Over the years I have had a few traffic fines, parking, speeding, parking meters, my license sticker overdue etc. I have paid the fines generally on time and went on my way with the resolution to slow down and pay more attention.
I had heard from someone that many traffic fines were not being paid so I sent an open records request on this subject. Here is the result. From 1985 to 2010 $289 million in fines, $179 million collected and $110 million uncollected. I am not aware of the cost of collection or what can be done to collect but this is a lot of money due the city. I will do some more checking and let you know. Below I have listed what is on the City Court Clerk’s website, the goal of collecting 100% of money owed.
Traffic Violations Bureau
Goals and Objectives
Collect 100% of the traffic summons, citations and ordinance summons monies owed to the City of Memphis while still providing quality and efficient customer service to all citizens through a knowledgeable and trained workforce.
The office of the City Court Clerk is responsible for the operation of the Traffic Violations Bureau. So far during the fiscal year 2009, the Traffic Violations Bureau has processed 228,048 traffic summons, 88,783 parking citations, and 4,069 ordinance summons issued by the Memphis Police Department. This has resulted in more than $9,774,344.26 in revenue from fines, costs, fees and forfeitures during this period.
During the fiscal year 2009, the City Court Clerk’s Office has provided $145,261.00 to the Memphis and Shelby County Health Department to provide child safety seats to indigent parents. These funds have been provided as a result of the payment of fines on tickets issued for violations of the seat belt ordinance.
If the ticket is not paid within 15 days after receipt, the violator must appear in court on the scheduled court date on the bottom of the ticket, and additional costs may be assessed. Failure to pay within 15 days or appear in court will result in a default judgment being taken against the violator. Failure to pay a default judgment within 30 days may result in the suspension of the violator’s driver’s license.
Hi y’all – if the city wishes to balance its books using traffic violations it could do so easily by enforcing the H.O.V. lane regulations on the interstate. A cursory glance will show that these laws are totally disregarded (or more likely unknown.) Literally thousands of cars per hour violate these laws during rush hour. Not so in Atlanta and other major cities. I wonder if the city has records of how many citations have been issued for this offense? I suspect………….none!