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The nightmares of traffic court
| Saturday, Jul 19 2008 12:00 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Jul 25 2008 12:49 PM
If you think the wait at a doctor's office is bad, try traffic court.
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Arrive early
If you want to go to court and see a judge the same day, arrive as early as possible. The court can accommodate up to 140 cases total in the morning and afternoon sessions but many slots are reserved ahead of time. That means only the first 80 or so people in line will get into court that day.
Doors open at 7:30 a.m.. Clerks advise people to get in line at 6 a.m. to get into court the same day but some people arrive as early as 5:30 a.m. If court is full for the day when you get to the clerk’s window, the court may assign you to a session two weeks later. However, if those sessions are already booked, you may have to come back another day and wait in line again.
Bring only necessities with you
There are now more than 100 items that cannot be brought into court. All people entering the courthouse must go through a metal detector. Anyone with a prohibited item is given the option of handing it over to security personnel who will throw it away or returning it to their car and going back to the end of the line.
Court officials suggest you only bring documents needed for court, photo identification, payment for your fine and other necessities.
Court officials suggest you only bring into the courthouse the documents you need for court, photo identification, payment for your fine and other necessities.
Dress properly
The court enforces a strict dress code. Shorts and flip-flops are not allowed. In some cases, women wearing capris or slip-on sandals have not been allowed to enter a courtroom.
Pay by phone or mail
If you plan to pay your fine without contesting the citation, you can pay it and sign up for traffic school over the phone or by mail. The court will charge an extra $15 for a credit card payment. For information on the amount due, call the court at 868-2382.
Other info
Visit kern.courts.ca.gov/traffictickets.asp or courtinfo.ca.gov for more information on traffic court.
Court security officials say more than 100 items are now prohibited. In addition, court security can prohibit other items they deem dangerous.
Officials say the list changes continuously; they provided this list of common items not allowed in court:
• ammunition
• drugs
• drug paraphernalia
• alcohol
• forks
• handcuff Keys
• chains
• knives
• large safety pins
• mace/dog repellents
• pepper spray
• firearms
• markers/paint/spray cans
• martial arts items
• metal knuckles
• spikes
• nail files
• razor/box cutter
• scissors
• screw drivers
• tools (any size)
• stun guns
• large wire combs
• phone charges
• rope/power cords/cables
• Leatherman tools
• hair spray
• laser pointers
• video cameras, recorders
• glass bottles
• retractable ID/key holder
• cologne/perfumes
• “P35” can openers
• replica guns
• studded belts
• knitting needles
• plastic molded knives used for letter openers, shanks, spikes, etc.
Photos:
People inch their way up to the front of the line Thursday morning to enter the Kern County Superior Court courthouse at 1215 Truxtun Ave., where traffic court is held.
A dramatic increase in traffic tickets issued in metro Bakersfield means the line to see a judge these days starts forming at 5:30 a.m. outside the Superior Court building at 1215 Truxtun Ave.. It often grows to nearly 200 people by time the doors open at 7:30 a.m.
But since the court can only take a certain number of people each day, many must come back and stand in line all over again another day.
“They treat people like cattle,” said Rhonda Miller, who recently stood in line for a ticket that was later dismissed. "If you're going to give out all them tickets, you need to have a building to handle all that.”
Help is on the way, court officials say.
‘TOTALLY RIDICULOUS’
By 7 a.m. last Thursday, the line for traffic court ran across the back of the building, spilled into the parking lot then meandered down a sidewalk next to an adjoining building. One woman brought a lawn chair. Others sat on the ground. The rest just stood, including several people with small children and an elderly man who leaned on a cane.
“It’s totally ridiculous,” Kevin Phillips said as he stood in line. "Who would like to stand in a long line? They know how many tickets they wrote, it should be easy to adjust this to where it's not an extra burden on us.”
Compounding the agony: You can get in line early then be delayed or sent away by other surprises lurking inside. Many people get snagged by security at the entrance because they’re carrying unsuspecting items banned in court, such as digital cameras or perfume. They can take the item to their car and go back to the end of the line, or hand it over to security personnel who throw it away.
“I didn’t anticipate I would have my cell phone charger confiscated in a courthouse,” said Tehachapi resident Cindy Montoya, who let security officers take the charger. Court security officials said the electrical cord could be used to strangle someone.
Brenda Angulo had to return to court Friday after a bailiff deemed the capris she wore two days earlier inappropriate attire.
“I called back yesterday and they told me I had to come back this morning” and wait in line again, Angulo said.
OVERLOADED COURTS
The court processed 70,225 tickets in the 2007-08 fiscal year, an 11 percent jump over the previous year and a 30 percent increase over the past five years, said Kern County Superior Court Executive Officer Terry McNally.
At that rate, about 280 tickets are processed each business day yet there’s only room for 120 to 140 people in the courtroom each day.
The ticket boom is due in part to the Bakersfield Police Department ramping up traffic enforcement, according to Sgt. Greg Terry.
Bakersfield police officers issued 20 percent more tickets in 2007 than 2006 in response to concerns about motor vehicle accidents, Terry said.
The surge reduced the number of fatal accidents by 35 percent and the number of injury and noninjury accidents by 10 percent.
“The policy is, the more the public sees our officers making stops, the more impact it will have on their driving,” Terry said. “The whole idea is to make the roadways as safe as possible.”
The majority of funds from traffic court fines go to the agency that issued the ticket, except for about $35 assessed to each fine by the state to help pay for court security and future construction.
Staffing has not increased in proportion to the increase in tickets issued and the court is prone to backlogs whenever a ticket blitz like the California Highway Patrol Click It or Ticket program takes place. A backlog this spring was only relieved after some court employees came in over the weekend and processed 8,000 tickets.
RELIEF COMING
The situation should improve in the next couple of months when traffic court is moved to a new building off Sillect Avenue, McNally said.
“We're trying to plan ahead,” he said, adding that with Bakersfield’s growth “we can only expect that citations will continue to increase.”
Fresno County Superior Court faced a similar situation a few years ago when traffic enforcement was ramped up and the number of tickets issued nearly doubled overnight, said Sandra Silva, the court’s assistant executive officer.
“It was not a pretty picture,” Silva said.
The situation took years to rectify, she said, but eventually the court hired more staff, built walk-up windows outside the building to prevent security bottlenecks, transferred to clerks some duties done by the judge and moved other services, such as fine and traffic school payments, online.
Coming improvements here may be in the works but that’s no consolation to those enduring the process now.
“This is my third day taking off work,” said McKenzi Thompson, 20, a personal trainer who works at In-Shape on Coffee Road.
After she misunderstood the procedure for seeing a judge on her first attempt, Thompson came back a second day but was stopped by security because she had a digital camera in her purse.
“There’s nothing posted anywhere saying what you can or can’t bring in with you,” said Thompson, who had to take the camera to her car then go to the back of the court line.
(Video cameras and recorders were on a list of items not allowed in court that The Californian requested but digital cameras were not.)
By time she got back inside, traffic court was full for the day and Thompson was told to try again another day.
She was finally able to see a judge Thursday.
More than 100 items are now banned from Superior Court, according to security officials, yet there is no list posted outside the courthouse or online.
A sign outside the court building only says knives and weapons are prohibited; the court Web site says only “weaponry” is illegal to bring in.
“I feel like I’m going to cry,” said a woman Thursday who lost her place in line because of a digital camera in her purse.
Carolyn Sopher of Bakersfield threw up her hands Thursday.
“I think there is something wrong with the system, but what can you do?” she said while waiting in line with her husband for their third attempt to see a judge. “You have to take care of the ticket. And that means you’ve got to do what they want you to do.”