Remember that ignoring traffic tickets can result in jail, even 10 year old traffic tickets. This woman from NY got a ticket when she was 17 and after years of renewing her driver’s license and living a normal life, she was stopped and thrown in jail for a night. She spend a night in jail for a no insurance ticket in 2002. During her traffic stop they found the old ticket and detained her till she could clear it with the court. Besides having a suspended license in PA, you can get these warrants for arrest if tickets are ignored.
“It was horrifying,” said Garcia, of Elmwood Park. “I sat in a holding cell for 14 hours with people who had gun charges, who were fighting each other.”
You need to remember that state computers are getting better every day, those old tickets won’t just go away on their own. The state will find you at some point and when they do, I guarantee it will happen at the most inconvenient time and place you can imagine. My clients have been telling me for years these stories of being stopped for something small, and the police seeing violations long forgotten. My client is then put to task over these old tickets, and at times, like the woman in the story, they arrest them and hold them until the tickets are resolved.
Krystle Garcia, 27, told NBC 4 New York that she has worked in New York City for six years and has driven into the city every day with no problems. Then, last Thursday, she was arrested at a checkpoint on the Upper East Side for an outstanding summons from 2002.
Garcia was 17 years old when she received the summons, issued because she did not have an insurance card with her while driving in New York state. Garcia said she has been able to renew her New Jersey driver’s license and her car’s registration without any issues.
Being arrested for an old ticket can be embarrassing, frightening, and confusing. You don’t want to be put in this position any time soon. If you think you may have an old ticket out there you should do some proactive research and try to get it resolved. It is usually easier to take care of these things on your own terms, rather than when you are facing a judge in handcuffs.
“I feel completely violated,” she said. “There’s got to be something they can do besides torture people.”
Services like LicenseRestoration.com can help research these old tickets and help prevent these horrifying situations. They will do the work to find out if there are any old tickets and may even be able to help you get them cleared much easier than you think.
