Prosecuting Speeding Tickets

VETO ENDS SPEEDING TICKETS PLEAS:

Gov. George Pataki used his veto pen Thursday to end the practice of troopers plea-bargaining speeding tickets with motorists. So be forewarned the next time you speed on the Thruway.

Drivers typically have used the old system to avoid getting "points" on their licenses, which can result in loss of driving privileges and higher insurance rates. Prosecutors used the system to move cases through the courts.

Pataki scrapped a bill that would have blocked rules the State Police adopted to end such plea bargaining.

Rockland County District Attorney Michael Bongiorno predicted "a big mess" as a result of the veto. He said his office would have to handle an extra 15,000 cases a year.

Troopers wrote 873,000 tickets last year, 354,000 for speeding, according to the State Police. That's 43 percent of all speeding tickets in the state.

Pataki, in his veto message, said he believes the responsibility for prosecuting all crimes, including traffic crimes, rests with local district attorneys.
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The head of the state Association of Towns criticized Pataki's veto. "The towns are going to have to provide prosecutors, and the cost of that has to be met," said Jeffrey Haber, the group's executive director.

PROSECUTORS SHOW UP TO HANDLE TRAFFIC TICKETS IN WALKILL TOWN COURT:

Orange County prosecutors today showed up in force in Wallkill Town Court to pinch-hit for state troopers who are now banned from plea bargaining traffic tickets.

The new policy prompted Town Justice Ray Shoemaker last week to dismiss about 70 tickets outright. Prosecutors today continued the no plea bargain policy, but the trials went on without a hitch.