While driving through my neighborhood last weekend, I was cited a ticket for running a stop sign. Having not received a ticket in five years and considering it was a minor moving violation; I expected the fine would be rather small.

When I scanned over my freshly printed ticket, I was surprised to find that running a stop sign cost me $141. It seemed a little steep, to say the least. Officer Picklesimer of the LMPD then politely informed me that traffic fines had increased.

Of course, this prompted me to look up current traffic fines. For those of you who don’t know, you can locate Seminole County’s traffic citation fines on the Clerk of the Court website at: http://www.seminoleclerk.org/

Once you are at the website, click on “Online Payments” in the menu on the left, then click “Law Enforcement Info and Speeding Charts” to access a .pdf of traffic fines.

Here’s an overview of the most common tickets given:

Speeding:

1-5 mph over limit – A warning only in normal, or construction zones. In a school zone, $131

6-9 mph over the limit - $106 in normal zone, $131 in construction and school zones

10-14 mph over the limit - $181 in normal zones, $281 in construction and school zones

15-19 mph over the limit - $206 in normal zones, $331 in construction and school zones

20-29 mph over the limit - $231 in normal zones, $381 in construction and school zones

30+ mph over the limit - $331 in normal zones, $581 in construction and school zones

** An infraction 30+ mph over the limit requires a mandatory civil infraction hearing

Moving Violations:

Failure to stop for a school bus - $181

Speed too fast for conditions - $141

Failure to obey traffic device - $206

Failure to obey/ driving around, under, or through RR device - $181

Failure to display license plate - $135

Unknowlingly operating vehicle with a suspended license - $135

As it looks, there is no traffic violation that’s going to cost you less than $100. On average, depending on your infraction, you’re probably going to pay about $140 for any violation.

Ok, so lets to the math on this. Pretend you’re someone working a job for $7 an hour. If we take $140 as the average ticket, you’d have to work 20 hours to pay off that ticket. And that’s not considering taxes!

Does it seem fair that ten minutes of a police officer’s time is worth half a weeks work to the average individual? You decide.