{"id":2854,"date":"2024-12-19T12:14:22","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T17:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.law.temple.edu\/lppp\/?p=2854"},"modified":"2024-12-19T12:14:25","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T17:14:25","slug":"traffic-ticket-trap-its-time-to-take-the-junk-out-of-the-trunk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.law.temple.edu\/lppp\/traffic-ticket-trap-its-time-to-take-the-junk-out-of-the-trunk\/","title":{"rendered":"Traffic Ticket Trap: It\u2019s Time to Take the \u201cJunk\u201d Out of the Trunk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dr. Lynsey A. Madison, JD Anticipated May 2027, Law & Public Policy Scholar<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taylor Swift is a lot of things to a lot of people. To consumers tired of hidden fees raising prices at checkout, she\u2019s their knight in a sparkling leotard. What started as frustrations for \u201cSwifties\u201d trying to buy tickets to her concerts has turned into a bipartisan referendum on so called \u201cjunk fees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What exactly are junk fees<\/a>? Junk fees are extra and often unexpected fees consumers across industries pay. As the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina M. Khan<\/a> put it, \u201cthese junk fees now cost Americans tens of billions of dollars per year \u2013 money that corporations are extracting from working families just because they can.\u201d The FTC has proposed a rule<\/a> that would require businesses to disclose the nature of the fees and all mandatory fees when quoting prices to consumers. In October of 2023, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives sent the Pay the Price You See Act<\/a> to the Senate for consideration. Rep. Nick Pisciottano said it can be frustrating when what started as a $100 ticket can end up costing $180 when you click the checkout button. Rep. Pisciottano is right; it is frustrating and unfair to consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But some junk fees not often discussed are the ones Pennsylvania has legislated <\/a>through fines and surcharges <\/a>into traffic violations. A simple U-turn violation that has a $25 fine ends up costing the driver $181.75. These fines and surcharges are completely hidden, revealed only to a driver once they get a ticket. It can leave one wondering where the \u2018wealth\u2019 in \u2018commonwealth\u2019 comes from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Costs are mentioned exactly ten times in the Pennsylvania Driver\u2019s Manual<\/a>. The costs mentioned relate to towing costs for parking in handicapped spaces, court costs for things like underage drinking and violating child restraint laws, and repaying emergency response costs for disobeying a warning of hazardous conditions. The only indication that a violation will result in a higher total cost than the fine is the section on turning your headlights on when it is raining, stating that the fine for not turning them on is $25 and that with other associated costs, the penalty would approach $100. There is zero mention of any of the statutes that drive costs up by more than 7 times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only are the junk fees tied to traffic tickets burdensome, but the ten-day deadline to pay the ticket and avoid an additional $25 administrative<\/a> fee adds to the burden. This short due date requires a person to have a disposable $200 on hand to pay for the ticket. Unless a person gets paid weekly or daily, this ten-day deadline likely falls between pay periods. Nearly a third of all Americans have less than $1,000<\/a> across all types of personal savings including emergency funds, investments, and non-workplace retirement accounts. Over 2 million<\/a> Pennsylvania households (41%) lived paycheck to paycheck in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Philadelphia, nearly half<\/a> of households bring in less than $50,000. In Pennsylvania, more than 658,000 households live in poverty while another 1.5 million are defined as ALICE <\/a>(Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), earning more than the Federal Poverty Level but less than the amount needed to survive in today\u2019s economy. In a recent study, a single person<\/a> would need to make nearly $93,000 per year, pre-tax, to live comfortably in Philadelphia. And that amount is following the 50\/30\/20 budget allocation where 50% of your salary goes towards needs (housing, groceries, and transportation), 30% of your salary goes towards wants (fun, hobbies, entertainment), and the remaining 20% towards savings (investments, savings, debt reduction).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And worse, even if you plead not guilty, you are still required to pay the ticket plus $10 if the offense charged is under the Vehicle Code before the ten-day deadline to avoid the $25 late fee. The court date can be anywhere from six to eight weeks from the issued date. Additionally, there\u2019s a luxury to being able to appeal that extends beyond paying the fine. Court is only held during the week and requires a driver to be able to take time off from work, which might be paid or unpaid, and to find childcare, if needed. If you prevail and the ticket is dismissed, refunds <\/a>take four to six weeks from the date you were found not guilty to process. In all, a driver can be without their money or paying interest on a credit card for three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pennsylvania legislature eliminated the Philadelphia Traffic Court<\/a> a decade ago after it came to light that judges had long been fixing tickets and engaged in corruption<\/a>. Philadelphia Traffic Court\u2019s corruption dated back to the 1970\u2019s as judges routinely accepted requests for preferential treatment in return for cash and gifts. During the reign of Traffic Court, one man claimed details did not matter to the judges, but instead \u201cMoney<\/a>, money, money! It should be called Traffic Money Court!\u201d The ballot measure<\/a> to remove the court from the constitution passed at nearly 60% in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is now time to focus on the overarching unfair practice of junk fees on traffic tickets. Parking <\/a>tickets are transparent and clear. Other states <\/a>make it simple to see traffic ticket costs, even if the fees are also nearly $200. The Pennsylvania legislature needs to provide the same transparency to traffic violations. If they are not even telling drivers about the excessive fees and surcharges in the driver\u2019s manual, how would drivers from other states (whether they are passing through or residents who got their license in another state) know they were on the hook for hundreds of dollars? At the very least, the due date for violations should be the court date<\/a>, where costs increase if fines are not paid before the court date. This would allow the commonwealth to bring in revenue while reflecting the financial situation of Pennsylvania residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, conversations about junk fees must include legislated junk fees like those imposed upon traffic tickets. As FTC Chair Khan pointed out, these fees exist just because corporations can take them from working families. The Pennsylvania legislature charges these fees just because they can. It is time to take the junk out of the trunk and stop trapping drivers with burdensome traffic ticket price tags and processes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Lynsey A. Madison, JD Anticipated May 2027, Law & Public Policy Scholar Taylor Swift is a lot of things to a lot of people. To consumers tired of hidden fees raising prices at checkout, she\u2019s their knight in a sparkling leotard. What started as frustrations for \u201cSwifties\u201d trying to buy tickets to her concerts has turned into a bipartisan referendum on so called \u201cjunk fees.\u201d What exactly are junk fees? Junk fees are extra and often unexpected fees consumers … <\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"coauthors":[42],"class_list":["post-2854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","infinite-scroll-item","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"yoast_head":"\r\nTraffic Ticket Trap: It\u2019s Time to Take the \u201cJunk\u201d Out of the Trunk - Law & Public Policy Program<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www2.law.temple.edu\/lppp\/traffic-ticket-trap-its-time-to-take-the-junk-out-of-the-trunk\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Traffic Ticket Trap: It\u2019s Time to Take the \u201cJunk\u201d Out of the Trunk - Law & Public Policy Program\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dr. Lynsey A. Madison, JD Anticipated May 2027, Law & Public Policy Scholar Taylor Swift is a lot of things to a lot of people. To consumers tired of hidden fees raising prices at checkout, she\u2019s their knight in a sparkling leotard. What started as frustrations for \u201cSwifties\u201d trying to buy tickets to her concerts has turned into a bipartisan referendum on so called \u201cjunk fees.\u201d What exactly are junk fees? Junk fees are extra and often unexpected fees consumers ... 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