Houston Drivers Ignore Penalties

Concern is mounting with the council in Houston, Texas over the amount of drivers currently not paying fines incurred from running red lights. As a result, this is costing tax payers $16,000 every day.

Although offenders' car registrations are snapped and $75 fines issued, one in every three drivers ignores the penalty and never pays. The council has expressed surprise at the great number of motorists who ignore the fines, and is considering taking drastic action.

The main suggestion is to introduce some road blocks, including the refusal to renew registration plates to those with outstanding fines. Houston mayor, Bill White, supports the idea. He said:

"For those people who want to gamble and ignore these citations, we're going to make sure this is a losing gamble."

However, there is concern over this idea as the city's municipal court is already overcrowded. If one hundred thousand people suddenly begin to lose their car registrations and start paying their fines, this could producec a giant backlog.

It seems that this 'backlog' will have to be endured though as allowing offenders to get away with not paying fines is unfair to those who do pay. Additionally, drivers will continue to run red lights and cause danger to other road users until they are forced to stop.

On average, $100,000 worth of fines will be issued each week until Houston council decides on the next step.

Back to News Index