Court officials say that San Diego County law enforcement agencies have recently been issuing fewer tickets than in the past, but it may provide little comfort to the hundreds of thousands of motorists who received one last year.


California’s fine for speeding starts at $35. But San Diego County drivers can expect to pay at least $235, thanks to court fees, a state surcharge and increasingly hefty penalty assessments ---- extra dollars tacked on to fund local and state programs.

California is a pioneer in adding fees to traffic fines, with some of the most expensive traffic tickets in the nation, critics say.

Outside the Vista traffic court on a recent morning, ticket recipients shared their tales of surprise and woe.

Carmen Magana, 25, of San Marcos was pulled over on a day she had mistakenly left her proof of insurance at home. She was insured at the time, and brought proof to the courthouse to satisfy her “fix-it” ticket.


But she was shocked to learn she still had to pay $75 in fees, she said.

“Oh my god, California is just full of fees,” Magana said. “It’s a beautiful state. I love the weather (so) I put up with the fees.”

Finer points

On the surface, California’s traffic fines seem reasonable, if not low.


The base fine for a speeding ticket for those going up to 15 mph over the limit is about $35. For talking on a cellphone, it’s $20. Most of the base fine goes to the city and county where the offense occurred.

But that’s only the beginning.

A penalty assessment then multiplies that base fine, and additional fees increase it further.

California lawmakers added the first penalty assessment in the late 1950s or early 1960s. It was an extra $1 for every $20 of base fine that went to fund driver’s training programs at schools, according to a state Assembly report.


The fees have climbed dramatically since ---- especially over the last decade.

In 2002, the penalty assessment was $17 for every $10 fine, or fraction thereof, according to state court documents.

In other words, a $10 fine turned into $27, and an $11 fine turned into $44. There was also a $1 flat fee to fund night court programs.

Today, the penalty assessment is nearly double the 2002 amount, adding $30 for every $10 of original fine, or fraction thereof, according to state court documents.


It includes $10 for state programs, $9 for the county, $5 to fund state court construction, $4 to fund DNA identification programs and a $2 surcharge that goes directly to the state’s general fund.

Fees add up

But wait, there’s more.

Over the last decade, state lawmakers have also added several flat fees: a $40 court operations assessment, a $35 criminal conviction assessment for infractions, and a $4 fee to fund emergency medical air transportation.


So that hypothetical $10 base fine balloons to $120. A $100 fine explodes to $480.

That doesn’t include the additional $55 fee for those requesting traffic school ---- on top of the cost of the class.

Increasing fines does little to discourage drivers from breaking the law, said Steve Finnegan, government affairs manager for the Auto Club of Southern California.

“It’s not about traffic safety,” he said.


Quest for revenue

Rather, rising fees are driven by the struggling state’s efforts to fund costly programs ---- some are not closely related to traffic issues, he said. Even the court construction costs are questionable, as most people who receive traffic tickets never set foot in a courthouse.

“I think, in general, that these assessments are not the most appropriate way to provide revenue to the state,” Finnegan said.

But legislators seem to find it more politically acceptable to increase traffic fines than to raise taxes, said Tim Chang, legislative counsel for the Auto Club of Southern California.


State legislators are considering a bill that would add a dollar to all traffic tickets to fund spinal cord injury research. The bill, authored by Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, won approval of a state Senate committee this month and was bound for the Senate floor as soon as next week.

Targeting the tax

Wieckowski said in an interview last week that traffic collisions are the top cause of spinal cord injuries in California, and that his bill aims to spur innovation that could dramatically improve the outlook for those affected by injuries that are currently irreversible.

In theory, the bill would place some of the burden on motorists caught driving unsafely.


“You’re not trying to burden the general taxpayer,” Wieckowski said. “You’re just trying to burden the people who have these moving violations.”

Fewer tickets

Millions of traffic tickets are issued each year in California.

But the number of tickets dropped suddenly this year in San Diego County. Local law enforcement agencies issued fewer traffic tickets from July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2012, than in the four previous fiscal years, according to court statistics.


Authorities issued 427,640 over that period. In 2010-11, they issued nearly 503,000, while in 2008-09, they issued more than 523,000.

In 2007-08, authorities gave out 458,625 traffic citations.

Graham Gore, 23, came to the traffic court in Vista to ask if he could pay his traffic ticket in installments.

Gore said he made the mistake of making a rolling stop before making a right turn at a red light. A red-light camera at an Oceanside intersection snapped his photograph.


Caught on camera

He received a $465 ticket in the mail, but then he got so caught up in his training at the military base in Twentynine Palms that he failed to pay it on time.

So the courts added even more fees and penalties. The bill came out to $703.

Gore smiled as he told his tale of traffic woe.


“You’ve got to laugh at it,” the North Carolina native said. “I’ve already gone through the mad phase. That’s three-quarters of my paycheck, you know?”

Gore would have paid about $50 for the same ticket in his home state.