# How worried should we be about this traffic ticket? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 30, 2020, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-worried-should-we-be-about-this-traffic-ticket/913850 "2020-06-30T21:30:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2020, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-worried-should-we-be-about-this-traffic-ticket/913850/81 "2020-07-05T17:33:34Z")
If the notice is still coming in the erroneous name and going to the original address on the citation, it seems to me that they have not straightened out the clerical error - they are simply following up with the original erroneous information. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2020, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-worried-should-we-be-about-this-traffic-ticket/913850/82 "2020-07-06T21:11:11Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Wait, so you have to actually _pass_ a speed limit sign before that number applies? That’s really dumb: I always assumed it was, like your daughter, applicable once you could reasonably read it. (And that goes for when they get slower as well as faster.) I mean, when you see “SLOW: CHILDREN PLAYING” are you good to keep zooming along until you pass the sign? Obviously not–just doesn’t seem consistent if you ask me. No, **the speed limit takes effect at the sign** , so do not speed up until you have passed the sign. Similarly, if you’re in a 45 zone, and see a 35 sign ahead, you must be driving at 35 or less by the time you pass that sign. This is very consistent as it avoids any question of a driver’s visual acuity, and it is a national standard, as spelled out in excruciating detail in something called the [MUTCD](https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/index.htm), or Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. BTW, “Children Playing” is no longer a valid sign. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2020, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-worried-should-we-be-about-this-traffic-ticket/913850/83 "2020-07-06T21:49:09Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > BTW, “Children Playing” is no longer a valid sign. I would imagine the more important distinction would be that “Children Playing” (when it was valid), was a warning sign (yellow diamond), not a regulatory sign (white rectangle). It’s just a warning of a potential hazard that may be present in the general area of the sign, like “Deer Crossing” and “Farm Machinery”. The sign isn’t informing the driver of any actual regulation, so exactly where it takes effect is moot. “Speed Limit”, “Do Not Pass”, and the like are informing drivers of an actual law, and therefore marking the point at which they take effect. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2020, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-worried-should-we-be-about-this-traffic-ticket/913850/84 "2020-07-06T22:19:13Z")
Did they discontinue the Children Playing signs? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2020, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-worried-should-we-be-about-this-traffic-ticket/913850/85 "2020-07-06T22:22:30Z")
The better sign was “slow children at play” because of the possibility for misinterpretation. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2020, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-worried-should-we-be-about-this-traffic-ticket/913850/86 "2020-07-06T22:51:57Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Did they discontinue the Children Playing signs? Generally yes, because they didn’t really convey any useful additional information. Are you supposed to drive at a specific speed? Honk before passing the sign? If Maple Street has Children at Play signs, and Elm Drive does not, does that mean there are never children on Elm? You should always be driving carefully and in a residential area, you need to expect children to be well, children. ---
**Author:** ![drpepper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8baadc/32.png) [@drpepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drpepper)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2020, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-worried-should-we-be-about-this-traffic-ticket/913850/87 "2020-07-07T02:00:59Z")
I can’t offer any recommendations on what to do, only relate my anecdotal experience. Several years ago my spouse and I were driving on an interstate highway in a state adjacent to the one we lived in (where we often traveled). Got a (deserved) speeding ticket. Ignored it and didn’t pay it for years. But I did save the physical ticket. Approximately 15 years after the original ticket was issued, years after we had moved cities and counties, changed cars, changed license plates, etc., we got a collection letter in the mail from a law firm representing the jurisdiction trying to collect on the old ticket (also note that my spouse has a VERY common first and last name, comparable to ‘John Adams’. ). The letter “seemed” really scammy, however several things convinced me of its legitimacy: I googled “[law firm name], [jursidiction name], ticket, scam” and found out from a legit source that, sure enough, it was a legitimate law firm, and this law firm was contracted with the jurisdiction to collect on old tickets. Also on the letter, it literally had a citation number that matched that of the old ticket that I had saved. The additional collection fees were surprisingly minimal (like, the ticket was something like $125, and the fees were $60 or something, for a total of $185). I had heard enough horror stories about unpaid tickets to know that it was entirely possible (maybe not probable, but certainly a non-zero chance) that, if we were ever stopped in that state again, an unpaid ticket could certainly “show up” on some system and we could get hauled in, so I paid it. Maybe it was foolish or unnecessary; I forget what the implied “or else…” threat was in the letter, but at the time it felt like the prudent thing to do was pay up and clear the record. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2020, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-worried-should-we-be-about-this-traffic-ticket/913850/88 "2020-07-07T23:35:11Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I mean, when you see “SLOW: CHILDREN PLAYING” are you good to keep zooming… Some wag, Ogden Nash or his ilk, saw the sign: … CROSS … **CHILDREN** … WALK … and said it should be followed by the sign: … HAPPY … **CHILDREN** . . . RIDE . . . [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-worried-should-we-be-about-this-traffic-ticket/913850.md?page=4)