Legal Question in Traffic Law in California

Traffic Law Question. I recently received two "fix-it ticket" citations, one for no front plate and one for a broken headlight. Through a series of excuses no one cares about and my own stupidity, i failed to appear in court and have the tickets signs off as corrected by the due date. As a result, i was stuck with two FTA's and each fine jumped from $25 to $831 ($1662 for both), and a subsequent hold has been placed on my driver's license. Apart from the obvious that over $1600 seems like a lot for 2 fix it tickets, it is my understanding that FTA's result in a civil assessment fine of up to $300 (CA penal code 1214.1). Adding a $300 fine to each ticket should result in a fine of $325 per ticket. I know there may be other court and state fees, but I sincerely doubt that any arbitrary court fees add up to an additional $506 per ticket. Is it possible that some sort of error was made, or more importantly, is there any way of lowering the total cost of the tickets from $1662? And if i do have to pay the full 1600, is there any way of reinstating my driver's license with a partial payment/installments? It would be quite some time before i save up that much to pay these of, and i simply can't work to pay these off without a DL. Both tickets were issued in Los Angeles, CA (same courthouse), and both tickets have since gone to collection. Any advice/input/thoughts (other than i was an idiot for letting it get this far) would be greatly appreciated. Thank You


Asked on 2/23/11, 1:24 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
James Goff James R. Goff, Attorney at Law

Failures to appear are serious offenses unrelated to the underlying traffic violations. You should immediately retain an attorney to represent you or the public defender if you are unable to pay since there is a possibility of jail time for the FTAs. Your attorney should be able to negotiate some kind of plea that can avoid jail and a substantial fine. Normally, traffic violations or fines can be paid over time with the court's agreement. But the longer you avoid the consequences of your actions the more difficult the solution will become.

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Answered on 2/26/11, 3:40 pm


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