So far, so good.
Yet, just writing the ticket itself means nothing if the tickets are arbitrarily dismissed in municipal court.
Let's take a look at today's information put forward in the Laredo Morning Times article titled "Texting in School Zones." At the request of the mayor, new Chief of Police Ray Garner reported that there had been 570 citations issued for texting or using a handheld cell phone in a school zone since the ordinance was approved on March 16, 2009.
I took a look back, and the ordinance had no grace period, as did the other texting while driving ordinance had a 90 period where only warnings would be issued by police officer.
So, to the meat of the subject:
- 570 citations issued in 4 years (142.5 per year, pathetic in it's own right)
- Fine up to $200 per violation
- Broken down the fine structure is this: court cost $88, fine $122, total $200 (from the municipal court web page)
- Total collected by city $6,000
If my math is correct, the $6,000 collected by the city equates to 30 out of 570 citations being found guilty and fined. If that is the case, then 540 cases were dismissed. That is a conviction rate of 5.3%.
Let's look at the takeaway from this information.
To our police officers, go ahead, write the tickets, spend time going to court, but never mind, the court will dismiss the case.
To our drivers, go ahead, get the ticket, but never mind, if you in the 95% your fine and ticket will be dismissed.
To our community, go ahead, watch an ordinance be passed with great fanfare, see the police pull over a few folks and write tickets. But never mind in the end, because there is no real teeth to the ordinance once it reaches municipal court.
Just writing tickets is not good enough. I always wondered why so few officers wrote traffic tickets other than the traffic unit (the motorcycle folks.) Now I know, it is a waste of their time to write a ticket that has a 95% chance of being dismissed.
Chief Garner, you have stepped into a mess. Help our officers do their jobs. Ask council to put pressure on our (remember Judge, you work for us) municipal court to convict and fine these violators.
PS: remember a while back, when the texting and driving ordinance was up for a vote. I wrote that the ordinance was almost un-enforceable due to search and seizure laws (texting records from phone company). Could that be the case here? I will await a response from someone in the know.
The Texas House voted in favor of banning texting while driving. It now goes to the Senate.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.star-telegram.com/2013/04/17/4783594/ban-on-texting-while-driving-passes.html
Fines vary, and the municipal court judge will determine what the ticket holder pays. If you beg and plead with her, the judge will lessen the amount of the ticket, or so I've heard.
Even if she reduced the fines to just paying court cost of $88 each, that only equates to 69 convictions, or a 12% conviction rate......still pretty low.
ReplyDeleteThanks for responding KR
Tom, It appears that your post is erroneous. I've actually put out a "WadeWatch" post today about it. Check it out if you have the time. I'd appreciate your feedback. I';m pretty sure you got this one wrong. Thanks
ReplyDeleteHere's the link in case you want to read it.
http://laredotejas.blogspot.com/2013/04/wade-watch-proceed-with-caution-when.html
I saw your post Max, while I may be wrong on some of the numbers, which I will fix shortly in a new correction post, I never, repeat never said. " Essentially Wade concludes that citizens should "never mind" because the ordinance has "no real teeth."
ReplyDeleteI put up the picture saying that texting and driving are dangerous. What I did say, and I will say again, is that if the courts do not follow through and convict people, the ordinances are useless. That is only common sense.
I will make corrections, as I always do when I have printed something that is wrong.
PS, they look like maracas to me.
ReplyDeleteA while back, a few buddies and i were traveling from point to point. To pass the time, we (minus the driver) made observations on passing vehicles. What we noticed is 95% of drivers texting were female. Of the 95%,,,, 100% of them exceeded the posted speed by at lesst 15 mph. All of them were "bird -dogging" the foward vehicle as if they were Danica Patrick in seach of a win.
ReplyDeleteIT AIN'T THAT IMPORTANT PEOPLE! DON'T TEXT AND DRIVE. I don't give a crap how important you think you are or how important your mommy told you, you are,,, you text, wreck,mame or kill,,,, you are guiltier than a DWI driver. If the municipal judges are actually dismissing these infractions,,,, SHAME ON THEM.!..