Parking tickets

[phaedras.livejournal.com]

I was wondering:

I got slammed twice after moving here. One for parking on a residents-only street and one for being in the way of the street-sweeper. However, I'm selling the car in a week or two. BEsides that, the car has Florida plates on it.

Now if I'm selling the car anyway and my next car will be having new Mass. plates, would they be able to find me if I decide not to pay the ridiculous $90 for these tickets? How would they know who I am? Since I'm going to have a whole different car...

Comments

[cosinezero.livejournal.com]

because your registration is linked to your license which is linked to your social...

yeah, they can get you if they want.

You may not be able to get a registration in MA without paying all your MA tickets.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

I'd think they will eventually catch up with you, maybe sooner than you think. I can't exactly explain how, but surely they will look up your Florida driving record before issuing you a new license? Or maybe you have that already.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Depends on whether FL returns driver info for parking tickets or not. A lot of states don't, because it's not a moving violation. Hell, trading of information for moving violations isn't universal among states.

[mrpet.livejournal.com]

You may not be able to get a registration in MA without paying all your MA tickets.

Change that to will not be able. Once they get your info from FL they will lock your registration in MA. Since MA allows you to go to any RMV to register your car, all of the registries have access to that database. It's possible that you can sneak through on this registration cycle but they will have updated the database by next time, only with fines added.

[cutieperson]

yup. and once they get through a couple cycles of added fines they suspend your license. it's $100 to get it reinstated, plus the fines are generally double the original tickets.

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

Do not screw with the RMV. Your $90 ticket can turn into hundreds of dollars, a frozen registration, and an unrenewable license. It might not happen now, but eventually the state databases will be joined and you will be much poorer.

[phaedras.livejournal.com]

Well, Florida is pretty poor when it comes to sharing data. A ticket I got in Georgia (next door) that would have put a point or two onto my record never showed up when I switched insurances and they pulled my driver data.

But yeah, you're all probably right in that it doesn't pay to mess with man (at least this particular one). Thanks for the info.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

Points are one thing, municipalities getting the cash they want is another thing entirely.

[cosinezero.livejournal.com]

That's because insurance companies don't search moving violations nationwide. They only search moving violations for the state you're insuring in. Sometimes they widen this to other states - common in new england for mass to include RI and conn... but the reason that didn't show up has -nothing- to do with the RMV data; has everything to do with the insurance company's data search.

(i know this 'cause my mom's an insurance agent, and I've dealt with a lot of this first hand on my own...)

[komos.livejournal.com]

Florida has a pretty good reciprocity relationship with MA when it comes to revenue of all types.

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

You committed the infractions.

Pay for them.

Simple as that.

[phaedras.livejournal.com]

Well, good for you that you're on such moral high ground.

However, I don't agree with filling the holes in your budget by busting drivers because you assume that because they have a car, they can afford to throw money out of the window. A few feet of pavement not swept costing $50? I've seen the vehicles they use leisurely swerve around illegaly parked cars. It's not like they're stopping for an hour documenting the whole scene.

Now it's nice that you're such a great citizen but how about you keep you're entirely useless comments to yourself (which, by the way, have nothing to do with the question I'm asking) and find somewhere else bug people.

[carmesi.livejournal.com]

can't you appeal them? i've heard of people going to municipal court to dispute tickets.

[carmesi.livejournal.com]

i meant people have done that in my hometown, not in somerville. but it seems like a standard thing.

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

I want to make a snarky remark back, but I won't.

I don't want to fight.

Have a good day, and I hope you work things out.

amodestproposal

[komos.livejournal.com]

As long as you're intent on stickin' it to the man, you may as well go full bore... fake your death and get a whole new identity before purchasing a new car.

Re: amodestproposal

[phaedras.livejournal.com]

See, THERE we go. Classy maneuver, tell me more...

:-D

[komos.livejournal.com]

First off, you'll need a llama...

[amethystmoon.livejournal.com]

So, to start, the city or town legislatures generally set parking fees. And it's not a matter of assuming you can afford it. In fact, the whole point is they hope it's a hefty enough fine to make you think twice about doing it again. They fine you for parking in the way of street sweeping because dirty roads is something voters complain about. They don't raise the fees to fill budgetary gaps, they raise them when people aren't being detered from being in the way of getting things done.

And speaking as someone with a resident's parking permit in Medford, where your permit isn't even per-town, but per-street, it's really bloody annoying to circle 3 times and park 5 blocks away in the nearest place where it's legal to do so, because there are numerous cars on my street abusing visitor's passes or simply parking without any permit at all. So, again, this isn't charging you a fee because they can, it's trying to deter you from doing something that their voters complain about.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Actually, I agree for the most part. It's one thing to make a mistake when you've just moved, though, and another if you know the rules and just willfully ignore them. I asked nicely at the traffic office when I first moved to town and had $90 of tickets thrown out. Appealing is a possibility, and one that makes you look better than subterfuge.

[lena-a-mermaid.livejournal.com]

Don't be nasty to the person who suggested you should pay the tickets. You did park illegally. If you feel you were unjustly ticketed or that it is morally wrong for the city to ticket you then either fight the ticket or commit some public act of civil disobedience. Or register to vote and vote against all incumbent politicians who agreed with or caused the raising of the parking ticket fees from the Alderman, the Mayor all the way up to the Governor and the President. Don't dis the person who suggested that you do the legally correct thing. We don't need that in this community. The reality is that if you don't pay the tickets it will catch up with you eventually and it will cost you a lot more than $90. Penny wise Pound foolish. Welcome to the neighborhood. Play nice.

[phaedras.livejournal.com]

What you're suggesting is ridiculous. I'm sure you know that isn't a real solution. Anyway, my question was: "How do I not pay an amount equal to groceries for a month for an infraction that harmed noone within a month or two of moving across the country to a whole region of the country I have never lived in before."

There's no reason to get all high and mighty about this. I pay taxes, recycle, vote, open doors for people, whatever. I don't need people to get on my case for asking a simple question that shouldn't be as controversial as you are making it seem to be. I also play "nice" without anyone having to tell me to.

I like it here. I'm staying, and I seriously don't think that anyone I know or will come to know in this town is going wish I wasn't.

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

You just moved to the area. You're sorry about breaking the laws and it won't happen again. Your new car will be properly registered, and you'll have a resident sticker on it like you're supposed to.

Tell that to the clerk at the parking office and you might be able to get the tickets voided.

[lissie930.livejournal.com]

It certainly can't hurt to go talk to them or call them up. They waived a ticket for me because I hadn't read my visitor's pass clearly (there's a limit to how long you can use it). I even was cranky when I called them because I thought I was in the right, and the guy was very nice (though totally called me on being a pill!).

[four-thorns.livejournal.com]

it's not ridiculous. you're getting this reaction from people because parking tickets are a fact of life in boston. pretty much everybody at some point or another has got caught forgetting about a snow emergency, or street sweeping, or whatnot, and gotten ticketed. you just have to deal with it like everybody else does. if you think this is unfair because you just moved here and are trying to get used to it, then appeal the tickets.

and in the future, sign up for bostonsweeper so you don't forget:
http://bostonsweeper.boston.com/

[four-thorns.livejournal.com]

saying that something is a "fact of life" means that it is "something unavoidable that must be faced or dealt with".

it is not a comment on the rightness, justness, goodness, or badness of said fact. nobody is saying they are happy about parking tickets; just that they exist here, and are something that has to be dealt with as such. there are a lot of great things about boston, but this is one of its downsides. you learn to take the good with the bad. for example, i live in tucson right now. while it's terrific that in tucson i can drive anywhere and never worry about finding parking or being ticketed, i really miss being able to walk places or take public transit like i could in boston.

in regards to your question, i doubt that voting will get you anywhere, seeing as tickets are a major source of revenue for the city, but consider that boston has one of the best public transit systems in the nation; do you really need a car? and how often do you need it? you might want to consider getting a zipcar account instead:
http://www.zipcar.com/how/