Comments on: Ticket update: $410

By: labyrus

labyrus — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 13:02:21 +0000

Are you really so sure that the money you’re paying is going to vital, positive services?

Traffic ticket money in my city goes to pay for “cleaning up downtown” programs that harass and ban homeless people from public space, wash away graffiti, and make the services harder for poor people to access. Maybe you live somewhere where the municipal government is nicer, but I’m inclined to think you’re being a bit naive.

This isn’t to say that I’m opposed to the idea of consequences for traffic violations, but I am against those consequences being monetary.

By: R. Giskard

R. Giskard — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 08:12:25 +0000

Traffic Tickets are much much more than just enforcing traffic laws. They are often abused as a sourse of income for cities. The small town speed trap is pretty common around here. Towns where more than 75% of their income is gathered though tickets. We in our state even had to pass a law limiting the percentage of income for a city gathered from traffic tickets. It was getting out of hand here.

Traffic tickets are often used as fishing expeditions. They often give officers the opportunity to observe you up close and to look for other more serious (bigger fines, jail time, court fees,etc) crimes.

Racial profiling is rampant in our state as well. Police will tell you that they are more likely to pull over minorities because they are more likely to find contraband or other reasons to make arrests ( the bigger the bust, the bigger the boost).

By: Ed

Ed — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 01:33:37 +0000

We should certainly enforce traffic laws, but I think it’s per se oppressive to charge everyone the same amount regardless of their income. The point is to deter bad driving, but it takes a higer price tag to deter a rich person.

Since traffic tickets are also a money-maker for the police, having income-scaled tickets would also encourage them to focus their enforcement on the rich — which might just balance out the current discriminatory enforcement.

I hear they’ve had this in place in Finland for several years already. Would it work here? Or would the rich “protest” too much about it?…

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 00:53:00 +0000

Hugo, I applaud your attitude, though I have to say as a court employee in Washington State, I’m surprised at the amount of the ticket. I don’t deal much with infractions, though I have entered about a hundred of them. Most of them were for speedy, driving without insurance, improper lane usage, carpool violations, and haven’t encountered turning after failing to make a complete stop, but usually the fine is between $100-$200. Though here the officer would also have given the amount due on the ticket, you wouldn’t have received anything in the mail. But back to you, if only more people took that attitude. I can’t tell you how tired I get of receiving phone calls from people screaming vile things at me and I know our police officers get more of the same and worse in person.

As far as young females being let off the hook, that hasn’t been my experience. I have been stopped three times for speeding and was ticketed each time. I was stopped another time for expired tabs, but had the tabs in the glove box, apologized profusely and agreed to immediately put them on. It might have helped that I was still wearing my ID badge around my neck. Regardless, I did not get a ticket that time.

By: Stentor

Stentor — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 22:20:07 +0000

By: Hugo

Hugo — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 14:01:21 +0000

I’ve been treated better by police officers most of my life, largely because I am clean-cut, unfailingly polite, and white.

By: Jas

Jas — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 04:03:43 +0000

Perhaps I was generalizing, but it should be clear that I was speaking from personal experience only; there are probably few, if any, research studies done on the topic…I know my statement to be true, from the experiences of myself and all my female friends.

Your slippery slope argument (positing the alternative to a serious analysis of race and to a lesser extent class biases in the criminal justice system against complete lawlessness) is troublesome. Are you implicitly arguing that we should leave things the way they are? That when we start to analyze the huge structural problems within policing, we are heading towards a world without order?? If not, what are you saying? I generally agree with BJ’s post…

By: mythago

mythago — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 02:22:52 +0000

As is probably common knowledge, young and even moderately attractive females rarely get tickets.

I’ll have to pass that on to the young and moderately attractive female friends of mine who gripe about their speeding tickets. If only they knew that they shouldn’t be getting any…

Seriously, though, it’s one thing to argue that traffic enforcement isn’t fair (and something more than ‘everyone knows’ would be preferable for evidence). It’s another to insist that it’s per se evil and oppressive to enforce traffic laws. I mean, should we just decide everybody could drive however they want? Or should we substitute jail time for fines?

By: Jas

Jas — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 22:26:21 +0000

Mythago, they’re not quite equal opportunity. As is probably common knowledge, young and even moderately attractive females rarely get tickets. I have friends who have been pulled over more times than I can count on my extremities, and received but 1 or 2 tickets. I myself have been pulled over once for driving with expired tabs. He took a glance at my drivers license, flirted a bit, and sent me off with a mild warning and a smile. I also had my old, expired insurance cards in the car, but he didn’t ask for them.

Although I’m not necessarily complaining for being let off the hook, it is a bit odd how difficult it is for (male) officers to give tickets to young females. I suppose class was related as well, because I’m sure he assumed that someone who drives my vehicle can certainly afford tabs, but just forgot to stick them on. If I were driving a beat up Chevy, the result might have been different.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 21:22:03 +0000

I fight pretty much every ticket I receive, justified or not. In general, I can afford an occasional $300 ticket, but the thought of paying the insurance companies an extra $300 every six months for the next three years burns me up. They can go enrich plaintiff’s lawyers on someone else’s dime.