This is the intersection in Inglewood, California, where Carmen Goldsmith was captured running a red light.

Carmen Goldsmith was driving her BMW through Inglewood, a Los Angeles suburb, when she ran a red light. She instantly became one of countless people nationwide ticketed by a red light camera.

The California woman challenged her citation in a trial court, where she was found guilty and fined $436. She appealed and lost.

In 2013, red light camera use declined in the US for the first time.

Goldsmith's case, The People of California v. Goldsmith, is a 5-year-old legal odyssey scheduled to be heard on Thursday (today) before the California Supreme Court in Los Angeles. The courts verdict likely will put to rest the admissibility of red light camera evidence in the countrys most populous state, where red light violations are by far the highest. (Typically theyre in the $100 range in the rest of the country.)

As Ars recently reported, red light cameras have reached a turning point across the United States. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), a non-profit largely funded by auto insurance companies, last year was the first time in nearly two decades that the number of American cities with red light cameras had fallenthe systems were installed in 509 communities as of November 2013.

While a single-year drop may not ultimately mean much, legislators across the country are increasingly agitated about the cameras. Bills are also pending in Florida and Ohio that would ban the devices entirely. A state representative in Iowa has also twice introduced legislation to ban red light cameras (he was not successful). Part of this backlash has to do with theperception that red light cameras are a moneymaking scheme, pure and simple.

The case before California's high court is being closely watched,drawing amicus briefs on both sides in considerable numbers. A notable one comes from Redflex, the company that Inglewood and many other California municipalities contract with to employ their red light camera setup.

In fact, based on our research, we have not been able to locate any other infraction case in the history of this state that generated so many amicus briefs on both sides over a $436 citation! Goldsmith's lawyer wrote in a petition to the court.

The California Supreme Court is hearing the case in an attempt to answer three basic questions:

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With Californias red light cameras, are pictures admissible evidence?