Skyrocketing traffic fines cause some drivers to lose their cars -- or worse
Highway robbery has taken on a whole new meaning with local and state governments now jacking up the fines to such an extent that it's leaving people destitute, and in some cases, homeless or even incarcerated. In California, the cost of a ticket for a broken headlight nearly tripled to $100 this year, according to a report by Fox News. Meanwhile, fines for parking in front of a fire hydrant in Pensacola, Fla. were jacked up 900% to $100.
Local and state governments have long turned to issuing traffic and parking fines as a way of raising more revenue, but doubling or tripling the amount of traffic fines for modest violations seems less like "enforcing the law" and more like a form of extortion aimed at filling the dwindling coffers of local government.
Making matters worse, all of this is happening at a time when millions of citizens are struggling to eke out a living on unemployment or lower incomes. The increases are creating dire situations for those unable to pay skyrocketing fees and penalties. The Atlantic, for example, recently reported about a family whose minor traffic infractions snowballed into jail time and homelessness.
The chain of events between receiving a run-of-the-mill traffic ticket and finding yourself out on the streets are not as outlandish as they might seem. Take the scenario below for example:
1. A driver is stopped for a defective taillight. Where in the past such tickets would be cleared once the driver repairs the light, now some municipalities are issuing large fines regardless of whether the defect is fixed or not.
2. The officer asks for current auto insurance, and finding it has expired (because the driver couldn't afford his payments), issues yet another ticket.
3. Since the driver is just getting by, he can neither afford to get the taillight repaired, pay the fines (added together, in the hundreds of dollars) or renew the auto insurance, which might well have climbed now that the driver has received a couple of traffic tickets.
4. Then things snowball out of control. The driver receives a relatively minor infraction (not coming to a complete stop at a deserted intersection, illegal right turn, etc.), now the unpaid previous tickets trigger a huge penalty and another ticket. Knowing he cannot pay the accumulated fines (now easily over $1,000), he either contacts the court asking for mercy or simply ignores the summons as a hopeless cause.
5. If the hapless driver is unfortunate enough to be stopped again, his failure to respond to his previous summons could trigger an arrest and the impoundment of his vehicle.
If law-abiding citizens are losing their cars, their livelihoods or their freedom because of minor traffic infractions, it can't honestly be considered "justice."
While it's easy to understand the need for local government to raise revenue, that need does not justify raising it through "by any means necessary" traffic fine increases. There is no real deterrence value to such stupendous fines. In fact, many of these increases are essentially unknown to everyday citizens -- some discover that a moving violation ticket has been hiked up to $500 or more only when they receive the "courtesy notice" in the mail.
Since we are a nation founded on the principle of "taxation with representation," shouldn't local governments be asking the taxpayers for higher taxes at the ballot box, or making the case for higher taxes to our elected officials? It seems to me that boosting traffic fines to back-breaking levels is a way of raising money "through the back door" rather than by directly making a case for higher taxes.
In the long run, such huge fines not only serve to anger taxpayers and delegitimize local governments, but they also divert our law enforcement resources away from more important crime-fighting measures.
Charles Hugh Smith writes the Of Two Minds blog and is the author of numerous books, most recently "Survival+: Structuring Prosperity for Yourself and the Nation."
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
10-28-2009 @ 8:18PM
The Burns said...
Preach it brother... preach.
I'm a "past" victim of the injustices of cities and their police departments.
Between 1987 and 1991, I received 45 tickets (only 2 were for speeding). I was young, had long hair, that was enough.
But my point is: I had so many tickets, I actually lost count of them. I went to jail 3 times because I never made enough money in high school and college to actually pay the tickets.
Most of them were very picky (i.e., a crack in the tail light, tires were too big in the back (no joke!), speeding (going 45 in a 40), tags were expired by 2 days, etc. etc. etc.)
My dad owned a car lot, so most of the cars I drove had some kind of defect. I once was arrested because the officer didn't believe that I worked on my dad's car lot, and therefore couldn't drive a car with a dealer tag. He thought it was stolen and hauled me off to jail. My dad called the station and chewed out the commanding officer -- I was promptly let out. Anyway, that was a very frustrating part of my life on the road because, as you say, cities are more interested in money, than the good of the public - at least when it comes to driving.
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10-28-2009 @ 9:13PM
Jon said...
You are a idiot NO ONE gets a ticket for 5 mph over the limit so you lie also any jerk that gets 45 tickets should be in jail for a long time
10-28-2009 @ 9:20PM
joe said...
Grow up!
10-28-2009 @ 10:15PM
ptnitz1369 said...
Wadda bunch of cry babies.
Driving is a priviledge, not a right. The dirver is responsible for the vehicle they are operating. NOT your mama or your daddy. If either one gave you permission to drive knowing you were an idiot then they are responsible.
10-29-2009 @ 1:03AM
Mark said...
Heil Hitler!!!...We are now a Nazi-like police state where Fascist government runs amok, and the people run for cover instead of fighting back!!! I detest government more and more every day, and government claims we need more of it to be better!????....Better what? - Suckers on the hind tit of a dead cow?!
10-29-2009 @ 6:46AM
LIONEL said...
YOU SHOULD HAVE SUED FOR FALSE ARREST !
10-29-2009 @ 11:37AM
Average White Boy said...
Did you ever consider cutting your hair or maybe riding a bicycle instead? No I guess not. I know most people are too proud to ride public transportation. It makes them look they're poor. I am poor, so I use my MetroCard and don't get fines for driving crappy vehicles.
10-30-2009 @ 10:43AM
AnimalsHaveCars said...
To THE BURNS, Now imagine if you are black, mexican or a good looking female, These Police Bastards should be stopping gangs, serial killers, rapists and burglarys, not worried about a cracked tailight!! Oh yah, we know how many cracked tailights have strangled, shot and raped our fellow human!! Give it up all of you losers trying to defend these OINKERS, cause pigs do as pigs do.
10-28-2009 @ 8:29PM
leatherman1457 said...
If I was you people I would stay out of california and especially texas.California will just fine you and maybe put you in jail for a little while. In texas the cops will shake you down and if you complain they will draw there guns and will kill you if you resist. but that is if you are hispanic or black. texas has been shaking down people from out of state for years. if you look hispanic they will pull you over and arrest you if you do not speak english. impound and take your car away and call ice just so they can steal your car and then go to your house and steal the contents under the they were driving while hispanic or black so the must have been committing a crime. in texas the cops are worse then the criminals. texas is the most corrupt dangerous state to go to. it is a third or forth world country all unto itself. stay away if you are hispanic or black if you value your life or property. they put innocent people to death in that state and will not even look at the evidence that could prove you are innocent. I wish a hurricane would come and just wash that whole ungodly dirty state in the ocean and make it where no one could live there forever.
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10-28-2009 @ 8:53PM
Shelby said...
It sounds like you're a filthy Mexican that has had this happen to them because A) you were either falling over drunk, "knew your rights" and tried resisting, or B) you're just stupid and the cops thought it would be better for society to just put you in jail, which, I probably agree with. Don't go through Texas if you don't know how to deal with our cops you dirty ditch-digger. It's no wonder they don't like you, just look at how you try and type.
10-29-2009 @ 12:28AM
STONEY said...
You are absolutly correct about the Texas cops and the way that they treat people. They did the same thing to me. I won't go back to Texas because the cop told me that I was not in America anymore, I was in Texas. By the way, I am lilly white and cacausion. They are just punks, not necessarily racist.
10-29-2009 @ 6:49AM
LIONEL said...
WELL THE COPS AREN`T DOING ENOUGH SHOOTING IN TEXAS,
10-29-2009 @ 8:59AM
leatherman1457 said...
shelby. I am an anglo and you are a racist and as far from bein abd American as bin laden is. you are a racist . anti american unpatrotic republicon conservative republicon al qudai sleeper cell taliban minded conservative ditto head assss licking neo nazi pig. You must be a texan so you are not an American. texans are nothing more than a bunch of illegal aliens that squatted on mexican land and the went to the US congress and lied them into a war and then stole the land from mexico. you texans are nothing more than hypocrites that need to be taken down a couple of notches and made to see what harm you have coaused the United States. Your state is the worst welfare state and if you secede you will save us real Americans billions that we would not have to pay for your welfare state. your cops are corrupt and your courts are c orrupt. you put innocent people to death that have proof they are innocent.you are nothing more than trash in my eyes and the eyes of the nation. your idealogy is closer to al qudia and the taliban than it is to American idealogy. yuou and your state is a waste of human dna and you are an embarrasment to the United States.
10-29-2009 @ 12:16PM
jetmech97 said...
yaaaaa texas
10-28-2009 @ 8:31PM
john said...
It's a crime all right, our!@#$%$$#@ government needs a lesson in humility. The bas&^%$# need to be shown that WE THE PEOPLE run this much degraded nation.
I'm starting to think that we need a whole lot less government and a major reduction in the maximum size of corporations. Any organization that is too large to SERVE the people is too large to exist.
Next election I think I'll vote for and support the Libertarians, they certainly deserve a chance to change things, and they would be unlikely to screw up worse than the greedy swine in office now.
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10-28-2009 @ 8:31PM
pat said...
Police injudice? What are you kidding? I live in N.mich, there is nothing to support the local sherriff, so they enter into YOUR house thru an open door, without warrent to do alcohol breath tests. They have been called on the carpet by the ACLU several times.9 this last summer!!!!!!!!!!
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10-28-2009 @ 8:43PM
Bobby said...
These issues will only get worse in time.
I had my suspicions early on that municipalities would begin citing citizens for any & all reasons to make up for shortfalls in revenue. I told my kids to drive slowly & make sure they paid attention to traffic laws.
Here where I live, they've increased property taxes already & my entire life is wrapped up in real estate that I now view as a liability instead of an asset. The secondary properties I own are taxed at more than a two to one rate & I have absolutely no recourse against tenants in getting rents due other than eviction. I get a worthless judgment in lieu of restitution for my losses. Taxation without representation translates for me that I have to pay with no means of collecting or I get my properties confiscated through tax liens.
We're on the brink of slipping into lawlessness as a society. When our officials can offer no more than underhanded means to cover themselves by over taxing or relying on trumped up violations to fulfill financial shortfalls,, trouble is close behind parlaying into more unlawful means on both sides to survive.
This logic doesn't translate into a civilized culture,, it translates into moral decay that has no end....
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10-28-2009 @ 8:59PM
andy said...
the criminals are running the asylum, like property taxes it's nothing less than extortion. strong arming and profiting on the general public.
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10-28-2009 @ 9:06PM
Kalvin said...
The cops are out to raise revenue only. They are not out their to serve and protect anymore. The only reason they carry guns are to protect themselves, not the public. They are nothing but a paramilitary force, that collect revenue for their local govt. They don't want to stop real crime, their is too much paperwork involved. Besides they might have to actually do some work. This is only going to get worse.
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10-28-2009 @ 9:08PM
george mooney said...
I remember it was President Eisenhower who warned us about the threat of the Military Industrial complex..
He was wrong .
The real threat is the Politicans and the Judicial system ,Cops Lawyers and Judges and the support system of correction officers and court officers and clerks,who need "crime" to maintain the system of making us all pay exorbitant taxes and fines. It is insane that in this day and age when all of us are facing economic crises every day we cant generate enough outrage to change the system to something a little more honest and fair.
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