Facebook and traffic tickets
Facebook was in the news twice recently in connection with traffic ticket stories.
First, a story about issuing tickets with the help of Facebook…
Traffic officers in in New Delhi, India have started issuing traffic tickets based on images uploaded to Facebook by motorists who claim to have witnessed certain violations. There are so many posts that police actually have two full time staff members looking through them for legitimate traffic violations. The justification for this enforcement method is that, with only 5,000 traffic officers patrolling a city with 6.5 million registered vehicles, too many violations go unpunished and motorists drive with little fear of receiving a traffic ticket. With the help of pictures where a license plate was visible, police have been able to track down and issue almost 700 tickets since mid May and, in theory, encourage many more to drive safely out of fear for being the next violator photographed.
Now a story about tickets getting dismissed with the help of Facebook…
A Houston, Texas woman recently made a public Facebook plea for help with a few Houston traffic tickets she had been issued. An investigator from the Houston Fire Department responded that she knew the police officer and within a few hours there was a public posting that the tickets had been ripped up. The woman who received the tickets may have had a story that would ultimately have helped in court–apparently her father was a firefighter who recently died and she was attending to his funeral arrangements at the time the tickets were issued. Nevertheless, the use of such a public forum to conduct this type of business has resulted in further investigation of the parties involved.
Social Media really is infiltrating more and more aspects of our lives.
Submitted by NY traffic lawyer Scott Feifer
