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Anatomy of A California Speeding Ticket Fine
On my way to Yosemite National Park a few weekends ago I was stopped by a friendly California Highway Patrolman on a two-lane road in the middle of nowhere. No, seriously. I’ve never run in to a CHiP that didn’t seem like a nice guy. He said he clocked me going fast(er than my speedometer was indicating!), even though I had started slowing down when I saw him on the horizon maybe a quarter mile or more down the road. Even the CHiP was surprised at how far away I had noticed him.
Most people assume because I drive a high horsepower car and do not own a radar detector that I get a lot of tickets. I don’t. I simply like to think that I do what is called smart speeding. Being in no position to argue and without speeding ticket since I was 17 years old I took the ticket without any fuss. So upon returning from a relaxing weekend, I set out on researching the intricacies of getting a speeding ticket in Merced County.
A brief google and some forum surfing revealed that the CHP is at the top of their game. Patrol cars are equipped with radars at the front and rear of the vehicles with the ability to track cars in traffic and going in either direction of the cruiser. My bigger concern was whether or not I was eligible for traffic school. The rule of thumb is that as long as you’re not going 25 or more over the speed limit, you will be eligible for traffic school. Do not try this in a School Zone, please. I also learned that judges have granted leniency up to 30mph over and that ultimately it is the judge who can reduce your “sentence” and fine.
Finally, I wanted to know what kind of damage I did to my wallet on my brief pre-Bonneville test session. This is where things get interesting and rather upsetting:
This information is buried on page 62 of the Uniform Bail and Penalty Schedule which can be found at the CA court info website. You should be able to google this juicy information for any state in the union. For California, the chart can be confusing. The 10/10 above means $10 for every $10. You would assume this means that at $10 for every $10 of a $35 base fine you might be assessed an additional penalty of $35. NO! The state rounds your 35 base fine up and 10/10 is charged on the rounded up amount. Does this seem wrong to anyone else?
Moving on, from the chart above you can see that I have a base fine, which I find reasonable in my case, a mere $70. After that the state charges a penalty amount at 100% of base, another $70. $140, still a reasonable fine. Then the county gets involved and charges 70% of base for a $49 fine. $189 is my total. So I have forked over a fine for my crime, a cut for the state and a cut for the county. You would think what I can be fined ends there. You would THINK.
Nope. The DNA Identification Fund (which has what to do with my speeding ticket?!?!) takes 2/10 of base. The Court Facility Construction penalty amount is $5 for every $10, even though I live 2 and a half hours away if not speeding and will be filing by mail. Penal Code Section 1465.7(a) requires a 20% (not 2 for 10) surcharge just for the hell of it. And finally, if the county you were caught in chooses they can levy 2/10 on an Emergency Medical Services penalty assessment. I think the articles contained in this paragraph are rather confusing so for our sake I will simply rename them the Bullsh*t Penalty Assessments (BPA). The BPA in my case is $77.
After all that there is a footnote that reads “A court security fee of $20 and a conviction assessment of $35 are charged in addition to the Total Bail for each offense”. Highway robbery, quite literally. Taking another $55 on top of a Bullsh*t Assessment certainly seems unusual to me and most would consider kicking a man while he is down pretty cruel. And while I’d certainly like to fight for my 8th Amendment rights, I fear retribution from the powers that be. Oh, the irony of democracy!
To set the record straight, I love America, even though all our car models get castrated before the manufacturers decide to sell them here. Despite the above example of government sponsored extortion, we do live in a free country and I am certainly thankful for that. So the moral of the story here is either take it to the track or pay to play.