April 8, 2005, 2:04PM
Got unpaid traffic tickets? Police coming for you
By JOE STINEBAKER
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
Houston police will launch the first of several sweeps later this month designed to round up thousands of scofflaws delinquent on traffic tickets and other citations. Unlike past programs, though, this one will not be accompanied by an amnesty program.
Berta Mejia, the presiding judge of Houston municipal courts, said today that Houston police officers will begin knocking on doors later this month and arresting those who have failed to appear in court or otherwise resolve their tickets.
Mejia said that the targets of the sweeps are those who have had tickets or citations delinquent for at least 61 days, usually longer, and have had several letters and phone calls encouraging them to resolve the warrants. Mejia recommended that those with outstanding warrants contact the city to work out a payment plan before finding two police officers at their door.
Mejia said that city courts historically issue about 135,000 warrants a year for failure to appear. She said the city generally issues about 1.2 million citations and tickets a year.
Delinquency in resolving a city ticket or citation can significantly increase the cost. On top the original fine, scofflaws face a $200 fine for failure to appear plus an additional 30 percent for the law firm of Linebarger Goggan Blair and Sampson, with whom the city contracted in 1999 to collect delinquent revenue.
Source: Houston Chronicle
Got unpaid traffic tickets? Police coming for you
By JOE STINEBAKER
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
Houston police will launch the first of several sweeps later this month designed to round up thousands of scofflaws delinquent on traffic tickets and other citations. Unlike past programs, though, this one will not be accompanied by an amnesty program.
Berta Mejia, the presiding judge of Houston municipal courts, said today that Houston police officers will begin knocking on doors later this month and arresting those who have failed to appear in court or otherwise resolve their tickets.
Mejia said that the targets of the sweeps are those who have had tickets or citations delinquent for at least 61 days, usually longer, and have had several letters and phone calls encouraging them to resolve the warrants. Mejia recommended that those with outstanding warrants contact the city to work out a payment plan before finding two police officers at their door.
Mejia said that city courts historically issue about 135,000 warrants a year for failure to appear. She said the city generally issues about 1.2 million citations and tickets a year.
Delinquency in resolving a city ticket or citation can significantly increase the cost. On top the original fine, scofflaws face a $200 fine for failure to appear plus an additional 30 percent for the law firm of Linebarger Goggan Blair and Sampson, with whom the city contracted in 1999 to collect delinquent revenue.
Source: Houston Chronicle
When I lived in PA, I got speeding tickets in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. The two times I got pulled over for speeding in PA, the cops gave me tickets for failure to obey signs - no points 
And both of those tickets happened within a week of each other.
The one ticket I did get in California was making an illegal left hand turn in downtown San Diego.
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