Paying a Speeding Ticket in New York State

[Sick Bird Rider]

For the new folks, we are from out of state, and even out of country.

OK, so Blue Toes has a bit of lead foot and got a speeding ticket along the I-95 in June, while en route to visit her mom in PA. The officer handed her this big printout and told her she could pay online (wrong). No indication of how much over or fine on the two page document printed in the cop car. She assumed that, like in any civilized country, there would be an e or snail mail follow-up so we could pay online. Wrong.

A couple of days ago, we receive a notice from the NYS Dept of Motor Vehicles reminding us of said infraction. Still no indication of the amount and no contact info for phone or online payment. I go online and find out that you can only pay a traffic ticket online if it happened in New York City!

Today, she calls and emails the NYSDMV and finds out that she can't pay online, can't pay over the phone and must pay in-person at the Brockton, NY courthouse at her earliest convenience. When asked if she could pay over the phone, she was told that the justice there was new and couldn't accept credit card payments, only a certified cheque or money order in USD. All because the justice was new and didn't have credit card payment set up yet (took office in January). Un-effing-believable in 2023! But, the operator assured her, we can still suspend your drivers license, even if you are from another country.

FFS, is this normal in a civilized country in 2023?

Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[Brownski]

Wasn’t there an option to plead guilty by mail? No credit card, no personal check is typical but I think if you plead guilty and put it in the mail, you would get back a letter with your fine and where to mail it. Then you get a money order and mail it back. Last time I got one, I went in person to plead it and paid in cash in person

 

[Sick Bird Rider]

Wasn’t there an option to plead guilty by mail? No credit card, no personal check is typical but I think if you plead guilty and put it in the mail, you would get back a letter with your fine and where to mail it. Then you get a money order and mail it back. Last time I got one, I went in person to plead it and paid in cash in person

Yes, there was but that seemed a little old-school. JFC, this the 23rd century. Here in the Hinterlands you can pretty much do all this stuff online, especially since COVID. You can even pay NT state thruway tolls online, why not speeding tickets?

 

[Sick Bird Rider]

And what about the poor speeders that live far away, in Japan, Germany, or Alaska? They are most likely saying eff It, I am not paying, too complicated, and NYS is missing out on that income. Those speeders don't GAF, they are never coming back. We are, so it matters.

 

[Brownski]

Well, you're right probably

 

[Milo Maltbie]

I actually know something about traffic court in NY.

First, I95 goes through the Bronx, not Brooklyn, so why is this in a Brooklyn court? Also, and not a lot of people know this, the Bronx and Brooklyn are actually part of NYC, so you should be able to pay that ticket on the same way as anywhere else in the city. IME NY courts only take credit cards at the first court appearance, and after that it's cash or certified check only.

Traffic court is totally a revenue scam in NY. The locality has to share the moving violation fines with the State, but they keep all the parking ticket money. They always plead first time speeders down to a parking ticket, and consequently everyone is always a first timer. The hard part is you have to appear in court (or send a lawyer).

OTOH for any out of state ticket, the best thing is to send back a guilty plea right away, and pay the fine. You're usually gonna need a teller's check to pay it. If you do that it never gets into any data base that the States share, so you never get points or insurance surcharges. If you've let it drag out until the DMV knows about it, you've probably screwed yourself.

mm

 

[Milo Maltbie]

And what about the poor speeders that live far away, in Japan, Germany, or Alaska? They are most likely saying eff It, I am not paying, too complicated, and NYS is missing out on that income. Those speeders don't GAF, they are never coming back. We are, so it matters.

You can ignore out of state parking tickets, but delinquent moving violations get into a national database. Better to pay those right away.

mm

 

[Brownski]

First, I95 goes through the Bronx, not Brooklyn, so why is this in a Brooklyn court

SBR said Brockton, which it turns out is in WNY, so I figure he meant I90 rather than 95. Wouldn’t really make much sense to go through NYC on a trip from Ontario to Pennsylvania
edit: also, speeding on the Cross Bronx is physically impossible most of the time.

 

[jasonwx]

https://transact2.dmv.ny.gov/pleadnpay/?_ga=2.155339387.1309662160.1666013798-305623246.1643723315

online payment and plead

 

[Peter Minde]

Fortunate that I haven't had a moving violation in a long time. PSA: there's consistent speed enforcement the Northway around Schroon Lake these days. Never used to be.