Town cuts traffic tickets 84%

Fewer tickets, less accidents

A Northern California city reduced issuing traffic tickets by 84%--and accidents fell 7%.

Rather than concentrating on issuing tickets, the police chief wants his officers to focus on long term solutions. If collisions are an issue at this location, what can we do about that? A median? A signal? Solving problems, he argues, is more important than writing tickets.

A not so good excuse

Another excuse that didn't work. A teenager tried to convince the officer she was pregnant and needed to get to the hospital right now. After she was arrested for obstruction of justice, the baby turned out to be a wool sweater.

A doctor told a motorcycle cop of my acquaintance pretty much the same thing. He was speeding because he was needed at the hospital for an urgent operation. "Go! Go!" the cop urged him. The motorcycle followed the doctor. They were in the hospital elevator before the doc gave it up. The officer walked back outside with him and wrote the citation.

Double jeopardy?

Interesting question on Yahoo Answers. He gets a ticket for tinted windshield and pays it. Does the double jeopardy clause of the US Constitution protect him from getting such a ticket again?

No--the next ticket would be for a separate offense. (The clause protects against being prosecuted twice for the same crime ("fact pattern")--not for breaking the same law twice.) But it's good that somebody's reading the Constitution and thinking about it.

Noted

The officer was about to write a simple traffic ticket when the 14 years old passenger piped up the driver had raped her. Things got a little more complicated after that.

Houston has reportedly joined Los Angeles in kicking out red light ticket cameras.


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Leave the drugs at home when going to court

Bit of advice: if you go to pay a ticket but you've got a suspended license, don't drive to court. Plus clean out your pocket and car.

One guy in Texas allegedly did all this. A cop in the station next to the courthouse saw him drive up. Knowing the guy had a suspended license, the officer arrested him.

In the course of patting him down, the cop reportedly found cocaine and a syringe. When the police looked in the car, they found a scale, possible drug pipe and material commonly used for drug sales.

Some mornings you should just stay in bed.

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Washington State is thinking of offering payment plans on the back of its tickets.

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A lawyer in South Florida is reportedly beating red light camera tickets. One of his techniques is what I keep recommending--knowing the law and making sure every part of it is met.


Image courtesy of nixxphotography

Saturday stories from around the web

No front license plate means the radar has nothing to read and the red light camera has nothing to photograph. A reader at this site says a recent AOL article made these claims. The column's author, apparently a cop, says radar and cameras work really well even with the front plate gone.

Her fix it ticket went from $25 to $911 when she didn't take care of it and she's upset. Uh, lady, you're lucky you weren't stopped again and arrested. Courts don't like being ignored.

This site claims to provide a free database of speed traps in North America. All verified (how do they do that?) Registration required.


Officer gets this guy twice for running stop signs in Miami (same officer). The writer is worried because he can't appear in court to defend himself--he lives in Europe. Hey, the extradition treaty probably doesn't cover stop signs. Of course, if you ever want to come back here ....

Her roommate's boyfriend told her Arizona would not put a point on her record for speeding if she just paid the fine. Good luck on that one.

I couldn't make this stuff up. A lady here wants to know if she goes to trial, can the judge find her guilty? Uh, he's not selling Avon from the bench.

When you want the real information, check out How to Beat a Traffic Ticket: The Six Steps Guide. Available for Kindle and Nook. Just 99 cents.