Thousands of people issued tickets for offenses such as using a cell phone and failing to yield the right-of-way may be owed a refund because those citations are getting tossed.
The state Department of Licensing says it will reimburse cities and counties for refunds on as many as 3,500 tickets statewide. The estimated cost at this point is $400,000.
Agency spokesman Tony Sermonti said this afternoon that department staff are figuring out how many tickets are involved and where they were written. Details may be pulled together early next week, he said.
The problem affects cities and counties which have adopted the statewide rule book on traffic offenses known as the Model Traffic Ordinance. The DOL maintains and updates the ordinance whenever new laws are enacted.
Between 2004 and July 1, 17 offenses, including the original cell phone ban, did not get updated into this book. As a result, citations issued in a MTO jurisdiction for any of those offenses is invalid.
About 3,000 traffic citations issued by jurisdictions that have adopted the Model Traffic Ordinance are subject to scrutiny.
Individuals who were issued a citation and paid a fine should go to the jurisdiction which issued the citation to request reimbursement, according to the Department of Licensing.
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