Calgary drivers with unpaid traffic tickets beware: The province is coming after your income tax refunds, wages and bank savings.
The provincial government expanded to Calgary this year its crackdown on overdue fines, targeting speeders, red-light runners and others who break traffic safety laws and refuse to pay.
Of the $18 million in uncollected violations on Alberta's hit list, about $10 million stems from nearly 60,000 delinquent traffic tickets issued in this city -- money that should, for the most part, be flowing to the municipality.
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The oldest overdue traffic ticket being pursued is nearly a decade old, Dear said, while the most unpaid fines attributed to a single driver numbers 64, worth about $12,000.
I read the article this morning, how does one not pay. Isnt a bench warrant issued if you dont pay the fine?
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I read the article this morning, how does one not pay. Isnt a bench warrant issued if you dont pay the fine?
Only for part 2 summons tickets (ie. drive without insurance, hit and run, etc.) Most moving violations will just get a late penalty charge and sit on your drivers licence/car registration.
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Originally Posted by Ironhorse
So much for the theory that you couldn't renew your registration or drivers licence if you had any outstanding traffic tickets...
Only for part 2 summons tickets (ie. drive without insurance, hit and run, etc.) Most moving violations will just get a late penalty charge and sit on your drivers licence/car registration.
You can't.
I thought for sure the 2 photo radar tickets I got durring Stampede mentioned bench warrants if you fail to pay and fail to show up for court.
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I thought for sure the 2 photo radar tickets I got durring Stampede mentioned bench warrants if you fail to pay and fail to show up for court.
I haven't read a ticket recently, but it may mention on it as an option, but it definitely doesn't happen. And I can promise you it would never happen on a photo radar ticket since they can't even prove who was driving.
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So the question remains: if (as several CP posters have confirmed) you cannot do any business at the DMV if you have outstanding tickets, how are some of these outstanding fines 10 years old? Seems they should be no more than 5, considering that's how long a drivers license is valid for. Or are these all "out of province" type fines?
My registration and my wife's obviously are up on the 31st. We both owe over $550 in fines...this is gonna' be a crappy new years because we can't get new registration without paying them. Not sure how others have avoided, other than maybe not getting new stickers I suppose.
And yes, I know, 3 of those are mine...I need to learn to speed less...
So the question remains: if (as several CP posters have confirmed) you cannot do any business at the DMV if you have outstanding tickets, how are some of these outstanding fines 10 years old? Seems they should be no more than 5, considering that's how long a drivers license is valid for. Or are these all "out of province" type fines?
shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.... i've been lucky so far!!
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So the question remains: if (as several CP posters have confirmed) you cannot do any business at the DMV if you have outstanding tickets, how are some of these outstanding fines 10 years old? Seems they should be no more than 5, considering that's how long a drivers license is valid for. Or are these all "out of province" type fines?
It can be a vicious circle...you could rack up a bunch of fines, not pay them, and than goto BC and get a DL. Or just don't renew your alberta licence which is quite common too.
So the question remains: if (as several CP posters have confirmed) you cannot do any business at the DMV if you have outstanding tickets, how are some of these outstanding fines 10 years old? Seems they should be no more than 5, considering that's how long a drivers license is valid for. Or are these all "out of province" type fines?
Some might be 10 years old, but I'm willing to bet almost all are about a year old. $10 million in fines is nothing to be given out in a year.
I know of a couple people who have so much money in fines they just stopped driving untill they can afford to pay the fines.
The people with fines overdue more than a year probably stopped driving or are driving illegally.
Some might be 10 years old, but I'm willing to bet almost all are about a year old. $10 million in fines is nothing to be given out in a year.
I know of a couple people who have so much money in fines they just stopped driving untill they can afford to pay the fines.
The people with fines overdue more than a year probably stopped driving or are driving illegally.
From the article:
Quote:
Nearly 751,000 unpaid traffic fines were on the books earlier this month, worth roughly $121 million. Eighty per cent of tickets are usually paid voluntarily, while another 15 per cent of violators pay within a year, Dear said.
So I would presume that 10 million is past the 1 year mark atleast.
Some might be 10 years old, but I'm willing to bet almost all are about a year old. $10 million in fines is nothing to be given out in a year.
I know of a couple people who have so much money in fines they just stopped driving untill they can afford to pay the fines.
The people with fines overdue more than a year probably stopped driving or are driving illegally.
Yah, the thing I've learned with media stories is that, it doesn't matter if it's 1 ticket that's 10 years old, or thousands tickets, they'll still write it like there are a ton of these types of tickets. It's part of their formula to sensationalize something as much as possible without actually lying about anything.
For all we know, there could only be a few that are that old, and it's not unreasonable to think these are for out of province or out of country people, or for people who simply didn't renew their license.
Edit: Hmm, I guess it would have helped if I actually read the article before writing this. So nevermind what I wrote above, I kind of jumped the gun there.
Last edited by The Yen Man; 12-30-2010 at 01:36 PM.
I thought for sure the 2 photo radar tickets I got durring Stampede mentioned bench warrants if you fail to pay and fail to show up for court.
I don't think a bench warrant would ever actually be issued for a photo speed/red light enforcment infraction as there can be no way of guaranteeing the offending party ever recieved the ticket in the first place (wrong address, Canada Post error, etc...) let alone who actually committed the offence.
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I should have made my OP a little more clear...this 18 million province wide that the province is going to collect is through garnishing wages, taking tax returns, etc. Not the entire amount that is owed.
Calgarians owe $10 million in unpaid traffic fines
