Speeding in California

[nick francis]

I was stopped on an American Highway and the officer said he had clocked me doing 80 MPH in a 65 zone. I was on holiday and am back in the UK now.
No mention of an on the spot fine just a citation with a court date in October.
Naturally I wont be attending.
It seems that unless I contact the court before the proceedings to explain I wont be there and accept a guilty verdict I will become a police fugitive and a warrant will be issued for my arrest.

Does anybody know roughly the cost of my fine and if in their experience I am likely to be able to wriggle out of it?

[Caulkhead]

Go here and it will tell you and let you pay online, the max is usually $250:

http://www.ca.gov/driving/lawssafety/trafficfines....

Worth doing it in case you want to go back, though in reality you'll probably get away with it.

[7db]

It used to be the case that producing your passport and (imminent) flight coupon would leave the officer bking you but not ticketing as he didn't need the hassle either.

[fatboy b]

7db said:

It used to be the case that producing your passport and (imminent) flight coupon would leave the officer bking you but not ticketing as he didn't need the hassle either.

Er, no.

A few years back, I was escorted to the local post office by the highway patrol to pay the fine in cash.

[Sam.F]

Surprised they bothered pulling you over for that, driving up and down I-15 between LA and Vegas in June everyone was doing a good 80 in the 60-limit sections despite quite heavy police presence.

[GreigM]

I have first hand experience of this (87 in a 55). Generally you can pay a "bail" (fine) figure which should be specified on your ticket. Generally you can do this online and so long as you do it before the court date it all goes away.

You have to look up the court here:
http://www.ca.gov/driving/lawssafety/trafficfines....

and go through their process (online/phone) to pay the fine. Its all quite simple but a bit disconcerting that you get no receipt etc or confirmation that it was dealt with (so keep the credit card statement as a receipt).

You could ignore it, but if you ever get stopped in CA again you're on a one-way trip to the slammer.

[a311]

Almost 2 years ago I was in CA and was pulled for being 7 mph over the limit. Cop filled out the ticket and said I would receive the fine in the post and how to pay. This never arrived. I half thought maybe the cop just made a show of it to teach me a lesson and slow me down for the next three weeks of my trip.

I fully intended to pay as I'd like to not have it hanging over me if I ever returned to the US or CA (I've bee told that as it's not a federal crime I'd be able to go back to the US but would be in hot water if the police ran my details in CA but my arse would be nipping even just to go back to the US). Anyhow it never came through so some digging online and I found my case, could even go through and pay the fine it was the best part of £500!!! Obviously there will be hefty admin fees added to my original fine but I don't have the foggiest what that was. I thought about claling them and saying I never received anything through the post so was unaware but tbh if the US is anything like the UK they're most likely to tunr around and say tough st you have to pay the full fine.

Anyhow this is coming up to almost 2 years ago. It's not a small amount of money so I guess it's a bridge I'll have to cross if I ever want to go back to the US and to be fair I can't see it as I've been to the US several time over the last 5 years.

So if you plan to pay don't do as I did and wait for a letter to come, be proactive and chase it up!

[Caulkhead]

GreigM said:

You have to look up the court here:
http://www.ca.gov/driving/lawssafety/trafficfines....

Is there an echo in here?

[nick francis]

Thanks for the advice. I emailed the court and they emailed me back the terms and conditions. I need to pay them $237 before the case and plead guilty.

No plans to go back there at present but given it took nearly an hour and a half to clear passport and immigration at LAX this last time I would dread to think of the hassle with my passport there in the future if I didnt pay up!

[GreigM]

I don't believe the immigration and local court systems are linked - i.e. a warrant issued for a parking ticket wouldn't get you stopped at immigration (yet!)....but IMO its not worth the risk for $237