traffic offense refunds?

As some of you may have heard, there has been an issue with some cell phone violations being thrown out because of an oversight by the Department of Licensing (DOL) and their updating of (or lack there of) Washington's Model Traffic Ordinance (MTO).

The entire issue is explained in DOL's Blog, or read the text below.


DOL announcing plan to help local jurisdictions with traffic offense refunds
DOL is contacting local governments Friday to detail a reimbursement process for refunds to drivers who paid fines for cell phone and texting violations and some other traffic offenses.

Out of about three million traffic tickets written since 2007, the agency estimates just under 10,000 may be eligible for a refund.

The MTO is a traffic law rulebook that cities and counties can adopt to easily be consistent with state traffic laws. DOL is responsible for updating the MTO rules as new laws emerge.

On June 30, DOL discovered that municipal court judges in several jurisdictions were dismissing cell phone and texting tickets because the MTO had not been updated to reflect these violations. Further study revealed the MTO had not been updated since 2004 and several other new laws passed since then also were not included.

This issue does not affect citations issued by the Washington State Patrol, other state police agencies and a number of city and county governments. It also does not affect any cell phone-related tickets issued on or after July 1, 2010, or those for any other affected laws after July 19, 2010, as the entire rulebook is now updated.

Individuals who were issued a citation and paid a fine should go to the court in the jurisdiction which issued the citation to request reimbursement. DOL will then reimburse these local courts for the amount of the fine, which is typically $124.

The agency estimates that reimbursements could total up to $1.2 million statewide for tickets written during the past three years. The funds will come from within the agency’s budget by deferring planned equipment replacements, printing and mailing savings associated with new email renewal notices, and some savings accumulated by continuing to not fill vacant staff positions.

The following jurisdictions already have been identified as not being affected by the MTO issue: Washington State Patrol and other state police agencies (regardless where issued), Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue, Lynnwood, Prosser, Yakima, Yakima County, Snohomish County, Thurston County, Mason County, Skagit County, Kittitas County and Spokane Municipal prior to 1/1/2009.