Posted on 06/07/2011 4:13:01 AM PDT by beachn4fun
I'm posting my situation on a thread in order to alert others to be on the look out of ways the government, especially the local government, may be ripping us off.
I believe we are being targeted as fools to pay for our politicians shortfalls. I live in Maryland, a very liberal state which taxes everything, and am seeing signs they are desperate to raise money instead of ways to cut spending.
Here is a situation I found myself in recently:
I received a "final notice" for speed monitoring violation from the town of Forest Heights PD (Maryland). However, I NEVER received prior notices. And, this incident apparently happened a year ago. On top of that the letter says Maryland MVA will impose a $40 "flagging fee." I received the notice from MVA yesterday.
So, not only did I have to pay the $40 ticket, I had to pay a $25 late fee and now $30 to MVA to unflag my vehicle.
This rings, loud and clear to me, as a SCAM!
How am I to prove that I never received the prior notices they claimed they sent? I mean anyone can put any date in the computer saying a ticket was mailed. I know I was in that area in May this year but a year ago? I'm lucky I remembered I was around that spot this May since I seldom go in that area.
Another thing, they give me 7 calendar days to pay this ticket/fine. The letter was dated May 18 (Wed). I received it on the 20th (Fri). The payment had to be sent to Philadelphia, PA. WTF??? 7 days to get the notice, write the check (they wanted to add another $3.50 to pay by credit card online - another part of the scam) and get it to PA?
Additionally, on the 23rd I called the number on the citation notice and told them that 7 calendar days was not enough time to get the payment in and credited to avoid the flag. The gal told me she was putting a temp hold on the record to allow time for the payment to get to PA. (I also complained that their system had major flaws, which she did not deny).
I put the check in the PO on the 21st. It got posted in my account on the 27th. Ok, that was one day after the MVA flag date. Why did it take this long to make it to PA and get posted? What happened to the "hold" the gal in the Town of Forest Heights claimed she put in my record?
This is a glaring example of the flaw in, not only the whole system, but especially in the speed cameras. It is becoming apparent that the MVA is becoming a monster similar to IRS.
I am now looking into what avenue I need to take to file a complaint about this situation. I will also be posting on facebook and hope that some news source picks up the mantle and does some research into how prevalent this has become.
So, my fellow Americans, be vigilant. Let our politicians know that we are not fools and we will not "go quietly into the night."
The next day the same charges, for the same amounts were ‘pending’ my checking account under the second store’s name. And the balance of those charges taken out of my account, even though they were ‘pending’ charges.
Debit card? When you use a paper check thee sorts of things never happen. You have the paper check as proof of payment.
(I have a problem with giving someone permission to go into my account and take money with me signing for each instance.)
Most all the cities in Texas are taking the red light cameras down or disabling them. BUT, not Austin and Round Rock. They are both installing them and will be turned on in mid summer. Those are nothing but revenue streams for the cities.
There is one on highway 79 in Hutto and I often go through that intersection. I’ve seen several rear end collisions there. If I see the light turn yellow, I will stop, especially it there is a FARM TRUCK license plates on the vehicle in front of me.
A couple of weeks ago we were on a toll road to save a bunch of time. There was a pickup from Kansas going down the road, and I know he did not have a TX Tag on his vehicle. It can be paid via mail with an additional 10%, but I don’t know if Texas will send a bill to another state.
Take it easy on DH. He’s still recuperating from his recent lobotomy.
No paper ticket. This notice had a picture online of my infracture. Similar to the redlight cameras.
And, as I said, never got ANY ticket just the “final notice.”
ROTFLOL
Similar thing happened to me. I made a deposit and the clerk at the bank transposed numbers. She typed in my account number for the deposit amount. I called the bank the next day, and they said that the clerk had caught the mistake when she cleared her day out at the end of her shift. I bet she was a surprised as I was. I kept that deposit ticket for many years showing that I once had 3/4 mil in my bank account, if only for a few hours!
one happy note to this saga...
I called the Town of Forest Heights again and asked what happened to the “hold” they were suppose to put on my record to allow time to get payment, etc. Guy looked up record and said it showed payment and that the flag had been removed and therefore I did not have to pay the MVA fee.
I wrote all this down on the MVA letter - just in case.
And when they took them down in Houston, accidents went down 16% !!
That explains why I can get a red light camera ticket for being 0.00001 seconds too late crossing, yet, nothing is done about the welfare larvae hood rats that vandalize neighborhoods around here.
Yet violent crime seems to never go down...only crap that generates revenue, like enforcing an arbitrarily determined number that says how fast you can drive.
Checks do provide more conclusive proof of payment.
However, since so many bounce these days, fewer places take them.
I think more accidents are caused by people knowing about the cameras, and then SLAMMING their brakes as soon as they see yellow, than by letting someone slide through when the light turns red as their rear bumper exits the intersection.
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