Monday, August 26, 2013

Simple Tickets not so Simple Fees

I'm pretty sure everyone has gotten a ticket or knows a little about tickets, specifically speeding tickets. Just a couple months ago I myself had gotten a ticket riding down Fauquier county's road trying to make it to work having only ten minutes to spare. The speed limits on their roads change very often ranging limits from 55 miles per hour to 65 miles per hour. Since I was almost near my destination I can admit I did start speeding, and in a matter of seconds a black car comes flying behind me. Of course I'm the one that gets stopped by the undercover cop, even though almost every other car was speeding also. He tells me he's doing me a favor by just giving me a ticket instead of sending me to jail for reckless driving, twenty miles above the speed limit is considered reckless driving and he put me at 74mph. on a 55mph. My court date was scheduled two months later and I had the decision whether to just call myself guilty and pay a fine of 205 dollars or to show up in court to fight my case. I'm thinking either way I'm going to be guilty so what more can the court system do for me? I realized that since I'm still a newly licensed driver, the more points I get on my license now the faster it is to get my license suspended so it was best to go to court to figure out how else I could arrange my way out of that. Well how court goes there are fee's for everything, and also depending on how your judge feels is what your going to get. My judge told me I had to go to a Saturday driving class which is 50 dollars for one day, still pay my ticket fee's that include 30 dollars for disobeying a sign, 6 dollars for each mile over, 50 dollars processing fee, and 10 dollars for other included fee's. Then I get court fee's I had to pay just because I wanted to enter to seek an easier way to fix this issue, and finally this judge had the nerve to say "well we will think about what we can do about the points on your license after you take care of your responsibilities." That's kind of harsh for my first time getting a ticket or even being inside of a court room! I wonder who determines how much exactly someone has to pay for running a red light or not making a complete stop at a stop sign. If they put a price on things we shouldn't do does it stop us from actually doing it, or does it just keep giving reasoning to why court systems are just all about the money and not about saving the community from those so called reckless drivers, robbers, or delinquents. If the court expands more on showing life consequences on what could happen if someone continues to speed instead of all these court fee's and tickets having to be paid, maybe some people will learn better and think they should stop to help the community instead of stopping to avoid paying all these unnecessary large amounts of money.

3 comments:

  1. Catherine,
    Do you mind me asking, how many years have you been driving? I think the state determines how much a driver pays per mile over, but the judge has discretion on whether to charge the driver based on other issues (was the driver driving in an emergency situation, what was their record like, etc.).

    How could the court expand more on showing life consequences beyond making you go to the driver's class? Isn't that what the class is for? Have you gone yet? And I do think we all know the risks of reckless driving (and most of us do it on occasion). We just think the reward is worth the risk. Isn't it the same for texting while driving?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've been driving since I was thirteen but got my license at sixteen. And I was trying to explain how some judges let off certain people easier than others depending on how they feel because my friend had gotten the same charge as I did and she didn't have to pay any of the payments I did, she just had to go to a one day Saturday school, so I thought that didn't make sense to me if two people have the same charge the should receive the same consequences.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I understand exactly where you are coming from, awhile back I also had to go to court and take a class and after all of that I spent almost $200.

    ReplyDelete