You don't have to settle with the complainant, if you can convince the judge and/or jury. Even if you don't actually want to go to court, you can usually still

You don't have to settle with the complainant, if you can convince the judge and/or jury. Even if you don't actually want to go to court, you can usually still write an answer. Then you can still propose a settlement more favorable to you by mail, if the case isn't dropped outright. Why pay $100 if you could pay $20 plus postage stamps? The automated enforcement would completely fall apart if the contractor had to spend money on skilled human labor for every citation. So every time you get a ticket from a robot, write an answer, and request source code for the robot's software as discovery. People pay because they don't want the hassle, but when you just send in a check for automated traffic enforcement tickets, you are paying the Dane-geld, and will never be rid of the Dane. "We never pay any-one Dane-geld, No matter how trifling the cost; For the end of that game is oppression and shame, And the nation that plays it is lost!" --R. Kipling, "Dane-geld" https://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/dane_geld.html https://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/dane_geld.htm... (Not a lawyer. Not legal advice.)