Archive for December, 2010
No more Toys for Traffic Tickets in Connecticut Friday, December 24th, 2010
The New Haven, Connecticut Superior Court has decided to cancel the program that gave people the option to donate a toy to charity in exchange for dropping the charges cited on certain minor traffic tickets.
Three issues were raised by one Connecticut resident. Did the program coerce people with traffic tickets to make a donation instead of taking their chances with a traditional challenge of the ticket and get the charges dropped without paying anything at all? Did some who deserved some punishment for poor driving get off too easy? Was Connecticut losing too much money when money that may have been payable as a fine was instead used to purchase a toy for donation.
The program was called “well-intentioned” by a spokeswoman for the Judicial Branch. However, it was ultimately deemed “justice bought and sold” which means that, despite the low level nature of the infractions, the program was inappropriate and therefore must end.
Interesting and well-intentioned for sure. However, the decision to end it was probably the correct one.
Submitted by NY traffic lawyer Scott Feifer.
Good timing for some recipients of Houston traffic tickets Tuesday, December 14th, 2010
Houston Police Department officers are failing to show up at traffic court without the promise of overtime compensation.
Houston has appare lost millions in unwritten and dismissed Houston traffic tickets. HPD officers are writing about 25 percent fewer tickets than last year, and around one in seven traffic violations were ultimately dismissed because the ticket issuing officer did not show up in traffic court.
Prior to the new overtime policy, Houston police officers were able to collect overtime to sit in traffic court and wait for their cases to come up.
This may not exactly be a “get out of jail free” card, but it’s certainly more likely today than a year ago that a speeding ticket issued today in Houston will be dismissed.
Sacramento County traffic tickets getting dismissed Thursday, December 9th, 2010
Traffic tickets and “happy people” are not phrases that go hand in hand too often.
In Sacramento recently, many who are fighting traffic tickets have indeed walked away quite happy.
Dozens of violations have been dismissed recently because issuing police officers failed to show up for traffic court.
The no-shows stem from a dispute between the District Attorney’s Office and the Sacramento, Elk Grove and Folsom police departments over who is financially responsible for the prosecutor’s traffic court services.
All parties have an interest in fixing the situation as quickly as possible and expect this to be settled within a month or two. Until then, however, many more drivers than usual with red light tickets and speeding tickets and other California moving violations issued in the Sacramento area will walk away happy, satisfied motorists.
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/
Washington DC Speeding Tickets Friday, December 3rd, 2010
A small controversy recently over some speed cameras that were put up in a construction zone where the speed limit had been lowered 10mph to accommodate the construction.
While construction has more or less stopped on DC 295 near the Eastern Avenue Bridge, the cameras remain. Of course, they remain for the one and only reason there’s any traffic enforcement at all. “We’re hoping to use these speed cameras more often,” said Assistant Police Chief Patrick Burk. “This is to keep people safe.”
Those that drive there regularly and have been caught speeding by the cameras despite the slowdown in construction see it a little differently. In the 2.5 month period after construction ended, the cameras have generated $3.73 million in fine money.
Maybe it’s not ALL about safety. Would love to hear an official finally admit it’s at least partially about making money.
Camera speeding ticket or other speeding ticket in Washington DC? A quick, free consultation with a Washington DC traffic ticket lawyer may answer some questions.
New York City Speeding Tickets Wednesday, December 1st, 2010
A couple of facts worth knowing if you drive in NYC…
1. If there is no speed limit posted, the speed limit by default is 30 mph. Thus, all those local streets in NYC without speed limit signs are likely 30 mph zones. These are called “unposted” zones.
2. There is no speed limit higher than 50 mph in NYC. Do not drive as if the speed limit is 55 or 60 or even 65 on the highways. Regardless of how open the road may be at any given place or time, 50 mph is the highest limit in the city.
Questions about a speeding ticket in NYC? Feel free to contact NY traffic ticket lawyers Feifer & Greenberg, LLP for a free consultation.
