Archive for April, 2010
Driving while suspended or revoked in Jacksonville, Florida Thursday, April 29th, 2010
The number of people in Jacksonville, Florida driving with a suspended license, or with no license at all, is growing.
At the Duval County Traffic Court on Beach Boulevard, offenders often appear in front of the judge to answer a charge of driving with a suspended or revoked license.
There doesn’t appear to be any particular pattern to these cases. Different types of people similar only with respect to a story of driving when they shouldn’t be driving.
The penalties for driving with a suspended or revoked license range from a $200 to $300 fine to jail time and felony conviction.
Despite the potential consequences, many simply walk out of the courtroom and get right in their car.
Driving while suspended or revoked is a potentially serious charge. If anyone has questions about this or a similar matter, it may be a good decision to consult with a Jacksonville, Duval County traffic ticket attorney or other Florida traffic ticket lawyer prior to appearing in court.
More Georgia traffic ticket amnesty in DeKalb County Wednesday, April 28th, 2010
Hundreds stood in long lines Tuesday waiting to pay old parking and traffic tickets before the DeKalb County amnesty program ends and prosecution of scofflaws, with warrants issued and interest charged, begins.
There is a backlog of approximately 500,000 cases and the courts insist that, while it will take a while, they will get through the entire backlog. Admittedly, the courts are short staffed and their computers out of date.
While those speaking on behalf of the courts claim it was a change in administration that has motivated the push to collect on old Dekalb County traffic violations and parking tickets, the individuals paying the tickets don’t see it that way.
Some feel it is related to the bad economy and that it is an easy way to generate revenue. Others think having to take a day off and wait in line to pay tickets which can be as small as $15 to be silly.
While many may complain, I have to ask: Why didn’t they pay the tickets when they were first issued? It’s hard to blame someone for trying to collect on an old debt.
Submitted by NY traffic attorney Scott Feifer
Florida red light ticket dismissed–yellow light too short. Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
A woman who recently was issued a Collier County, Florida red light camera ticket was able to beat it after it was determined that the yellow light cycle was too short.
The first thing she said to her husband after getting the ticket in the mail was that the yellow light phase ended too quickly. So her husband went to the intersection in question armed with a stopwatch.
The speed limit on Collier Boulevard, where she was cited, is 45 mph. According to county guidelines, the yellow light should be 4.5 seconds.
The light in question was tested 15 times and the yellow light lasted an average of only 3.8 seconds.
The ticket was thrown out and officials believe there may be other drivers who were issued traffic tickets that should not have been issued. Unfortunately, the only thing anyone can do is challenge a ticket if you think it is wrong.
It’s not necessarily easy to get a ticket like this dismissed even if the yellow light was too short. You’ll need evidence and that means taking the time to video the light. You’ll need to present this evidence to a judge and you’ll need a judge willing to recognize that .7 seconds actually makes a difference.
On the other hand, bad tickets will continue to be issued unless people stand up and fight them.
If you feel you’ve been issued a traffic ticket in Florida that should not have been issued, please contact a Collier County traffic ticket lawyer or other Florida traffic ticket attorney for a free consultation.
More California red light camera ticket issues. Monday, April 26th, 2010
The city of South San Francisco, California, failed to properly ratify its contract with American Traffic Solutions, the company in charge of automated red light camera traffic tickets. Thus, the 6800 tickets issued between August 14, 2009 and February 28, 2010 were declared invalid by the court.
The city council just agreed to pay the $250,000 bill submitted by the San Mateo County Superior Court to cover the administrative costs of processing $3 million worth of red light camera citation refunds.
The $250,000 bill is just an estimate. Refunds include the $446 cost of the ticket, plus interest calculated at a 7-percent annual rate, and the full cost of traffic school that any driver may have taken to avoid points on his license.
In California, the superior court system is responsible for dividing up the profit from each citation among a number of city, state and county agencies. Thus, they city will need to supply $1.5 million to begin the refunds. Court administrators will negotiate with the state for the return of its portion of the citation revenue. If the state fails to send a check, the court will withhold the correct amount from future traffic ticket payments.
Clearly it’s a messy situation no city wants to deal with.
For questions about this or similar situations in California, please contact a San Mateo traffic ticket attorney or other California traffic ticket lawyer.
Dekalb County traffic ticket amnesty thru April Friday, April 23rd, 2010
DeKalb County is attempting to collect more than $70 million on traffic tickets that violators have ignored.
To encourage those who owe traffic ticket fines, April is amnesty month. Either pay the fine without added fees or lose your license.
Dekalb County, Georgia contains roughly 10 percent of the city of Atlanta (Fulton County contains the rest). Dekalb currently has about 500,000 outstanding tickets dating back to the 80′s. The bulk of them have accrued in the last 10 years.
Fail to show up by the end of the month and a warrant will be issued and your license suspended.
About 3400 of the hundreds of thousands of outstanding tickets have been resolved thus far.
If you have any questions about the amnesty, feel free to contact a Dekalb County traffic ticket attorney.
Pasco County traffic tickets for the USF bicycle team. Friday, April 23rd, 2010
The University of South Florida bicycle racing team is in the middle of a small traffic ticket related controversy.
Five members of the team were recently issued traffic tickets for impeding traffic. The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office issuing officer commented that there were so many complaints about this particular riding group that “we had to do something”.
The five have retained a Florida traffic ticket lawyer to fight the tickets.
There are a few issues potentially involved. The speed, the width of the lanes, interpretation of concepts such as driving as far to the right as “practicable”–all could potentially be part of the judge’s analysis.
While such issues really are typical to a traffic court judge, the interesting thing here is that it’s the rare case that a number of people will be following and will rely on as precedence moving forward.
Technically, the case itself should simply be about whether a violation was committed the day and time in question. In reality, the judge will be casting support for one particular side. He’s either sending a message to the bicyclists that they are expected to yield to motorists or to the motorists that they are expected to yield to the bicyclists.
Or perhaps a plea will be reached and nothing at all settled. We’ll have to wait.
Submitted by Scott Feifer
Laura Kinsler’s original story here
Driving while Demented-new guidelines Wednesday, April 14th, 2010
The American Academy of Neurology has issued a new guideline to help determine when people with Alzheimer’s disease or another type of dementia should stop driving. The guideline is published in the April 12, 2010, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
People with dementia can safely drive for some time, but almost all will eventually have to give up driving. It’s not safe for the driver or for others on the road.
The guideline recommends doctors use the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scale to identify people with dementia at an increased risk of unsafe driving. The CDR provides a tool for clinicians to integrate information from caregivers and from direct examination of the patient to develop a comprehensive view of the dementia severity.
If you are a caregiver for someone with dementia, trust your evaluation.
The guidelines found that caregivers who rate a patient’s driving as “marginal” or “unsafe” were often proven correct when the patient took an on-road driving test. On the other hand, patients who deemed their own driving as “safe” were not necessarily accurate in their own assessments.
Relief coming to the Riverside County Superior Court of California in Moreno Valley Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
The Riverside County Superior Court of California is working on easing their most overburdened court–the Superior Court building in Moreno Valley.
This court, located at 13800 Heacock St., will soon add an indoor 2,600 sq. ft. waiting area. The area will have both a cashier window and computer stations to make online payments or obtain case information.
The additional space also enables people to wait inside when they do need to wait. Every day prior to opening, this court currently has a line of people–most there to deal with a California traffic ticket–snaking down the stairs and into the parking lot.
