Posted on 09/10/2014 8:11:27 PM PDT by dennisw
In Washington, D.C., where issuing traffic citations is a $179 million-a-year business, drivers get speeding tickets for violations they don’t commit and for vehicles they’ve never owned.
Those are among the findings in a 115-page audit of the three city agencies that issued nearly 2.5 million parking and traffic tickets in fiscal 2013, according to a withering report issued Monday by the D.C. inspector general.
The report portrays the District as the Wild West of traffic enforcement when compared with neighboring jurisdictions and the states, with a shortage of regulations, a legion of ticket writers often confused about the rules, “arbitrary” decision-making about who gets some speed-camera tickets and parking-meter monitors who get called on the carpet if they don’t write enough tickets.
The report will be closely read by anyone who has ever felt aggrieved about receiving a D.C. traffic or parking citation, and there will be many an exclamation of “I told you so.”
The comment of a certain “senior District official,” who is granted anonymity in the report, figures to be widely shared in conversation and on social media: “One of the beauties of parking, it’s like the [Internal Revenue Service]. If you get a parking ticket, you are guilty until you have proven yourself in nocent . . . . And that’s worked well for us.”
Two of the report’s most revealing details focus on the use of automated speed cameras and how tickets are handled when vehicle registration documents show a license plate and the car it’s attached to don’t match.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
They want yo money$$$$
Ping.
these people are just tyrants. they laugh about what they do to citizens.
they’ve proven they can’t even be trusted with the little power they’ve been given. they will use whatever power they would have in any capacity to screw others with.
they can’t be put in charge of anything. they’d have to be a solo janitor somewhere that couldn’t determine their own schedule, couldn’t have any amount of power or they’d automatically abuse it.
DC government is worthy of 3rd world status.
My dad got confused driving near the capital building in Washington and ended up driving down a one way street the wrong way. When the police stopped and found out he was a tourist and rally lost, they didn’t give him a ticket. The locals will drive down streets the wrong way as short cuts.
But this was back when a republic was in the white house.
If you want something to get angry about look into what people with diplomatic plates do in the area.
It’s a predominately minority police force Will Eric holder and black lawyer groups subpoena records?
Just last week I received a ticket in the mail from Fort Lauderdale, Florida saying I’d run a red light in a vehicle I do not nor ever have owned.
Also it’s been about 5 years since I had the displeasure of going to the city.
I called and some gub mint dumbass looked it up in a computer and told me I was correct, I did not own a lincoln and never have.
He voided the ticket/.
How many folks just pay the fine?
This ha been going on for last 50 yrs at least- happened to my father in the 80’s, got a moving violation from NOLA. I do not recall how he resolved issue- but do know he never paid the aholes.
They are betting that most will pay with questioning, althugh thhese days most people probably would question with cash being as tight as it is.
I can think of better way to run the scam- but why give the govt aholes a leg up. They are so one dimensional when trying to screw the citizens.
” screw the citizens”, They will.
Hi, I’m from the gub mint and I’m here to help!
We’re not happy til you’re uhappy.
Everyone that lives in DC knows that extra parking tickets are just another unwritten tax. They placed the tricky meters in business districts and issue tickets early, I witnessed this myself. They place the “speed cameras” on commuter routes to get the people coming into the district for work, it’s an unwritten commuter tax. This is why we avoid going into the district and if we do, I park in a garage and follow the cabbies because they know where the cameras are.
There has been an uprising over the past few years because locals have been caught in the net and they say they can’t afford the tickets. It was okay when others were paying but not for them.
I was a Program Manager with a contract that had my office in downtown DC on K Street and there was motorcycle parking right across the street in view of my office. Three of us commuted year-round on our motorcycles because it was faster and the parking was much cheaper.
Anyway, one day I was in my office with one of the men who had his bike parked next to mine. We had arrived at about the same time and we had over an hour left on our meters but we viewed a morbidly obese parking maid writing a ticket while standing next to our bikes. My coworker ran down and showed her but she told him if he did not back off she was going to call a real cop and have him arrested, so he ended up with a bogus parking ticket. They are just extra taxes, especially on the commuters and workers.
Laughing - so true
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.