Proposal would erase some traffic offenses

May 5, 2005

Under a bill that just left the Senate Judiciary Committee, speeders or others who defy minor traffic laws can have those offenses erased from their records in exchange for community service.

We’ll admit that in many cases, a first-timer deserves a second chance. But when it comes to traffic laws, "first offender" is a misnomer. It’s probably more proper to say "first time caught." Everybody speeds at one time or another. We’ve all sneaked under the light just as it turned red. And if we didn’t see anybody coming there is a good chance we might have rolled through that stop sign instead of coming to, as the manual puts it, a complete stop.

That’s not to say any of those things are right. They’re not. And regular readers know disobedience of traffic rules, even those some term "minor" is one of our pet peeves. We believe obeying the law means we’re all safer and we’ll all get where we need to in the long run, even if it takes a little longer for some of us.

Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Camden, has, we’re sure, good intentions with his proposal. And there likely is value to the education aspect of the bill, according to Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens. Offenders who enter the program would be required to take a safe driving course.

But like Mr. Martin, we don’t see the point.

This may eventually be nothing more than just one more level of bureaucracy and one that could carry a cost both for the offender and his non-lawbreaking neighbors.

There will be fees associated with the program, as well as management costs to administer it. The fees could in reality be even more than the ticket would have been in the first place, Mr. Martin surmises. And, he adds, as traffic tickets are one method by which an insurance company might justify raising one’s rates, it masks those drivers who do break the law and in some respects, protects them. In 1998, South Carolina lawmakers (wisely, we believe) changed a law that held it was mandatory for companies to automatically raise rates on traffic offenders who received license points even for minor offenses. If the companies don’t have the knowledge a customer got a ticket, an act that might cause them to raise only that customer’s rates, it might follow that an across-the-board increase for all of us might be their next business move.

The proposed law, one that would be statewide, wouldn’t cover first offenses on more serious charges, like DUI or reckless driving. But Mr. Martin thinks it’s possible that entering the program (initially voluntary) might become a requirement for a first offense. "In most instances, if you go to the magistrate, they will reduce a fine or points on a first offenses, if you act reasonably and have any kind of explanation," Mr. Martin said. "? I can see this (program) evolving into the only option for a first offense."

Thus it might also take away our right to dispute a ticket we believe may have been unjustified in the first place.

In the end, it seems to reward people who break the law by keeping their driving records clean even though they have stained them by their own carelessness. We don’t object to community service as part of punishment for an offense. It can be a learning experience, a taste of reality that some offenders need, depending upon the type of community service assigned. But to voluntarily opt for the proposal, pay fines and have one’s record of traffic offenses expunged almost seems like buying one’s way out of trouble.

And that’s not a road we’d like to see our lawmakers travel.

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