This happens a lot more than you might know and has a big impact on Michigan economy!

How About a Warning!

While driving to work, an Oakland County officer follows an 18 year old girl for a couple miles and then pulls her over. This officer was rude and verbally abusive to her. The officer proceeded to ask her for her license, registration and proof of insurance. Nervous as she was, she accidentally handed the officer an insurance paper that was expired but quickly realized it and told the officer of her mistake and provided the updated documentation. His reply was, “It’s too late now, and you should have given it to me the first time.” He then told her that the windshield squirting devices on her car were illegal because they had lights in them and this is why he pulled her over. The officer questioned her on why she had put them on her car and she replied that, when she purchased the car, it had them on it but one of them was inoperable so she had replaced them with a new pair, which she had bought at a local department store. The officer proceeded to write her a ticket. She and her father went to court on this matter due to fact this item was bought in a local store and that no where on the package did it say this may be against the law in your state nor could they recall a law that was posted or broadcasted in some way that would have let them know this was against the law. They wondered why they see cars, pickup trucks and semi trucks with additional lights all the way around them from top to bottom! The courts’ response to this ticket was there was nothing they could do unless the officer who wrote the ticket would like to change it to a warning. The Magistrate asked the officer if he would like to drop the ticket or change it to a warning. The officer looked at the Magistrate, then looked down and replied, “No, your honor.” The Magistrate then said the ticket must be paid or she could take it to judicial court.

Yeah…let’s waste more time and money. More and more, we have been noticing that warnings are a thing of the past. The problem is many people can not afford these frivolous tickets and the local, County and State police departments believe this is a good way to raise revenue to help pay for operations. In fact, it only hurts the economy further. Again, here is how a person who needs to get to work, go to college and pay her bills will have to spend one and a half weeks’ worth of earnings to pay a ridiculous ticket, which will put her behind on her car or insurance payment for that month. If she doesn’t pay for the ticket, she will have a warrant, suspended license and…here we go again…all the other nightmares that follow.

As a side, the fine for this ticket was $130.00 and 2 points on her driving record. Her auto insurance went up $25.00 per month due to the fact it was during her probation period and that it was written up as improper use of lights. In addition, she and her father wasted about 3.5 hours each on this absurd situation.

This, and several other tickets written daily, would have easily been a simple “you need to fix, repair, replace it” warning in the past. You are now looked at as “more money for the cause.” The problem is that this is not helping anything. In today’s economy, where every dollar counts for the majority of Michigan residents, these tickets are actually contributing to much bigger problems, ultimately resulting in millions of dollars in wasted time and money each year.

Let’s just look at how obscene this one frivolous ticket could get...using the above story, here are a few very real scenarios that can, and do, arise from not being able to afford to pay the ticket on time...you will have a warrant out for your arrest...you will loose your license...if you are pulled over before you know your license is suspended, you will receive another ticket, go to jail, get your car impounded, go to court, if you can’t get bonded out, you will sit in jail until your court date, which could be a week to 30 days or more, it will cost you a lot of money, you will need an attorney, yet even more money, you probably have lost any job you may have had…need I say more. This is all true and happens many times a day all over Michigan and is a large contributor to our overcrowded jails and lousy economy. Think about this…if a person is working, they are keeping businesses strong, they are paying taxes, spending money to pay bills, which are taxed, they are purchasing items at the stores which are taxed, all of which help the economy. Are we going to allow these ridiculous tickets and wrongful arrests destroy our State and its citizens?

Please, if you have ever had an experience like this one, a wrongful arrest, an unfair situation or any situation where you felt you were being unjustly dealt with, blog it or E-Mail it to us. Help us help you save Michigan.