I got my last traffic ticket in 1985 for the headlight being burned out on my Vespa in Greensboro NC. Forgot all about it when I moved back to Oregon a couple weeks later. Then when I went to the DMV to renew my Oregon driver’s license in 2020 it showed up on the computer and they wouldn’t renew my license until I settled with NC. Had to hire a lawyer in NC to write a letter to the traffic court where the judge said WTF!(paraphrasing) a 35 year old ticket for a burned out headlight? Dismissed.
1 Like
Like I am going to jinx myself!!! 
Now the last time I got pulled over was a couple years ago for expired tags, oops, officer walked up to the passenger side window and immediately said well hello Mr Soandso (dad seemed to know everyone) how are you doing?? Then preceded to inform me that my tags were expired…
I got them the next day… no ticket issued…
Got a red light camera ticket a few months ago, wasn’t quick enough getting through the intersection before the yellow turned red.
Got a failure to stop for school bus ticket in 2016. I had just moved to Oregon from WA and was unaware that traffic stops on both sides of the street for a school bus.
Seat belt ticket a couple of years before that.
Handful of speeding tickets over the years but none in the last 10 years.
One of those things snagged me about 10 years ago.
We had a blackout in my area, and I drove in search of a place where I could get coffee. I wasn’t paying enough attention to the traffic light while looking around in an unfamilar town for my coffee stop, and–voila–I got the ticket in the mail a few weeks later.
I paid it because I had indeed gone past the red light, but w/in a couple of years those cameras were banned in NJ because some towns were shortening the amber/yellow light period in order to snag more offenders.
At least 30 years ago.
The last ticket was for speeding in my road licensed and insured race car before the '1995 season start. I was doing maybe 80+ on a lonely curve when I saw another car coming with a cop behind them. I laid on the brakes, the cop spun around and wrote me up for 15 over on a “visual”.
About 6 years later I got stopped for being nicely dressed while driving a new company car in a rough neighborhood. I had a little trouble answering “who owns this car” because the company leased them from a firm based in Atlanta, and I did not know that until I found the paperwork. But my company ID and the paperwork in the glove box convinced him the car was OK. Never was told why I was stopped. That was the last time.
Tickets lasting on the records for years and years seems unfair, as there are many reasons a paperwork error could have been made or just a bogus computer entry over a long time frame. Were I running things, I’d say either collect the fine within 3 years, or automatically void the ticket. BTW, Don’t count on this b/c I’m not running the show … lol …
Knock on wood, not in a couple of decades. probably just jinxed myself. LOL
Did get a couple of red-light camera tickets, but I was not in the car. my kids were driving my car at the time. Darn kids. 
I don’t know if this is true or not, but one of my neighbor’s claims to have rx’d 2 tickets for “not wearing a seatbelt”; in both cases he said he was moving the car a short distance from one store to another in the same parking lot.
It’s been about four years ago in Indianapolis. On our way to Ohio for Christmas and he got me for about 72 in an 8 lane 55. $175. I think I was actually going faster. Show up at the courthouse with cash only (on Sunday?) or pay on line for an extra fee. No checks. I put proof of payment in the glove box just in case their computers screwed up and they want to arrest me. Got a little upset because I had just put new tires on and was looking for a spot to pull over not filled with crap.
I don’t get many tickets now since I’m retired and don’t drive 3000 miles a month on two lane roads posted at 55.
hmmmm … this is yet another traffic court fee that seems unfair … If you can purchase a pair shoes in the shoe store down the street with your credit card w/no complaint or add’l fee, why can’t you pay a traffic fine with the credit card and no extra fee? At the very least it seems like there should be a way to purchase a traffic-court bond in anticipation of getting a ticket someday , keep it in your car, and pay your tickets fee-less w/that.
About 5-years ago, I received a ticket in the mail saying I was being fined $50 for running a Red Light. It said I was caught on a traffic cam… The wife was with me at the time and she said no way and I did not believe it either; that is until we watched the video… Darn, I sure did and it was not one of those RED LIGHT TRAPS where they shorten the Yellow time. The Yellow was there for a good 4-seconds. I paid the ticket…
And this is an an amusing excerpt from a posting I made in Aug 2021…
But what I did not tell you is that about a year after I started driving, I received several tickets for driving on “bald” tires. I did not have the money to buy new tires and back then, there were no businesses that sold or rented used tires. In retrospect, I do not know why I did not try to scrounge up old tires from a gas station or hit up a junk yard for tires…
I knew I had to get some tires before going to court to pay the fines because the county judge had a reputation of asking if the problem had been fixed and he would stop court and go outside and take a look. He did that to me a month previously when I was ticketed for “inadequate” exhaust. I had replaced the stock muffler with a “resonator,” which is a shorty muffler that can really give your car a much “beefier” sound. To my dismay, too beefy… I put the old muffler back on and sure enough, Judge Tepedino (who I appeared before about 10-times over 4 years…) did ask if I had fixed the muffler and was the car outside, I said I did fix it and we went outside. Because my '54 was like a “quiet purring kitten”, he fined me only $5.00.
Interesting side note to the muffler story; a couple of guys I knew also had been ticketed for various violations (speeding and no brake lights) were there and I stayed until they were seen so we could all go out later. Another guy also was ticketed for a bad muffler, when he was asked if he fixed the muffler, he kind of sneered, “Yeah…” When asked if the car was outside, he said no. Judge T. fined him $25 and when he asked why he was fined so much When the “other guy” (me…) was only fined $5.00, Judge T. said, “He fixed his muffler, I do not believe you did…”
I took my wife out to eat on Valentine’s Day. They had a notice pasted up that said sorry but an additional 4.5% will be charged for debit or credit card payments. I paid cash cash. I can somewhat understand because they get charged a couple percent for card transactions.
I had the same experience at the buying a part for a vacuum cleaner. The guy wanted a check instead of a debit card.
Not to mention that all card transactions can be tracked. Harder to do with cash unless using a self checkout. Gotta ask yourself, do you trust these people. I paid $80 to the gun smith with a debit card so we’ll see how that goes. Heirloom shotgun.
I’d have no problem with a traffic court charging an extra 4.5% tp compensate for the credit card company’s fee if you want to pay your traffic fine w/a credit card instead of cash or check. That would be more fair to the folks paying cash. I thought debit cards were treated the same as a check though, no add’l fee.
I guess the court folks would say if you don’t want to pay any fees, carry enough cash. But that would be unsafe, so they’d be placing you into a position where you have to choose between personal safety and fees.
Speeding ticket 38 years ago.
Mine was sometime early-mid 2000’s - you know, late for something or other re: kids and school. That obviously backfired. I think it was like 77 in a 65 or something or other.
That is, unless you count the automated PA “ticket” from a couple of years ago - where they’re “smart” enough to make the first one a “warning” with no fine due. Just sort of a “hey! we’re doing the automated thing, so don’t do it again, or you’ll pay.”
1 Like
Late 1970’s Speed limit 55, Trooper had me on radar @ 75 in followed me @90 Gave me a ticket for 75, I appealed due to a minor error on the ticket, magistrate called bull on me. Paid the fine but due to some snafu at the DOT I never got the points. May have had one parking ticket since then
Speeding ticket in a speed trap 20 years ago or so, a guy was passing me but I got pulled over, reduced to failure to obey a sign. Warning from a beautiful police lady. Taking the back roads on the 500 mile trip to the cabin with my cat. Didn’t you notice you were passing everyone? Are you in a hurry? No just on a 500 mile back road trip and not really paying attention. Maybe she liked cats! Think I had to mail a check,
I haven’t had a traffic ticket since my 20s, when it dawned on me there was no hurry.
Duh.
A few years ago, my town began accepting payments for water & sewer bills, and for property taxes, online. Great! Who wants to find out that their payment was lost in the mail, and then you get nailed with a late fee? (That did happen to me once)
Then, I looked at the details and credit card payments are billed with an extra 4.5% charge. Nope!
Luckily, they allow you to pay those bills with an e-check, with an added “convenience fee” of $1. It is convenient, my payment won’t be lost in the mail, and it isn’t that much more expensive than a postage stamp. So, that is what I now do.