Ticket sends reader down a rabbit hole
TRAFFIC TICKET JUST THE START OF THE DRAMA: A reader emails that “after more than a decade in New Mexico, I received my first traffic ticket and was shocked to learn that I had to decide — on the spot — whether to pay the citation or go to court on a specific date and time given by the officer. Without knowing my schedule or my rights, I said that I would pay the fine. After thinking it over later, I wanted to change the decision and go to court.”
First, it is refreshing that there are folks with no familiarity with the legal system. Too often we forget there are fine, upstanding folks out there who have never even had a traffic ticket!
But back to our reader, who first went to what she says was a Motor Vehicle Division office and was told the citation was “too dim to read” and a copy would cost $5.
Problem No. 1: “MVD does not have the power to change a citation; only the issuing officer can do so,” according to Ben Cloutier, director of communications for the New Mexico Taxation & Revenue Department, which oversees MVD.
Problem No. 2: “State-run MVD Offices do not charge $5 for a copy of a citation,” Cloutier says, “leading me to believe that this individual visited a municipal office. Municipal offices are run by their local jurisdiction, and MVD does not oversee their operations.”
Our reader says a second employee directed her to call Metro Court, where a clerk told her to call the main MVD number. After trying to get through for a day or two, she was told, yes, “the way to change it is to take it up with the police officer who pulled me over.”
“Yeah, that would be a piece of cake to try to find him!”
She says she ultimately decided just to pay the fine online. But when she “used the URL listed on the citation, which said ‘click on Pay My Citation,’ ... nowhere did I readily find a way to pay online! Can’t these people get anything right? After navigating through page after page on the website, I finally found the correct place!”
She says she has “to wonder about the inefficiency, incompetency and poor customer service of the New Mexico MVD. Tell me, please, what can someone do, or where can someone go, to get some accurate, timely, and helpful information?”
According to MVD.newmexico.gov, “when you receive a ticket for a traffic violation, the police officer will give you two options: pay a penalty assessment or go to court to contest the ticket. If the ‘Penalty Assessment’ box is checked on your citation, you must pay the penalty assessment by any of the options stated on the ticket.”
That seems to mean, as we used to say in grade school, no backsies.
Second, fines can be paid to different places — the MVD site (click on “online services,” then “pay a ticket”) says, “Not all citation payments are paid to the Motor Vehicle Division. Please double check the ticket by looking down at the bottom part of the front of the ticket and make sure penalty assessment is checked and the ordinance check box is unchecked.”
The site also says (under “resources, forms and information —traffic tickets”) that if your ticket payment needs to go somewhere besides MVD, the individual “courts allow for payment by mail, or in person at the address indicated. Some courts allow payment with a credit card over the phone. Payment options are always listed on the back of the ticket.”
As for paying MVD online, Cloutier says, “Our online citation pay tool is fully functional. Users should make sure they are inputting the correct information as citations can be difficult to read.”
And they should be sure they are on the right website. Read on. I DON’T NEED A GUIDE WITH MY RENEWAL: Marilynn Gabel called to say she went to register her car online recently and ended up at a private company site that charged her $19.99 plus the registration fee for a “car guide” she didn’t want and could not remove from the transaction.
She says she later thought better of it, emailed the company to cancel the transaction, got a refund and then snail-mailed in her renewal to Santa Fe.
Cloutier says MVD has not outsourced vehicle registration, and drivers should be sure they are on the official New Mexico MVD website, mvd.newmexico.gov.