Calif. poised to change traffic ticket payments
By Christopher Cadelago, Sacramento Bee
California court officials plan to let those with traffic tickets across the state appear in court without paying up front.
The new rule, expected to win approval from the state Judicial Council at a special telephone meeting Monday, is viewed by policymakers as a preliminary move in a broader effort to expand access to the court system.
It was spearheaded by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who pushed for the change on an urgency basis in response to concerns about disparities in how courts notify defendants and handle bail when someone challenges a citation in court.
While many counties, including Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles, generally do not require payment to contest a ticket, some do. Marin County, for example, tells motorists they must post the full bail, considered a guarantee of appearance, before a trial date will be set. El Dorado County requires motorists to first post bail, according to its website. If found not guilty, motorists are refunded the amount in four to six weeks.
That is already in place. If you request a jury trial for a traffic misdemeanor you do not have to pay ahead of time. I have done this several times in Markleeville and have won all the cases. I even got a precedent set for allegedly crossing a solid yellow line when passing.
Just to satisfy my own curiosity, who was the judge (or judges)?
I had to go back three times and there was actually video that in the end backed up my case. I was pulled over for crossing a solid yellow line while passing but I only crossed it by less than three feet when coming back into the lane. I did this twice right in front of the CHP. The citation stated I crossed the line while starting my pass which I did not. It states in the code that you cannot do that but nowhere in the code does it state the distance needed when you come back into the lane. It helped also that I went back and took photos of the area and the lines were blurred. Judge Kolpackoff ruled in my favor based on the lack of justification and what was not stated in the VC. I was on my motorcycle with my wife. Now that there is a precedent set you could actually beat this anywhere in Ca. btw, is there Taco Tuesday at Jethro’s again?