Ever throw away a traffic ticket you got in the mail?

[skydiver30960 0]

We were talking about this one in class tonight:

The counties around my home have upped the ante, now using the camera-operated speed traps as well as the cameras that catch you running red lights. No police officer, no notification that you're busted until the ticket arrives in the mail unknown weeks later. The statement was made (by a police officer of 13 years, no less) that if you got one of these tickets in the mail (and it didn't come registered or certified, which they almost never do) that you should just chuck it in the garbage. His point was that if they couldn't prove you received it, you could just claim you never got it.

I hunted around online (I know, I know, consider the source) and it sounds like lotsa counties/cities handle it this way. They just send out all the tickets and count on folks to be scared enough to pay up, and (again, according to "them" online) never follow up on those that don't pay.

So waddaya think? Would you pay up? Or would you have the big brass ones to just drop that mother into File 13?

Elvisio "undecided" rodriguez

[yardhippie 0]

Chuck it in the garbage if ya go the nanoos or cash to battle that warrant for a no-show.

Its best to fight it at anyway possible. Delays, not guilty, etc.

Goddam dirty hippies piss me off! ~GFD
"What do I get for closing your rig?" ~ me
"Anything you want." ~ female skydiver
Mohoso Rodriguez #865

[wildcard451 0]

fuckem.

[Jayruss 0]

I threw a parking ticket away once, it cost me double when they finally caught up to me.

__________________________________________________
"Beware how you take away hope from another human being."
-Oliver Wendell Holmes

[BillyVance 34]

I got a parking ticket for parking in the wrong direction on the side of a road once. I thought it didn't matter since it wasn't a goddamn main road. It was in an out of state city, so when I got home, I pondered what to do with it. There was a warning on the ticket that only certified checks or money orders were accepted. It was only a $10 fine. I slipped a $10 bill in an envelope with the ticket and a note saying "eat shit fuckers!" and mailed it.

Been well over a year and I haven't heard a damn thing.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[brianfry713 0]

I didn't vote in the poll since I did get an automated ticket, got it in the mail but didn't pay it, and then had it stick.

12/31/1999, I got a red light photo ticket, I missed the light by .3 seconds (it changed pretty quick from green to yellow to red too). The whole intersection light up with flash bulbs so I knew it was coming in the mail.

I got it and ignored it, then the fine doubled after a while and it gets placed onto your car registration. Without paying the now doubled fine with your yearly car registration, you won't get a new sticker for your license plate.

I've been stopped for that as well, the cops are pretty good at spotting expired tags. After that comes mandatory court dates, and eventually a warrant and arrest. So in my experience, you'd better pay, although people come up with these theories and claim they work, so do what you want.

I also got a parking ticket in a residential area for facing the wrong direction.

Once I moved and didn't realize my car insurance expired and I thought my mom was still paying it. After a year and a half I got nailed speeding, couldn't prove I had insurance, and payed an additional $200 fine for that. But with my driving record, I pay $300 a month for insurance, so I saved quite a bit of money by not paying for a while, as long as I don't total my car of course.

BASE 1224, Senior Parachute Rigger, CPL ASEL IA, AGI, IGI
USPA Coach & UPT Tandem Instructor, PRO, Altimaster Field Support Representative

[NWFlyer 2]

Quote

But with my driving record, I pay $300 a month for insurance, so I saved quite a bit of money by not paying for a while, as long as I don't total my car of course.

You do realize that totalling your car could be the least of your worries not having insurance.... if you cause injury to yourself or another party in an accident, the medical bills can and will quite quickly dwarf the cost of repairing or replacing a car. Sorry, Brian, I don't like that kind of cavalier attitude about being insured; if you can afford to drive a car, you can afford to insure it, period (I realize in your case it was more that you forgot to insure it, but still... it's the principle of the thing).

It's because of people who don't carry any or adequate insurance that I pay extra every month for very high uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. That came in really handy when I (as a pedestrian) was hit by a guy who carried only the Washington state minimum in insurance (which is $25,000 per person/$50,000 per incident in bodily injury liability). My medical bills ended up near $100,000 for that accident, and my injuries were a lot more minor than they could have been for an accident of that type. Fortunately, I'd insured myself against people who can't be bothered.

Worst part? The guy who hit me got tagged with ONLY a red light violation ... and got a lawyer and got out of it. After that experience I have a lot less patience for people who try to work the system to get out of legitimate violations. Drive how you want, but suck it up when you get caught, especially if you've just sent someone to the fucking hospital.

(Yeah, that rant went way beyond your post ... but it's a sore subject with me).

Edit to add that I did, in the past, once try to get out of a speeding ticket on a technicality, and I have managed to get out of parking tickets before. However, since the accident referenced above, my attitude has definitely changed towards moving violations and if I got one I'd be much more likely to just suck it up and pay if I'd actually screwed up. If I were falsely busted, of course I'd fight it, but I don't think that's what this thread is about.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[brianfry713 0]

Sorry to hear about your accident Krisanne, but like you said, it was a breakdown in communication that led to me be uninsured until I found out when I was forced to prove it to the court. I thought my mom was paying it and she thought I was paying it, but I guess neither of us followed up on it. I wouldn't have knowingly driven without it, mainly because I get pulled over quite often and I thought the fine would be much worse than the $200 extra on top of the speeding ticket I got tagged with.

If I didn't have a loan on my car I would consider just getting liability insurance. I haven't actually been driving much the last 2 months since my car has been in the repair shop with an engine problem and I was on vacation. For a while I was paying twice as much at $600/month, so that doesn't take too long to cover the value of the car. I would want the 3rd party liability and wouldn't hesitate to pay up if I did any damage to anyone else or their property.

For minor stuff, I can't claim anything on the insurance anyway because if I did the insurance company will cancel me (and several have). It was pretty hard just to get anyone to cover me.

I've also gotten out of several speeding and parking tickets on technicalities, but I think I've contributed plenty to the DMV/courts with thousands in fines.

On the original topic, at least in CA, I don't think the automated red light tickets and speeding tickets are being enforced anymore. I heard something about the program being canceled, and I know I ran a red light that had a camera and photo enforcement signs a few years ago and didn't see a flash or ever get a ticket.

BASE 1224, Senior Parachute Rigger, CPL ASEL IA, AGI, IGI
USPA Coach & UPT Tandem Instructor, PRO, Altimaster Field Support Representative

[popsjumper 2]

Send 'em a photo of the money.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[matt1215 0]

I rented a car @ LAX last year and got a bogus "running the 91-fast-track-toll-lanes without their special gizmo" ticket in the mail, timestamped 6 hours before I rented the car.

I sent copies of the ticket and my rental receipt to the rental agency corporate office and the court, got a free rental voucher out of it.

[Gawain 0]

Quote

Send 'em a photo of the money.

Dude, no shit that really happened. The story was out of Los Gatos, CA if I remember correctly. The guy sent a photo of the money for the infraction, the police then sent back a photo of handcuffs. The check followed in the mail shortly thereafter.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[Reginald 0]

Ignore it and eventually there will be an arrest warrant filed. That's just what I need, and I'll get pulled over for a tail light being out 2 years later on the way to a job interview or something and end up in jail.

I think the bigger point is that if one breaks the law then they should have the moral fiber to take the punishment even if it is inconvenient and expensive. If ones didn't break the law then dispute it. But only an idiot throws the ticket away.

"We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

[CSpenceFLY 1]

Sounds like you are awfully proud of your high insurance rates and not being able to get insurance from a reasonable company


.

[skydiver30960 0]

Quote

Quote

Send 'em a photo of the money.

Dude, no shit that really happened. The story was out of Los Gatos, CA if I remember correctly. The guy sent a photo of the money for the infraction, the police then sent back a photo of handcuffs. The check followed in the mail shortly thereafter.

Both those posts are fuckin' awesome! It's not often I laugh out loud at what's posted here...





Elvisio "picture of handcuffs, CLASSIC!" Rodriguez

[skydiver30960 0]

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Ignore it and eventually there will be an arrest warrant filed. That's just what I need, and I'll get pulled over for a tail light being out 2 years later on the way to a job interview or something and end up in jail.

I guess this is my general point on the matter. If it really worked that way, then eventually word would get around, NOBODY would pay the damn things, and all the technology would be wasted. So there has to be some way for the Men In Blue to make sure it's not all bark and no bite (and it definitely would BITE!).

I was just stunned by the fact that it was a cop making the suggestion. Now, after a good night's sleep, it dawns on me that maybe he's just trying to drum up more business for himself!

Elvisio "hope I never have to find out" Rodriguez

[skydiver30960 0]

Quote

12/31/1999, I got a red light photo ticket, I missed the light by .3 seconds (it changed pretty quick from green to yellow to red too). The whole intersection light up with flash bulbs so I knew it was coming in the mail.

I read in an article once that when the company that makes the gear installs it in a community that

a.) they get a cut of every ticket generated by the equipment

and

b) because of (a) they make the community sign an agreement NOT to increase the length of the yellow light at any intersection where the equipment is installed. There have been tests that showed that increasing the yellow light from 3 seconds to 4 seconds resulted in huge reductions in the number of people running the red. But, since the community had already signed, the citizens were shafted.

Elvisio "gotta love the system" Rodriguez

edit for fat fingers

[Shawndiver 0]

Do some research online, I don't know what the rules are out where you are, but in California, there are a variety of options available that they convieniently leave off their "courtesy notice" which basically just tells you the way to pay, nothing else about your rights. They tell you if you want to fight it you must appear in court to first schedule a date, then appear in person to fight it. They do not tell you about "trial by declaration, which allows you to fight the entire thing by mail. (Worked for me!) I know that you are not in California, but this may give you an interesting read, and there may be other sites that do the same thing in your area.

http://www.ticketassassin.com/

There is an entire section on red light cameras. Good luck!

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