Monday, June 1, 2015

From traffic fines to property seizures, rights are trampled



Finally, California politicians are paying some attention. Gov. Jerry Brown proposes traffic fine amnesty.

The fine for that “infraction” is $250, but when you write a check to pay the ticket you will learn that the Legislature and other authorities have added a raft of surcharges for various purposes to all traffic offenses, from courthouse construction to DNA testing and emergency medical services.

The final tally is $1,104, one of the highest “bails” for the hundreds of traffic infractions, and much higher than many that could cause injury.

Proportionately, however, some are even higher. A $35 ticket for driving even 1 mph over the 65-mph highway speed limit, for example, expands to $237 with all the add-ons.

A middle-class motorist may grumble, write the check and keep on driving. But for the 9 million Californians who live in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, a $237 ticket is a real hardship, and if it’s ignored, the fines escalate, and a delinquent motorist often loses his or her driver’s license and very possibly a job.

It exemplifies two syndromes – the arbitrary, almost predatory nature of traffic fines, and the tendency toward punishments that violate bedrock notions of fairness.