You're missing the point. Of course he has to pay. The punishment of spending a night (or weekend, if you get unlucky) in jail so you can see a judge in the morning is disproportionate to either losing or neglecting to pay a small fine.
It should not be the choice between go to jail for the night, or pay a third party private company an extra 25%.
Basically why does this exist? Those that can afford to generally pay these fines eventually when they go to renew tabs/get pulled over/whatever. Those that can't afford them won't pay them either way, and this just makes their already shitty lives shittier by likely putting them out of work.
There were times I got to work and back barely making ends meet when I had outstanding warrants for unpaid tickets. I did what I had to do to feed my family, got back on my feet, and paid them off. Automated scanners at every turn would have put me out of work, and minimum out of the bottom rungs of the career I currently enjoy.
At some point you need to stop kicking people while their down, and use a little common sense. Extorting them another 25% or ruining their lives is ridiculous.
I agree you need a way to go after scofflaws, but the they are a very small minority in a very wide sea of folks kind of caught up in a system they are unlikely to get out of. If you think Payday loan stores are bad, just get in debt to the government.
It should not be the choice between go to jail for the night, or pay a third party private company an extra 25%.
Considering how it works in literally every other state, where you're arrested with no ifs ans or buts if you have outstanding violations on your record (and have let them lapse that far)...
Okay, you want to remove the ability for people to pay the fines on the spot? Because that is literally the only difference here. An option where one did not previously exist.
Now let me try to get in front of this thread. The answer to people being between a rock and a hard place with regard to traffic fines is, quite simply, to not get them in the first place, something which many people are able to do remarkably well.
This is not a popular statement of fact, the response to which is usually a list of edge cases about how someone didn't see they were in the HOV lane, or rolled through the stop sign or did something else because "everyone else does it", or whatever.
Okay, what's your answer to that? Don't give poor people tickets for breaking the law / fine them less?
Bzzt. Unconstitutional on its face because equal protection, regardless of how you view the 99%/1% class warfare issue.
So it sounds like we're attacking this from the wrong side. The problem is not that perfectly legitimate fines are legally assessed and Bad Things happen to you when you don't pay them. That is the system working as it's supposed to.
I agree you need a way to go after scofflaws, but the they are a very small minority
The cavalier attitude with which people treat basic rules of the road would appear to indicate otherwise. You (again, random example) roll through a stop sign because you don't think a cop is going to see it and the extra couple of seconds are that important, you've rolled the dice with full knowledge and consent.
Same thing if you're not paying attention and miss something you're obligated to not miss. Well, it sucks, but you're in control of a multi-ton hunk of high speed metal and paying attention to your surroundings is kind of a big deal.
Sometimes the dice don't go your way. I'm not sure it's possible to concoct a law that is both constitutional in the sense of "the same laws/penalties for everyone" and also adaptable to meet the needs of the violators.
Look at it this way - self driving cars are coming sooner rather than later, and most of these things won't be a problem anymore.
A bunch of strawman and other logical fallacies I hope people don't fall for.
"Okay, what's your answer to that? Don't give poor people tickets for breaking the law / fine them less?
Bzzt. Unconstitutional on its face because equal protection, regardless of how you view the 99%/1% class warfare issue."
How about just not charging such ridicilous fines, and stop creating warrants for peoples arrests because they haven't payed a fucking fine? How about that there Mr. I kowtow to the totalitarian master?
stop creating warrants for peoples arrests because they haven't payed a fucking fine
Our entire legal system (and indeed the legal system of most countries) is based on incremental punishments for further noncompliance. You break the law, you get fined. You don't pay the fine, you lose the associated privilege. You ignore that loss, you go to jail.
This is necessary to ensure compliance. Without this, the law may as well not exist because people can violate it with absolute impunity.
How about just not charging such ridicilous fines
"Ridiculous" in the case of someone below the poverty line could be as small as a $20-$50 speeding/parking ticket.
It should not be the choice between go to jail for the night, or pay a third party private company an extra 25%.
Basically why does this exist? Those that can afford to generally pay these fines eventually when they go to renew tabs/get pulled over/whatever. Those that can't afford them won't pay them either way, and this just makes their already shitty lives shittier by likely putting them out of work.
There were times I got to work and back barely making ends meet when I had outstanding warrants for unpaid tickets. I did what I had to do to feed my family, got back on my feet, and paid them off. Automated scanners at every turn would have put me out of work, and minimum out of the bottom rungs of the career I currently enjoy.
At some point you need to stop kicking people while their down, and use a little common sense. Extorting them another 25% or ruining their lives is ridiculous.
I agree you need a way to go after scofflaws, but the they are a very small minority in a very wide sea of folks kind of caught up in a system they are unlikely to get out of. If you think Payday loan stores are bad, just get in debt to the government.