! and am very aware of that zone.
I ask numerous questions of the expert witness police officer. I challenged whether they could prove the yellow warning lights were functioning (they couldn’t). I asked if their clock was set to GMT (they didn’t know what it was set to). My infraction was at 11:08am and they contend the school zone sanctions end at 11:10am. I ask if anything else could set off the system -(they didn’t know) I asked about maintenance and got inexact answers. I asked about system wide and model error rates and got anecdotal answers. The judge was not used to my breadth of questions. She got weary, and though I made 2 very compelling arguments (couldn’t prove warning lights on, and couldn’t prove time was accurate). I got convicted and paid the full violation. I also contended that if the speed limit in the zone is 20 MPH that they should write tickets at 21MPH and not 28 MPH.
I agree it is primarily a money grab, bolstered by a “keep us/kids safe” rationale.