I got this minor non-moving violation in a Pittsburgh the other day. It’s city/state I do not claim permanant residence in, and am not registered in as far as state and city license fees go.
The ticket itself mentions something of a citation to be issued if not paid within 10 days, but what exactly does that entail?
Something tells me I will pay it nonetheless just to keep the record clean, but what happens if I don’t? Does the traffic court have the desire and resources to go about tracking me down?
PA is a member of the States Driver’s License Compact and Non-Resident Drivers Compact. More info is available here. What does all this mean? Any fines and/or suspensions resulting from the ticket will affect your driving priveliges in your home state. As far as tracking you down, they don’t have too. One day out of the blue you may be pulled over and you will be arrested for driving on a suspended license (more $$$ out of your pocket) and will have to pay the ticket before you are released. Or you won’t be allowed to renew your license next time you try to renew it. I also frequent a legal advice board and one of the more common question pertains to driving priveliges being revoked for a ticket from another state. Pay the ticket or challenge the citation, don’t ignore it.
See my tale of woe, particularly my last post or two. In the good old days, one could feel relatively safe ingoring a ticket from a remote state. But not any more.
I would suggest paying it. I once got snagged by a dubious speed trap while driving through Mississippi. I thought the ticket was BS, and my general reaction was “I live on the other side of the country, I’ve never been to Mississippi before, and so help me god I never plan to come back to this benighted state anyway.” And so I threw it on a stack of papers and forgot about it.
Three months later a curt form letter arrived from my home state’s DMV stating that they had been informed of my ticket, and that unless I could provide proof of payment within 5 days they were going to suspend my license. Needless to say, it was quite a hassle to get sorted out on such short notice.
Here is the most recent info I can find on how all these various agreements, (which in 10 years they hope to combine into one drivers record for all states) affect out of state drivers now. And by the way, they don’t report non-suspension type offenses unless you don’t pay them.
