Court's Money-Saving Program Reduces Punishment For Unsafe Drivers

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Story Published: Nov 4, 2009 at 6:15 PM PST

By Peter Bukowski

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YAKIMA COUNTY -- The courts see more than 1500 of these cases a year: people driving without a license or on a suspended one. The court prosecutes everyone one of these cases, using precious time and resources.

"We were spending an extraordinary amount of staff time and attorney time. And often times what would happen with them is they'd be continued multiple times because we want these people to get licenses," says Senior Deputy Prosecutor There Murphy.

But that's all about to change. Murphy spear-headed a movement that would treat these minor traffic offenses as non-criminal. Instead of wasting time and money in court, people would be issued a fine, and sent on their way.

These traffic violations won't be officially decriminalized, they'll just be treated that way. The thought process being 'They weren't paying their fines before, they won't pay them now. But we can save time and money by not trying these cases when the outcome will be the same.'

But that will mean putting irresponsible drivers back on the road. And not having a strong enough consequence for these people is something cops are worried about.

"Does that change your behavior? Not always. They are bad drivers to begin with and they continue to drive badly and if there's not a consequence for bad driving or dangerous driving then we still have to deal with people out on the road that probably shouldn't be," worries Sgt. Gary Jones with the Yakima Police Department.

The County will still have the option to prosecute these cases if they choose, particularly repeat offenders. They say the other cases must simply give way to ones with a higher priority.

Murphy says, "People need to be held accountable for their actions. And I agree with that 100%. In theory that's great. In reality in this system that isn't always how it works."

She insists things won't get worse on the roads, but they will get better in the county's pocketbook.

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