October 1, 2017 • CALIFORNIA,
Driver's License,
DUI,
EMAIL NEWSLETTER,
IOWA,
MICHIGAN,
NEWSLETTER,
NORTH CAROLINA,
OHIO,
SAFETY,
TENNESSEE,
TEXAS,
TICKET FINES,
VIRGINIA When a motorist receives a traffic ticket the expectation is that if you plead guilty or are found guilty, you pay the fine. Most of us would agree that if you break the law then you should pay for it. But what if you really cannot “pay for it” due to life circumstances? The Falls […]
August 27, 2017 • CIVIL,
CRIMINAL,
DUE PROCESS,
EMAIL NEWSLETTER,
NEW YORK,
NEWSLETTER,
NMA,
TICKET FIGHTING,
TICKET FINES,
TICKET QUOTA,
TICKET REVENUE Whose side are we on anyway? The NMA objects when cities lower the traffic court bar, downgrading routine moving violations from criminal to civil offenses while also issuing lesser fines and eliminating points against defendant driving records. Again, why would we do that? To answer those questions, look no further than the example of jurisprudence […]
By James J. Baxter, NMA President Emeritus Editor’s Note: We’re going to play a little game: Can you guess when Jim wrote this newsletter with its references to government entities increasing ticket penalties, the ramping up of enforcement campaigns, and pronouncements of motorized traffic being responsible for all that is wrong in the world? It […]
April 2, 2017 • ACLU,
ALABAMA,
ARKANSAS,
CALIFORNIA,
COLORADO,
Driver's License,
EMAIL NEWSLETTER,
GEORGIA,
ILLINOIS,
KANSAS,
LOUISIANA,
MICHIGAN,
MISSISSIPPI,
MISSOURI,
NEWSLETTER,
POLICING FOR PROFIT,
TENNESSEE,
TEXAS,
TICKET FINES,
TICKET REVENUE,
TRAFFIC ENGINEERING,
VIRGINIA,
WASHINGTON Alexander City, Alabama has agreed to give $680,000 to nearly 200 people who were jailed because they were too poor to pay their court fines. The suit filed in September 2015 by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) claimed that the town ran “a modern-day debtors prison.” Indigent debtors served time in the municipal jail […]
A tacit arrangement between the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and Rosendale, WI (pop. 1,063) has fueled the tiny village’s notoriety as a stereotypical speed trap town. Rosendale lives up to its reputation by handing out speeding convictions at a per capita rate of more than 50 times that of state capitol Madison.* Rosendale, 80 miles […]
