Denver County Traffic Court

[snopes]

Comment: I am hoping you have the opportunity to read this e mail
regarding the utter frustration we as English-speaking Americans
experience on a daily basis. Hopefully, this will go beyond just an e-mail


This is an experience that happened to my wife today.


April 1, 2007, in Denver County Traffic Court, Denver, Colorado
She had to appear in traffic court as a result of a speeding ticket. She
was speeding and knew she would have a fine to pay.We have no problem with
that. The rest of the court experience, however, is something we should
all stand up and take exception to and ask what is happening to the United
States?


She was asked to be in court by 4:30PM today, with which she
complied. However, when she got there, it was announced that all
non-English speaking persons with traffic violations would be taken care
of first. The reasoning being that the interpreter leaves every day at the
same time and does not stay late. So a reward for not speaking English is
one gets to go the front of the line.



Next, the non-English speaking individuals do not have driver's licenses
or insurance. Never was it asked why they did not have licenses, what they
were doing to get licenses or insurance. What they were given for driving
without a license was a $35 fine. Since many of them did not have $35 they
were also given payment terms. So, they are granted another reward for not
having the money to pay the fines.


My wife, who was born in Denver, Colorado, raised here, and lived here
all her life, was given a $249 fine for her speeding ticket, was not given
payment terms, and had to wait until all the non-speaking, aliens were
treated first.



If I understand this correctly:
* Let's never require the non -English speaking individuals who live in
this country to learn English.
* Let's never require they become citizens of this United States of
America.
* Let's never require them to ever get driver's licenses and pray they
never kill someone on the road with their driving.
* Let's never require they get automobile insurance, so that all of us
who do will pay higher and higher premiums.
* Let's make sure that those of us who do get injured by these
individuals pay higher and higher health insurance premiums
* Let's make sure those who can pay their fines, pay big ones to
subsidize all those $35 fines on payment plans.
* Let's make sure we never inconvenience them a nd let's never
inconvenience the interpreters in this country who may have to work late.



Respectfully,
John DiNardo

14476 East Caley Ave.

Aurora, Colorado 80016

[Gayle]

Here's an idea: don't break the law and you won't be inconvenienced.

I'm not sure "don't break the law" has ever been an especially good response to criticisms of the justice or penal system.

[Ryda Wong, EBfCo.]

Well, it does appear as if the name and address are "real." He is a partner in Bear Rock Cafe.

A letter mentioning the story was sent to Idaho senator Craig: link

ETA: I wonder if this is the same lad:

David Card, John DiNardo, and Eugena Estes, “The More Things Change: Immigrants and the Children of Immigrants in the 1940s, the 1970s, and the 1990s,” in Issues in the Economics of Immigration, ed. George J. Borjas (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000).


ETAA: Appears not. That guy's at UMich


Don't know anything about the claims, but....

[Cervus]

Originally Posted by snopes

My wife, who was born in Denver, Colorado, raised here, and lived here all her life, was given a $249 fine for her speeding ticket...

What was she doing - 80 through a school zone, drunk or something?

And...maybe this is just my ignorance of how state traffic laws work...but in Florida the only reason you'd go to court is if you're contesting the ticket, or if you were arrested for the traffic infraction. Which, judging by the high fine, it sounds like this woman might have been.

Otherwise, the officer explains you've got 30 days to mail or take your payment to the clerk's office, no appointment or court appearance needed. Unless you opt to take driving school, in which case your fine is reduced and you're given an additional 90 days to take the class and pay your ticket. So we Red-Blooded American Citizens get lots of extra time to come up with the money if we don't have it immediately.

I haven't been pulled over here, but I seem to recall from the experience of my friends that you have to go to court to pay. They may waive that if you're out of state, since another friend of mine got nicked for accelerating a good hundred feet before the sign that said "75 mph" and I think he just mailed one in. As for the nature of the fine, I don't know. Probably she did what everyone does, which is drive 75-80+ on I-270, which involves a work zone and is posted at 55.

(eta: I drive about 60, personally. But at 60, you will have people, in the right lane, do everything short of trying to bodily shove you forward to a good 75. Cops split the 80-60 difference and do about 70)

[Cervus]

Originally Posted by Baikal

I As for the nature of the fine, I don't know. Probably she did what everyone does, which is drive 75-80+ on I-270, which involves a work zone and is posted at 55.

Really? Your speeding fines are that high? My 74 in a 55 landed me a $188 ticket - but there wasn't a construction zone around.

Like I said, I haven't ever had a ticket. This guy's blog makes it sound like ~$250 is about right for a 3-point ticket, with court costs. This is, of course, ancillary to the point of the OP, I would think.

[Tantei Kid]

I just got one in one of the Denver suburbs :o
51 in a 40 (it was 50 a little ways before :o ) and it was 79 bucks

The officer said to appear at the local courthouse to get points knocked off. Though it says I have to do it from 20-30 days after-- I would have loved the option to do it on the same day. Even if I had had to wait for those dastardly non-English speakers who ruin everything . The ticket says I can just mail in the money if I don't want to contest anything.

[Ramblin' Dave]

Originally Posted by Cervus

Really? Your speeding fines are that high? My 74 in a 55 landed me a $188 ticket - but there wasn't a construction zone around.

I knew a woman in DC who got a $500 fine for a similar infraction, so it can vary pretty widely.
Of course, my friend may have inadvertently jacked up the fine a bit through her visit to traffic court: she put on a miniskirt and fishnet stockings for the occasion, hoping to use her sex appeal to get a few bucks knocked off the fine. Instead she happened to get a female judge, who of course saw right through what she was up to. (When I saw her a few hours later, she was still unapologetic about the whole thing, still saying she'd have gotten a break if the judge were a guy. )

Fines usually double in a construction zone. But her fine doesn't really matter, does it? Lets address the criticisms: Are they valid, or bunk?

-Tim