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Starting next month, Californians who do not pay their traffic fines have one less thing to worry about: risk losing their license. There is a kind of catch 22 here because, on one hand, it means Californians who do not pay their traffic fines can keep their license and continue to drive. On the other hand, these individuals may feel less inclined to have to pay their traffic fines.
One reason for this change is that suspending licenses has not been helping the state collect money for the unpaid fines. Additionally, lower income individuals who lose their license simply because of unpaid traffic fines risk falling deeper into debt. By losing a license, a person can no longer drive. Think about how that would affect your everyday life, if that was you. You would have to find alternative ways to get to work, run your errands like getting groceries, taking your children to school, visiting people, and more. We rely on our car, driver’s license, and privilege to drive in order to go about each and every day.
Common traffic violations that result in a small fine include parking illegally, such as in a red zone or when the meter is expired, speeding, running a red light, and driving in the carpool lane without a passenger in your car.
Keep in mind that people will still be cited and fined for these traffic violations, they just will not run the risk of losing their license solely for these violations. For more serious violations like DUIs, then the driver will still lose their license.