Archive for March, 2010
Additional fees on California traffic tickets Friday, March 19th, 2010
Traffic tickets in California are a little more expensive than they used to be.
Hikes in fines went into effect in January 2009 and many people, having since received tickets and disposed of them, are now first noticing the increased cost.
The typical ticket, from California speeding ticket to parking ticket, now costs an additional $35 on average statewide.
Fix-it tickets cost an extra $15.
You’ll pay a $25 hike for the processing fee to request traffic school.
In Sacramento city limits, you’ll find an extra fee of $9.50 added to parking fines. That means if you park where it’s posted “no parking” that will cost you $40 plus $9.50.
The hike authorized by SB 1407 will generate an estimated $280 million a year.
The money is used to help repair/update courts in need throughout the state.
Note that Judges can choose to reduce or adjust fines for hardship cases.
If you think you may need the assistance of a Sacramento traffic ticket attorney or a California traffic ticket attorney elsewhere in the state, please follow the links to connect with a local attorney for a free consultation.
Motives for a new crackdown in Detroit questioned Thursday, March 4th, 2010
The Detroit News reports that recent correspondence from a top police department commander in Detroit, Michigan has angered civil-rights activists. An e-mail message was sent and it promised to discipline Detroit police officers who don’t write enough traffic tickets.
First, critics argue this simply amounts to a quota system. There may be no official “number” of tickets mentioned, but it’s a reasonable conclusion that whatever police officials consider to be “enough” tickets essentially constitutes the quota.
Second, the traffic ticket push is connected to a campaign by the department to crack down on moving violations in high-crime areas of the city and at the same time check the drivers for warrants and weapons. Residents are complaining that there is now overly aggressive policing where, for years, officers on patrol overlooked many minor violations such as a broken taillight. Residents and civil-rights leaders are concerned that using traffic stops to search for warrants, etc. simply encourages racial profiling of drivers.
While police officials will always argue that they have every right to pull over any motorist the see commit any violation of any size, their motives for these increased car stops are certainly worth questioning.
Submitted by NY traffic lawyers
Feifer & Greenberg, LLP
