Traffic fines in Oregon
Sep. 10th, 2018 04:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
plutherusThe Oregonian has an article about traffic fines in Oregon. A current lawsuit challenges suspension of drivers licenses for unpaid traffic tickets.
You may not be surprised to learn that I had a few words to say on the subject.
So, I have first hand experience at this. Many years ago, while unemployed I got a ticket for driving 45 in a 35 zone. So, yeah, my own fault. Going 10mph over the speed limit, totes on me, I'm not blaming anyone else here. Ticket was $210. If that happened to me now, well, bummer, that's coming out of my savings and maybe I have to cancel one of my planned out of town trips to pay for it.
But at the time, I was unemployed. I didn't have $210 in savings. I waited until I got a job, and then a paycheck, to pay the fine. But that took more than 30 days. So, in Beaverton, if you don't pay within 30 days, they automatically double it. I didn't realize that, and only paid the original $210, over 30 days late. Owing the remaining, $210 that I never paid, they eventually suspended my license. (These are both apparently spelled out in the small print of the ticket they give you, but if I read it I don't remember.)
Years later, I get pulled over for "not signalling far enough in advance of a turn." (This one was total nonsense - I was turning into a parking lot that was shortly after an intersection and didn't signal until I was through the intersection because I didn't want anything to think I was planning on turning at the intersection.) That's how I discover my license is now suspended. I get a $600 fine for that. (And I couldn't fight the failure to signal far enough in advance because the cop never actually charged me with that, just for driving with a suspended license).
So, I have to take an entire day off work to deal with this - go down to the courthouse to pay the $210 I owe, then take proof to the DMV to pay an extra couple of hundred to un-suspend my license. Then go to court for the Driving While Suspended charge, which the judge automatically reduces to $500 and sets up a $50/month payment plan, which I complete in 10 months, exactly like he did for the six people with suspended licenses ahead of me that day.
So, to summarize: If it happened today, it would have cost me $210 total, no worries.
But since I was poorer back then it cost over a thousand dollars and a day off missed work, for which of course I wasn't paid.
So that's what happens if you can't come up with $210 within 30 days, or $420 within 90 days. And fortunately, my daily commute to work at Intel was by train, so I didn't need to drive while it was suspended.
Others aren't so lucky.
There was a guy ahead of me in court who was there for this third suspended license. He did landscaping and needed to drive to all his customer sites. He had a truck full of tools that he couldn't carry on the bus.. He couldn't get money to pay his fines if he didn't work. He couldn't legally get to work until his license was not suspended. Since he'd been caught twice driving with a suspended license he couldn't even get it unsuspended again until he finished paying the fines. So, this guy was paying $50/month, then $100/month, because he didn't come to a full stop at a stop sign four years ago. He couldn't come up with $100 one of the months in time for the payment, which is why his license got suspended again. He's paid the city of Beaverton thousands of dollars and still can't legally go to work. He asked the judge if there was a special case where he could just drive for work and was told there was no such thing in Beaverton.
"Well, what can I do?" he asked.
"You'll have to figure something out," the judge told him. "Next!"
Oregonian article is at https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2018/09/suit_oregons_suspension_of_dri.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=theoregonian_sf
You may not be surprised to learn that I had a few words to say on the subject.
So, I have first hand experience at this. Many years ago, while unemployed I got a ticket for driving 45 in a 35 zone. So, yeah, my own fault. Going 10mph over the speed limit, totes on me, I'm not blaming anyone else here. Ticket was $210. If that happened to me now, well, bummer, that's coming out of my savings and maybe I have to cancel one of my planned out of town trips to pay for it.
But at the time, I was unemployed. I didn't have $210 in savings. I waited until I got a job, and then a paycheck, to pay the fine. But that took more than 30 days. So, in Beaverton, if you don't pay within 30 days, they automatically double it. I didn't realize that, and only paid the original $210, over 30 days late. Owing the remaining, $210 that I never paid, they eventually suspended my license. (These are both apparently spelled out in the small print of the ticket they give you, but if I read it I don't remember.)
Years later, I get pulled over for "not signalling far enough in advance of a turn." (This one was total nonsense - I was turning into a parking lot that was shortly after an intersection and didn't signal until I was through the intersection because I didn't want anything to think I was planning on turning at the intersection.) That's how I discover my license is now suspended. I get a $600 fine for that. (And I couldn't fight the failure to signal far enough in advance because the cop never actually charged me with that, just for driving with a suspended license).
So, I have to take an entire day off work to deal with this - go down to the courthouse to pay the $210 I owe, then take proof to the DMV to pay an extra couple of hundred to un-suspend my license. Then go to court for the Driving While Suspended charge, which the judge automatically reduces to $500 and sets up a $50/month payment plan, which I complete in 10 months, exactly like he did for the six people with suspended licenses ahead of me that day.
So, to summarize: If it happened today, it would have cost me $210 total, no worries.
But since I was poorer back then it cost over a thousand dollars and a day off missed work, for which of course I wasn't paid.
So that's what happens if you can't come up with $210 within 30 days, or $420 within 90 days. And fortunately, my daily commute to work at Intel was by train, so I didn't need to drive while it was suspended.
Others aren't so lucky.
There was a guy ahead of me in court who was there for this third suspended license. He did landscaping and needed to drive to all his customer sites. He had a truck full of tools that he couldn't carry on the bus.. He couldn't get money to pay his fines if he didn't work. He couldn't legally get to work until his license was not suspended. Since he'd been caught twice driving with a suspended license he couldn't even get it unsuspended again until he finished paying the fines. So, this guy was paying $50/month, then $100/month, because he didn't come to a full stop at a stop sign four years ago. He couldn't come up with $100 one of the months in time for the payment, which is why his license got suspended again. He's paid the city of Beaverton thousands of dollars and still can't legally go to work. He asked the judge if there was a special case where he could just drive for work and was told there was no such thing in Beaverton.
"Well, what can I do?" he asked.
"You'll have to figure something out," the judge told him. "Next!"
Oregonian article is at https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2018/09/suit_oregons_suspension_of_dri.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=theoregonian_sf
