Speeding ticket
 

We were in Nevada last week & our friends received a speeding ticket, they were doing 86 in a 75 speed limit, we were behind them & doing the same as were a lot of other people but they were the only ones to get stopped, they were fined 300 dollars & have to pay within a month. Back home now in Europe friends have told them not to even think about paying as they don't live in the USA. I have to say that I received a ticket 10 years ago in Washington & I didn't pay it & I never heard anything agian but today with computers & all if they wanted to return to the states would they be stopped at the airport or should they just avoid Arizona.
Thanks for any help on this

Send a letter postmarked from Europe with a copy of the ticket. International tourists -- claim ignorance, kilometers vs. miles, etc. I'm guessing the state of Nevada will let it slide.

If you don't you always stand a chance that it will come back and haunt you the next time you are in the US.

That would suck if our government all of a sudden got organized and your friends were stopped the next time they enter the US.

Since you were also breaking the law, why not split the fine with them and send in the money like the good, law-abiding U.S. citizens that you are?

I am 100% with Gekko. It's not worth taking a chance, anymore, with the US being so persnickety about visitors. When we get tickets in the US (in Washington and Oregon, at least), we can write into the office listed on the ticket with an explanation of what happened. Read the back of the ticket, all the fine print, and see what you have to do. In WA and OR have to check the box on the ticket for pleading guilty, and attach our sorry explanation. A "mea culpa" is good, with comments about how good your driving record is, how you pride yourself with driving safely and and how you regret having been speeding and will be more careful. They usually knock down the fine at least in half, at least for first time offenders. (A tip for Oreganders, if you can take the time to go into the courthouse soon after getting the ticket it gets knocked down even more, and if you hold out to see a judge, it usually gets knocked down even more! This all takes time, though. A letter is faster.) Write in and see what happens. At the very least, I bet the fine will be significantly reduced.

If they got the ticket in Nevada,what happened in Arizona that they'd have to avoid that State? I'm amazed they didn't have to pay right then and there.

I see you are writing for your friends. Sorry for all the "you's" in there. I should have said "they," but I'm sure you figured that out.

Speeding tickets are just revenue enhancers for governments just like Red Light cameras. For instance, in Washington DC, accidents at intersections with Red Light cameras have essentially doubled. People are slamming on their brakes instead of risking a $ 75 ticket, resulting in many more rear enders.

Put sand in the governments gears. Have your European friends, in their own language, write STICK IT on the ticket and mail it back to the relevant address with no money. Or send Nevada Monopoly money.

While I don't think they would hunt your friends down across the Atlantic, but why do they or anyone else think they should not have to pay because they don't live in the US? They were still speeding, the were given a fine and so they should pay.

Furthermore, if they went down to the courthouse before they left the country they probably would have reduced the fine to half ($150.) or maybe they could have pleaded their case being "foreigners" and possible it would have been washed. But they did not, and so I think they should pay, besides we (Vegas) is trying to build new court buildings...j/k!!

US computer systems are woefully disconnected, but you never know when the Dept of Homeland Security will awaken from its slumber and connect them. So I'd pay the fine if I were your friends and planning to visit the US again soon, especially since they were speeding after all.

Your friends could claim they went back to Europe and went to "traffic school" as they call it in AL.

I wouldn't do what Shane suggested, but do write and "'splain" the situation and see if you can't get a reduction.
In London in the early 70's my pals and I got scads of parking tickets-when we went to pay before we left town, they waved us off with a "We like you Yanks too much to take your money!" Good luck.

Presume your friends were in a rental car. If so, that rental agency will have all pertinent information about these friends and it'll be difficult for them to rent again from the same company. The rental agency may even come after them if they don't pay.

There have been numerous threads on the other boards, Australia/New Zealand specifically, same subject, about Americans who have been sent camera tickets for speeding. The Americans did the right thing and paid these tickets. I would suggest your friends do likewise, as they were breaking the law.

I think they should just suck it up and pay the ticket.

I'm one of the ones on teh Australian/New Zealand board that got a ticket. I was caught on photo radar and wasnt' even aware of it till long after I got home.
But I was a good person and sent the money! At least I know if I ever go back to New Zealand , I won't have anything to worry about.

I was under the impression if one got a citation while driving a rental car that the fine amount would be sent to the rental car co., they would pay the fine and then consequently charge it against the rental car customers credit card that they would have on file. Am I wrong?

LoveItaly has it right, if your friends were driving a rental the state of Nevada will probably levy the fine against the rental car owner and they in turn will charge the renters credit card. It may take a fewmonths but it probably will be done. Have your friends pay the fine.

In 1986 I got a bogus speeding ticket on an Indian reservation. Big bright yellow license plates that said easy tourist money. I had a fit at the reservation police station but it appeared that they were used to it. I was no doubt not the first. (Later 60 minutes TV show had a story on Reservation corruption) I returned to Milwaukee and called the local cops to ask what to do about a bogus ticket from corrupt cop. The cop said just do not pay the ticket and do not drive in Arizona. I got something sent to me from them saying that I should send them my drivers license because I did not pay the ticket. I threw it away and never heard from them again.

A speeding ticket generally have nothing to do with the car the person was driving so the rental agency wont be at fault. Now if it was a parking ticket then that would go back to the rental agency if it's not payed.

Though $300 for a ticket is alot I think your friend deserves it... Driving recklessly on the roadways not only endanger himself, other motorist but also the police office who probably had to go over 95mph to catch up to him.

The computer systems in the States are not as disconnected as it may appear. I received a speeding ticket in Utah and it counted against me on my insurance for a car registered in California.