Triumphrat

Stagger Lee · 08-14-2007, 11:41 PM

Ok guys I am at the start of planning a 3 week tour of the USA. Some recent posts concerning traffic offences over there in America had me wondering ...

If you get a speed ticket how soon do you have to pay it? does it differ state by state?

If you leave the country before the fine was to be paid does the bike hire place get the ticket/ chase you down?

If the police know that you are about to leave the country in a few days can they arrest you until the fine is paid?

Tbirdnz · 08-14-2007, 11:55 PM

I'm not really qualified to answer this Staggers but my 2 cents worth, I have a friend who didn't bother paying a speeding ticket in California when he was on a visit, the next time he fronted up about a year later they stopped him at entry point in immigration.

Not for the speeding ticket but because he was an overstayer, seemingly at the time of exit from the US the airlines pick up an immigration tab which is left in your passport and hand it in, they failed to collect it and he had a hell of a job trying to explain he was trying to get into the country and not out.

So in his case he got away with the speeding ticket.

In the UK I was on a visit and drove from the south of England to Scotland, pretty fast, I knew I was over the speed limit for most of the journey keeping an eye out for cops, never saw one of them. However I was told in Scotland that all those boxes on top of poles equally spaced out along the motorway were speed cameras. The car hire company advised me they had 26 tickets in the space of 6 hours assigned to the car. Never heard anything more about that either.

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Ride on !

Pauley · 08-15-2007, 05:02 AM

Just my two cents worth. Unless there is bodily harm involved I wouldn't be too concerned. You could probably get away with blowing it off if it's something petty - but own up to it if someone gets hurt or dies.

Most places won't extradite out of state for a traffic warrant. If you are in violation of a local ordinance (town law) you may get a warrant or it may go to a collections agency depending on what it is and where it happened.

But, I would just mail in the fine and not worry about it if I were you. Fines and all that vary depending on what state you are in.

If you blow it off, it may bite you in the rear the next time you visit that area in the future.

I remember I had a guy who was raised here. When he was 17 he got a speeding ticket that he never paid. He went away to college and started a family and all in another state. When he was about 40 he was back on a visit and he was involved in a car accident. The police arrived and checked everything - they had to arrest him because of a valid 23 year old warrant. He paid his bond and went to court and the judge tossed the case because the officer had long retired and it was an old, old case.

I worked with another guy who got a speeding ticket in Italy. Since then he got out of the service and became a policeman in 1968, he retired a few years ago and he never paid that ticket and he has no plans on it either.

AceT100 · 08-15-2007, 05:47 AM

Some states will collect fines on the spot (Nevada I seem to recall from a friend who got pulled doing over 100 on the way to Vegas).

On the one occasion I was stopped here

: , I handed the cop my English license (I have a California one too). Cop kinda looked at it a bit funny & said....where you from?

England, I told him.

Here on vacation? He says....

Why yes Officer, is there a problem? I say

Ummm....errrr...just keep an eye on your speed Sir he says

RESULT!!

:

bovefrankj · 08-15-2007, 06:15 AM

These days most European car hire companies insist on payment by credit card. Any fines accrued are charged to your card. The same applied when I hired a car in Australia a couple of years ago. Always read the small print.

LoVel · 08-15-2007, 01:03 PM

Since most places in the U.S. do not have camera tickets the car owner being liable is not an issue. If you don't plan to go back to the same place again you would be safe in ignoring the ticket. If you just want to be honest there should be a number on the ticket you can call for the fine amount. Then you can mail the payment in at your leisure.

trypcil · 08-15-2007, 01:12 PM

Cameras will be going up all over the states in the next decade, whether we like it or not - that is the future. If ticketed while on holiday and you leave the country, you then return a couple of years later they will have a record of it - if you are stopped again, they will cross reference your name and license # - there is no escape, you will have to pay, no escape unless you never return.

Tbirdnz · 08-15-2007, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trypcil

Cameras will be going up all over the states in the next decade, whether we like it or not - that is the future. If ticketed while on holiday and you leave the country, you then return a couple of years later they will have a record of it - if you are stopped again, they will cross reference your name and license # - there is no escape, you will have to pay, no escape unless you never return.

Ah yes computers, marvellous things (in some cases).

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Ride on !

decobike · 08-15-2007, 06:01 PM

Pauley's comments are solid. In addition in simple speeding citations the issuing officer will probably be able to answer your questions. Law enforcement behavior varies all over. For example in Iowa I pretty much never go more than 5 over. In Minnesota on I35 the limit is posted at 70 and I have yet to figure out the upper limit of what they will allow. Be polite, ask serious questions if you have them. And I do believe small towns generate revenue on out of town traffic. I have been pulled over on numerous occasions in different states (north and south, the south gets a bad rap in movies, I think unfairly) for speed issues and every time the officer has been polite and courteous. Law enforcement officers are professional as a rule IMO.

Stagger Lee · 08-15-2007, 10:29 PM

No intention of running from the scene of an accident, that is a low act, and I have no intention of intentionaly sticking my finger up at the road laws in the USA. I will be just cruising around at the same speed everyone else is doing but **** happens and I just dont need the police asking for a toll.

:

Down here they can take your licence away from you on the spot for breaking some rules - for example on a road with normally a 100km/h limit, during school start and finish hours the limit changes to 40km/h and just being slightly careless or unaware of the exact time BANG they take your licence away for being 60 over the limit - Can they take your licence away in the USA?