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.

I think you should go dutch on the ticket with your friends seeing how you were speeding just as fast and had the ggod fortune not to be caught. I also think you should change your name to "Clarkcan'tdrive55". What would have happened if the shoe was on the other foot and you had received the ticket in their country?

Just like any other business, the police are gradually getting more and more sophisticated with their computer programs and tracking people.

What would happen if your friends came back into the US for a visit and got stopped AGAIN?

I assume, Clark, that you were following that age-old practice of "allowing" someone else to do the speeding for you or, as some of us who drive fast call them, the "point speeder."

I'm always amused at how people try to rationalize their speeding and their tickets: "it is only a revenue generator" is one of the most amusing. If you want to stop that particular revenue flow then stop speeding.

Of course, these same speed hounds who are telling you not to pay the ticket and "throw sand" into the govrenment machinery will be yelling and whining the loudest when "the cops don;t do their job."

I speed in my sports car all the time; and when I've been stopped for doing what I KNEW I was doing I paid.

Neither you nor your friends need any "advice" on this matter because you already know what should be done; just be glad the only "notice" involved in this incident didn't have the word "death' included.

If you choose to pay it, make sure you keep some sort of proof/receipt forever - sometimes paid tickets have a way of reappearing years later when any reasonable person would have long discarded the paperwork.

Voyager, I always call them a decoy! LOL!

I won't get into the debate about the justice of paying or not paying. (It's their conscience, not mine.)

But I agree with the poster who said they ticket is issued to the driver, not the vehicle. So I don't think the rental car co. is involved at all.

Also, I believe this is pretty much an in-state issue. If you have an unpaid ticket in, say, California, you'll have a problem only if stopped in California again. That's why the cops make you wait before they write the ticket. They're checking the state computer to see if you have any other violations.

Bottom line: If you're not going to drive in that state again, it's unlikely an unpaid ticket will come back to haunt you.

I know that NC/SC/VA/GA are reciprocal states so if you get a ticket in one, it shows up in all databases.

The ticket thing does go to your rental car company by the license plate. Don't know about Nevada but it happens in Florida all the time.

Clark-Your friends should just pay the ticket. $300 isn't that much for peace of mind, especially if they're ever planning on coming back to the States.

We were actually 3 cars & we were all following each other, we weren't overtaking everybody & we were only following the flow. I don't think he realised he was over the limit maybe bcoz we're used to driving faster here in Europe, in fact we didn't think we were over the limit either but we must have been bcoz we were following him & our other frinds were following us. After the fine everbody was obviously keeping to the limit & everybody was passing us.

Moving violation shows up in every state DMV computers.

About 10 years ago I got a $10 parking ticket in Charleston, SC. I tossed the ticket, but a few months later, the rental car company came after me because they had to pay the ticket plus late fees. Ended up costing me $20 when it was all said and done.

I'm thinking they can go after your credit card to pay the fine. I'm sure it's there somewhere in the fine print on your rental agreement. ((b))

"We were only following the flow" is an excuse that simply doesn't hold water--try it in court sometime, I dare you!. The ones who didn't get pulled over were lucky; the cops can't pull over an entire pack of cars; and pulling over just one driver had the desired effect on the rest, at least for a while.

I can't imagine the situation is any different in Europe, although when I lived there, I never got a ticket and so remain unfamiliar with the procedures.

The fact that most drivers speed doesn't mean we're all entitled to do so; it means those who do assume the risks of speeding, one of which is a ticket. (I won't go into the dangers of doing 86mph in an unfamiliar car on an unfamiliar road in a foreign country.)

Do what you like, but be an adult about it and accept responsibility, both for the speeding and the consequences of not paying the ticket, if that's what your friends decide to do.

The rental car company will get the fine notification and they will charge your friend's credit card for it, plus any penalties/late charges. (Do you honestly think that rental car companies don't have policies to handle these things?)

This happened to a houseguest of ours. Since he listed our address as a local contact on his rental contract, the mail came to us. That's how we found out that they were planning to charge his credit card.

lvk - We're talking about a moving violation, and not a camera job either. The rental company has nothing to do with this thing, unlike a parking ticket. Huge difference between the two situation.

rkkwan, the police officer wrote the license plate number of the car on the speeding ticket. The plate number of course is tied to the rental agency who can easily find out who rented that car during that time, charge the cc on file.

Doesn't the cop ALWAYS ask for "License and Registration, please"? (I've only heard....of course I don't have first hand experience in these things.) :)

The registration would show that the car was registered to the Rental Agency.

I find it hard to believe that either the governmental agencies and/or the rental car agencies would just "give up" on all this revenue/reimbursement from international tourists.

The ticket is a violation by the driver, not the automobile. There's no way a speeding ticket can be enforced against the owner of the car. Parking ticket yes, speeding ticket no.

I seem to remember a thread a while back about Rental agencies refusing cars to people who had any record of violations. Some folks showed up at the counter and the agent informed them that since they had a violation (even in a different state) that they would not be able to have a car.

Like others have said, if you do the crime, pay the fine. If not, be prepared for other consequences and significantly higher costs to clear it later.

I guess we could debate this all day -- and probably will -- but I don't understand why the rental agency is on the hook for the ticket.

If I let you borrow my car and you get a ticket for a moving violation, it's on you, not me. There is no law, at least not in this state, that requires to owner to pay for another's moving violation, except if the violation is only recorded via camera.

As for the cops asking for license and registration, that's just to verify that the vehicle hasn't been reported stolen and that there's a valid registration.

And I have never heard of a rental agency rejecting someone because the person had an unpaid moving violation.

However, I do have a friend who manages a rental agency, and I will ask him about it.

That is ridiculious $300 bucks for 10 miles an hour over the speed limit! Got nailed in Idaho when I was out there and it was only 50 bucks. That is what the fine should have been, not 300.