reckon
the cake is a lie
a few years ago I had some bad things happen to me, got into a personal funk, and ended up getting a couple of tickets that I never took care of.
making matters worse, I still continued to ride/drive on the suspended license, and ended up getting 3 more "5 section" citations, in two distant counties and two vehicles impounded.
then I got the bicycle, and started trying to get my shit together, and my driving privilege re-instated.
I went to the DMV, and got my printout of my record, and guess what?, yup it's just a bunch of numbers.
I did a google search for "california vehicle code sections", and got several complete pages with not only the vehicle codes and standard descriptions, but also a more rudimentary "laymans" description in addition.
I wrote down on each line what each thing was and it started making sense, I had the violation dates, the sections I was cited for, and the additional failure to appear, and failure to pay (FTA, FTP) sections.
I figured I would just save up a bunch of money, contact each court, find out what the fines were and pay them off,.....which will not work in cases like mine, because you end up with "too many points", and the license gets/stays suspended.
I was making less than $25K a year at that point, so lawyering up, was just financially out of the question, save an initial "30 min advice session", so I found a traffic lawyer, and he said, "you need to contact the DA in these, and see if he'll reduce the violations to no point "12500's" (driving while un-licensed), but first you'll need to get your license back",..and I asked "but don't I need to clear all these citations before they'll give my license back?", and then he said "no, if you go to the DMV, I'll bet you they suspended your license for NOT SHOWING UP (the FTA's), and once you "show up" and set a future court date, that lifts the FTA warrant, and the DMV is OBLIGATED BY LAW to return your driving privilege, provided no other agency also has a hold on your license, like back taxes, child support, past due fines, probation etc, and with a re-issuance fee was $70, for me. :wow
I went to the oldest citation, which was in alameda co., I went in to walkin court (you wait in line for 3 hours at 5:30AM or you might not get in) and set a court date (was 2 months in the future), and they lifted the FTA warrant.
I did the same for all the citations, and payed the remainder of one outstanding fine ($175), and then went back to the DMV, payed $70 and got my license back, in less than 3 weeks from the day I started.
on the return trips to court, I "ask to talk with the DA", and tell him/her that "I have my CDL (they will want the picture license), and could we please possibly reduce the violations?", and in every case they said "yes" and the fines and fees were reduced to "no points" and a fine, which I ask for time to pay in full, because if you set up a payment plan, you are on court probation till the fine is PIF :thumbdown, and most were reduced by well over 50%, so coming up with $450 in 90 days wasn't a huge financial problem.
so out of 4 citations, with 4 or 5 sections each on them, some spanning back 5 years, in three different counties, I paid about $1500 in total fines and fees, only have 1 point on the record (the older partially paid fine) :thumbup
I'm sure there are others out there in teh barfworld that have susp. license's and are driving around on them, and I will tell you from experience, they take your shit (impound) for 30 days, and you pay for that 30 days, sometimes that's over $2500, IN ADDITION to the court fines and fees, and you probably don't know that all you have to do is just go into walkin court, set a future date, (which lifts the FTA), wait a few days for the DMV to get the info, and go pay $70 and get your license back, simple as that.
you still have to go to court and pay your due, but it'll be less, and you can drive there legally doing it.
I did.
ride safe and legal out there, kay?
:ride
making matters worse, I still continued to ride/drive on the suspended license, and ended up getting 3 more "5 section" citations, in two distant counties and two vehicles impounded.
then I got the bicycle, and started trying to get my shit together, and my driving privilege re-instated.
I went to the DMV, and got my printout of my record, and guess what?, yup it's just a bunch of numbers.
I did a google search for "california vehicle code sections", and got several complete pages with not only the vehicle codes and standard descriptions, but also a more rudimentary "laymans" description in addition.
I wrote down on each line what each thing was and it started making sense, I had the violation dates, the sections I was cited for, and the additional failure to appear, and failure to pay (FTA, FTP) sections.
I figured I would just save up a bunch of money, contact each court, find out what the fines were and pay them off,.....which will not work in cases like mine, because you end up with "too many points", and the license gets/stays suspended.
I was making less than $25K a year at that point, so lawyering up, was just financially out of the question, save an initial "30 min advice session", so I found a traffic lawyer, and he said, "you need to contact the DA in these, and see if he'll reduce the violations to no point "12500's" (driving while un-licensed), but first you'll need to get your license back",..and I asked "but don't I need to clear all these citations before they'll give my license back?", and then he said "no, if you go to the DMV, I'll bet you they suspended your license for NOT SHOWING UP (the FTA's), and once you "show up" and set a future court date, that lifts the FTA warrant, and the DMV is OBLIGATED BY LAW to return your driving privilege, provided no other agency also has a hold on your license, like back taxes, child support, past due fines, probation etc, and with a re-issuance fee was $70, for me. :wow
I went to the oldest citation, which was in alameda co., I went in to walkin court (you wait in line for 3 hours at 5:30AM or you might not get in) and set a court date (was 2 months in the future), and they lifted the FTA warrant.
I did the same for all the citations, and payed the remainder of one outstanding fine ($175), and then went back to the DMV, payed $70 and got my license back, in less than 3 weeks from the day I started.
on the return trips to court, I "ask to talk with the DA", and tell him/her that "I have my CDL (they will want the picture license), and could we please possibly reduce the violations?", and in every case they said "yes" and the fines and fees were reduced to "no points" and a fine, which I ask for time to pay in full, because if you set up a payment plan, you are on court probation till the fine is PIF :thumbdown, and most were reduced by well over 50%, so coming up with $450 in 90 days wasn't a huge financial problem.
so out of 4 citations, with 4 or 5 sections each on them, some spanning back 5 years, in three different counties, I paid about $1500 in total fines and fees, only have 1 point on the record (the older partially paid fine) :thumbup
I'm sure there are others out there in teh barfworld that have susp. license's and are driving around on them, and I will tell you from experience, they take your shit (impound) for 30 days, and you pay for that 30 days, sometimes that's over $2500, IN ADDITION to the court fines and fees, and you probably don't know that all you have to do is just go into walkin court, set a future date, (which lifts the FTA), wait a few days for the DMV to get the info, and go pay $70 and get your license back, simple as that.
you still have to go to court and pay your due, but it'll be less, and you can drive there legally doing it.
I did.
ride safe and legal out there, kay?
:ride
Last edited:
