OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Nearly 300,000 Washington drivers have had their licenses suspended for not paying multiple traffic tickets.
KUOW and KPLU radio report drivers who want to clear their debts and get their licenses back must run a gauntlet that includes collection agents and a patchwork system of courts.
Relicensing court is a diversion program in some counties for people who have been stopped by a cop while driving on a license that was suspended for failure to pay traffic tickets. The prosecutor can agrees to hold off filing a criminal charge if the defendant agrees to a repayment plan.
Court administrators in King and Pierce counties say that in any year, up to 25 percent of traffic tickets end up in collections, where interest can be much higher.
