I read this article in the Texas Tribune which discusses the opposition surcharges program faces.
The surcharges program or the Driver Responsibility is a program that is designed to extract money annually from drivers who committed a traffic offenses. People who are against the program that was created in 2003 will be asking the lawmakers to abolish this law in the next hearing according to the article at that time.
I believe that the legislators should stop the surcharges program. The point of this program is to punish people who were caught driving without car insurance or were driving while intoxicated and maybe other offenses. While I strongly agree with following the law of having a car insurance and not driving while drunk, this program is just way too much. A person who for example were driving without insurance would have to pay more than $260 for three years in a row after having to pay the fine at the court.
People are forced to pay triple if not more the amount of the money of the bills they originally owe. And moreover, the system is just too slow and not flexible. I talk from experience five years ago unfortunately, I was driving without insurance and even though I paid a lot of money, I still had to pay around $270 for three years. You can make payments but still, I believe it's too much, and certainly not everyone can spare that kind of money to give it away for three years, especially after having to pay the original fine. Also, each time you failed to pay because you did not have enough money at the time or you forgot to pay, you driver license is suspended. As suggested in the article it would be better do the point system in which they will take points off the driver's licenses in case a person repeat the same offense. Even though I think people who drink and drive must be punished severely so they won't do again, .Taking point off driver's license in addition to the the fines they have to pay seems a better way than the surcharges program.
The surcharges program or the Driver Responsibility is a program that is designed to extract money annually from drivers who committed a traffic offenses. People who are against the program that was created in 2003 will be asking the lawmakers to abolish this law in the next hearing according to the article at that time.
I believe that the legislators should stop the surcharges program. The point of this program is to punish people who were caught driving without car insurance or were driving while intoxicated and maybe other offenses. While I strongly agree with following the law of having a car insurance and not driving while drunk, this program is just way too much. A person who for example were driving without insurance would have to pay more than $260 for three years in a row after having to pay the fine at the court.
People are forced to pay triple if not more the amount of the money of the bills they originally owe. And moreover, the system is just too slow and not flexible. I talk from experience five years ago unfortunately, I was driving without insurance and even though I paid a lot of money, I still had to pay around $270 for three years. You can make payments but still, I believe it's too much, and certainly not everyone can spare that kind of money to give it away for three years, especially after having to pay the original fine. Also, each time you failed to pay because you did not have enough money at the time or you forgot to pay, you driver license is suspended. As suggested in the article it would be better do the point system in which they will take points off the driver's licenses in case a person repeat the same offense. Even though I think people who drink and drive must be punished severely so they won't do again, .Taking point off driver's license in addition to the the fines they have to pay seems a better way than the surcharges program.
I would be strongly in favor of striking this law down. I too am a victim of this ridiculous law, and it has no leniency. I borrowed a friend's vehicle to move a mattress and got a ticket for that vehicle not having any insurance, now I have the surcharge on my record. The state did not even notify me of these payments until the three years was up and they suspended my license. Had I been pulled over I would have been thrown in jail with no idea why I was there. The state should either have a point system or just a lump sum that you can pay off over time. It almost seems like they want people to forget so they can extract more from you if you forget and get pulled over again.
ReplyDeleteSeveral years back, I too had the privilege of paying about $270 every year for 3 years. This is not including the court fees and fines I had to pay for driving while my license was invalid. And yes, your license will get suspended if you miss a payment, which is exactly what happen to me. And to top it off while my license was suspended, I just so happened to get pulled over and ticketed on my way to work for making a rolling stop in my neighborhood. In addition to more fees and fines for that ticket I received, my license stayed suspended and my 3 years of surcharges started over!
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with my colleague over at “Texas” when she says that there has got to be a better solution for punishing folks that commit whatever it was that they did. I will say that for some offenses the surcharge is just, such as DWI’s. However, this doesn’t mean that I’m for the surcharge program. To me, this program is just another one of the states’ vessels to extract money from its residents. It seems that the state is just interested in squeezing every freaking penny they can from us. With fees for late payments, convenience charges for online payments, it’s just an ongoing cycle of getting screwed over! If the state focused on its people as much as it focuses on making money, our way of life would be so much better.
Much like my colleague had mentioned, a point system might just be the perfect solution for punishing offenders. But before we can get the surcharge program 86’d, we the people have got to become pro-active in finding that new solution, and then bringing it to our representatives to make that change possible.