Michigan Votes Forum

The drivers responsiblity it yet another way for the state to try to balance their own budget at the expense of it's citizens. I have not gotten a ticket of any kind for over 16 years but got pulled over because my plates were 4 days past their expiration. I now have to pay $200 for the next two years. What a way for the state to show proof of additional income! Thanks to all of you who voted for Granholm again. She did a bang up job the first time what made any of you think that it would get better.

Part One: My story I went to a party with some co-workers and had a few to drink. I stopped drinking and (responsibly) waited a couple hours before departing. When I wanted to leave, one co-worker (Charles Zabel, of Grand Rapids, MI) decided for me that I was not going to leave. After some disagreement I did leave, and was shortly thereafter pulled over on the street of my destination (just a few houses down) - because he called the police on me. My BAC was .08. I take responsibility for driving, I shouldn't have been. I realize the chances of my getting into an accident and hurting someone were much greater than if I were sober. However, I drove responsibly, safely, and I reached my destination without any problems. This was reduced to a driving impaired. Fines totaling approximately 1,000 dollars. Add court fees. Add alcohol counseling fees. Driver's Impact Panel class fee. OAR class fee. Getting caught driving on a suspended license? 200 dollars plus 6 days in jail. Fees for staying in jail - 380 dollars. Fees for talking to a prosecuting attorney - 50 dollars each time. The list goes on and on. Needless to say this has hurt me a great deal financially, not to mention personally as it is extremely difficult as many of you know to live and work without a means to get around. Part Two: Driver's Responsibility Fee, A Good Idea? Add 500/year (x two years) for the driving impaired and an ANOTHER 500/year (x two years) for the driving on a suspended license charge. Sooo... I guess the first fines and jail time I received for these offenses just weren't enough? Our government thinks it is a good idea to kick these people (who are going through a great deal of financial hardship) while they are down. How will this help? The literature they gave me says it is to promote greater traffic safety. If this is so - where is the proof? Does anyone here feel safer on the roads since this was enacted in 2003? When I hear "greater traffic safety" I hear "more police enforcement" ... another way to grab our money. This is a great disservice to the citizens of this state. In my opinion, it is not helping anyone. It is helping the state because they get to STEAL our money. I don't think the majority of people think this is a good thing. Maybe I'm wrong. Part Three: The Next Step What can we DO? I am writing this in hopes of getting some information from anyone - what can we DO ABOUT THIS? This NEEDS to be revoked. Like someone said - this is OUR governement, the government exists to SERVE US. That IS it's intention according to the constitution of the United States. If someone can argue how these ridiculous and unreasonable additional fines are a service to the people, please do so. I want to know. PLEASE contact me (bethany0728@hotmail.com) if you have any ideas or information on how I can get involved in the reversal of this law. If we don't do anything, if we let these things happen and sit by passively, our government will continue to get bigger and bigger (and it is - new laws are passed all the time). Who knows - maybe someday you'll be paying a "Citizen Responsibility Fee" for smoking in a public area and spend some time in jail. From the way things are going right now I don't see that as any stretch of the imagination. Bethany (bethany0728@hotmail.com)

and still no repeal.. F@ck the state of michigan, people are cool, but F@ck michigan, lets give it to canada, queen jen's plan from the start i think... elmers_fuddy@yahoo.com

Michigan Drivers Responsibilty is just another way to double-dip the residence of Michigan!!! My little brother presently owes close to $8,000.00 in fees to Michigan because he refuses to pay and shouldn't and is being penalized every year until he pays. Like that's going to make him pay quicker!! This law should have been fought and kept off the books!! Senator Gleason needs to step up his efforts to get this off the books and other Senators need to get their heads out of Granholms a** and support the repeal of this law. Granholm, or as I like to call her, the Wicked Witch in Lansing with her moles all over her faces continues to screw this State one penny at a time! Michigan has been financially destroyed by the Granholm administration!!! We are being financially raped with this law!! Jobs are scarce enough and we are losing money everyday but hey, lets pay some stupid fee because are plates are a day or two over renewal or were insured but forgot to put the new certificate in the car, we go out an have a social drink with dinner and get stopped, we keep up with the traffic and go over 3-5 mph and we're the one stopped. We pay through the nose to Courts and yet our rape doesn't end there oh no, the State now has to get their two cents in and keep the rape going on for one to two years anywhere from $125.00 to $1,000 each year!!!! I love the State of Michigan but the government needs to go before we are all forced to put on welfare and living in cardboard boxes!!

I happen to be from a neighboring state that had a qualifying offense in Michigan. My state saw it as an offense worth 3 points, Michigan assessed 7 so that they could get this fee and now are holding my license renewal in my current state until I pay 2k to Michigan. In other words I'm paying in my current state, I pay in Michigan and let us not forget our insurance companies. And for what, we still have homeless on the streets. Maybe not enough for our legislators.

can anyone tell me if an out of state driver is truly responsible for the payment of this fee.

Ok, this is crazy, but I got my permit and I was afraid to parralel park so I just kept driving on the permit. I got caught and I didnt have proof of insurance in the car. I paid 2,800 in tickets to the county and did 2 days in jail. Now I have to pay $1400 in driver responsibility fees to get a drivers license. I a single mother of two kids. For two years I have worked at a local convenience store so i can walk to work. I work for minimim wage and work about 20 -25 hrs a week. It's the best I can do without a license. I know I made mistakes and I haven't driven for 3 years. But my family is faced with total proverty because I cant go get my license without another 1400 payment. This is like double jeopardy. Who knows when I will ever be able to drive again. I have ambitions to continue my education and attain a better job to support my family .... but I have handicapped by this law. Cant a girl get a second chance to do the right thing? trudycampbell@charter.net

My son just came from court where not only does he have to finish paying off the original $2000 responsibility fee, but the state revoked his license when he badly broke his leg and couldn't pay the last $500. One of our useless state cops pulled him over for not using his blinker and informed my son his license was revoked....(The state has not been notifying people of this situation.) Anyway, my son now owes $490 for the balance of his court fees, is on tether for thirty days, his vehicle will be clubbed and he now owes the state another $1000. Hey Jennifer, I voted for you and you have certainly let us down.

I got some tickets for dwls (wasn't informed of suspension), DW NO Ins (my fault), DW Invalid plate (was switched by someone, don't know who, most likely someone who was stealing gas at gas stations) even the cop said that it looked recently tampered with. Went to jail for 2 days for all of this, car was impounded and sold on auction because I couldn't pay the almost $1000 in tickets in the time they gave me. Then here i am 4 years later and I had to pay off those $1000 in tickets, plus late fee's of another 400, plus my driver fees of $1700, plus another 600 this year?! WTF is that shite?! I'm sorry but after the first $1000 plus jail time AND losing my car, I think i would have learned my lesson!!! Now i finally have my stuff paid off except this years other $600 that I just got notice for and have my license back. I got notice saying if I do not pay within 30 days my license will be revoked until paid plus have to pay the reenstatement fee. omg Ms Granholm. Havn't you screwed up our state up financially enough? You had to put people in the poor house too?! i see more and more homeless people in downtown GR everyday and people are robbing others more and more because of all of your excess taxing! This state is going to burn before it knows it and all it'll do is throw its hands up in the air and say "What happened?!"

Yup, going on 3 years without a license because these *******s think they can send me a piece of paper saying I owe $2,000 and Im just going to pay them, yea right. Money hungry dirtbags, what kind of government shuts down, remember that, i woke up one morning to find out the government shut down and was restarted in one night. These people are a damn joke, Granholm is a ****** **** ***, and the day my money goes from my pocket into these pieces of ****'s palms is the day Granholm isn't a **** ******* ******. I've had the money to pay on many occassions but can't bring myself to do it, i just can't. **** em **** em **** em. now they have an extra unlicensed, therefore uninsured driver on the road, me, and im gonna keep on driving, if I rack up more fees, im gonna keep on driving, if I rack up more fees, im gonna keep on driving, if I rack up more fees, im gonna keep on driving, if I rack up more fees, im gonna keep on driving, if I rack up more fees, im gonna keep on driving, try and stop me from your little ******* offices, bet you never catch me and I swear to God I WILL NEVER PAY. oh yeah, all this because my friend backed into another one of my friends lightpole and I was dumb enough to take the blame for it not knowing about this ******** Fee. so much for the actual driver taking responsibility but that is not what the ******* driver responsibility fee is even really about is it.

I had a traffic violation while driving through New York. I was being careless and I have no problem paying the fine to the state of New York. I didn't know that I would be fined again by Michigan for committing a traffic violation in another state. Now I have to pay this bullshit 150 dollars or getting my licence suspended. I am getting fined twice for the same offense. Another thing I find interesting is that they made a point about paying another 125 dollars if you do not pay the fine by its due date, but I stared over the letter front and back and could not find a due date anywhere. I guess the state mofia wants to leave room to accuse you of being late no matter when you send in the payment. This law is just extortion in disguise, pay us money or something bad will happen to you.

This law is great! Dirt bags that aren't responsible shouldn't drive. Driving is not a right, it is a privelage and if you're a scumbag that doesn't haver insurance or pay your fines, you don't deserve to drive - You should be thrown in prison!!!

fines should you get for one infraction? one? two? ten? be eternally fined? the current law fines you twice. once for the ticket, and once for a 'responsibility fee'. one is fair and just, as it is set by a judge. the other is unfair and unjust, as it is set by someone sitting in an office, and it is automatic, no matter the circumstances involved. it is not justice, it is simply fund raising.

do you know what spell check is?

I did not pay a stop sign ticket in 2004 until 2005 as I was out of state. This fine has cost me over $2,500.00. Suspended license fee and ticket, stop sign ticket, driver responsibility fee. My wages were garnished causing a great hardship. 25% of my weekly pay went to State of Michigan. I have now paid off that debt and owe $125 to get my license reinstated. Granhold has put this state in a mess. Double dipping. Most people that are assessed these fees are hard working, good people that did not have the money initially to pay a ticket. What a way to run a state.

"This law is great! Dirt bags that aren't responsible shouldn't drive. Driving is not a right, it is a privelage and if you're a scumbag that doesn't haver insurance or pay your fines, you don't deserve to drive - You should be thrown in prison!!!" Firstly, let me fix up your commentary: "This law is great! Dirt-bags who aren't responsible shouldn't drive. Driving is not a right; it is a privilege, and if you're a scumbag who doesn't have insurance or pay his fines, then you don't deserve to drive--you should be thrown into prison!" I think there were five punctuation errors and two spelling bloopers. I lost count of the grammatical decrepitude after the first sentence. Also, I spotted two ad-homs and a threat of violence. You do realize that our children may be reading this forum, don't you? Imagine the shame you'd feel if your hasty post were responsible for the corruption of our kids' language skills. The threat is real, as studies have shown. For this reason, I will immediately write my state congressperson to demand a new law (the Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation Responsibility Act) that would punish, with a fine of $5000 per offense, any internet bloviator who would crap up our fine language in any forum in which children could be present. Hopefully this measure would lead to the speedy reform of rhetorical miscreants such as yourself.

the reason i have a drivers responsibility fee is because i was in a car acident. the acident was not my falt and because i was 19 and the other person was a older lady they belived her over me. i am now 23 and i'm working and going to college. but i keep getting arested because i cant pay the 5,000 they want.

when it happens to you and you want to kill yourself because every time you get a job to pay the bill you go back to jail again because you can't drive. if they wont let you drive to work to pay them back, how do they expect you to pay

You are ignorant and obviously look at every thing as either black or white--people like you are dirt bags.

I sympathize with you. My son received a ticket for no proof of insurance in the vehicle, we had insurance in the vehicle but had just moved and could not find it right away. We were ignorant to the new law any way his license was suspended to lack of payment and every thing has snow balled, he now has 3 driving on a suspended license and I see no end to this--all stemming over insurance that we had--I can still prove it. HE is in to the thousands now and is only 23, I don't know what to do. I am with you---and we are not scum bags, just people who work hard and didn't pay close attention to the new law which is DOUBLE JEOPARDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You are obvisouly a Michigan goverment employee I can judge that by you inability to spell.

Go get a drivers license in Wisconsin or Missouri they are not online with Michigan do not mention your Michigan Drivers license. You will only need a tax bill, electric bill, etc. the state websites list what you need for proof of residencey to get a license in there state. You can go online find what you need scan and edit and your home free simple. You be surpised to see how many Michigan residents have a Wisconsin drivers license.

How about a "government responsibility fee" ?? They have screwed up so many times, they would own us BILLIONS!!!!!! These jerk wads. Talk about a bunck of F ups!!!!!!!!!! OMG - Hacks, their ALL hacks!!!!!!!!!!

such a good idea. why doesn't granholm have to pay one for messing up this state so badly?

I am a school bus driver and work for my county as a snow plow driver. I am furios with the State concerning this bill. I recieved a ticket in East Lansing near the Breslin center for doing 30 in a 25 mph zone(speed trap, I was visiting the MSU campus for a basketball tournament and didn't notice any signs posted for a speed reduction, in fact I was last in a line of 5 cars traveling the same speed. The ticket was $135 which doubled to $270 because payment was not recievd in the alloted time, btw I had trouble coming up with the $135 but who gives a crap right? anyhow the court wrote me explaining they would take the money from my state tax refund, cool with me, they held it up but I guess the process didn't go as fast as they wanted so someone decided to go ahead and suspend my license, I never recieved a letter from the state saying it was suspended."here comes the good part" a police officer from the neighboring township waited apx. 7 houses from my residence at a convenience store, allowed me to pass then got behind me and stopped me, informed me that I "fit the description of the owner of the car whos license was suspened", got the ticket for dwls paid the $270 + $150 in court fees 2 points = speeding ticket, 2 points = dwls, then recieved a letter from the state $500 in 30 days for driver responsibility and additional $500 this time next year on top of all that insurace for my vehicles went up. All tha to say this I had 0 points prior now 2+2+(3) for driver responsibility = 7 will likely loose both jobs because 7 is the limit at both, $1420 = tickets, fees & fines, insurance dramatically increased. What can I do?

these tyrants are in opposition to the constitution and your liberties. they have fully embraced communism and are imposing it on you. this canadian communist that is planning to give away your land, take your wealth, and abolish the constitution should be exposed. we the people have attended public school and been brain washed to think that our rights is a privilege granted by the state when in fact it is a privilege that the citizens granted to the state to have a free hard working people who fought for this state. our politicians have run a muck. They are in favor of taking children from families and placing them in the hands of strangers, they are in favor of privacy invasive policies, they are in favor of taking the hard earned wealth that you the citizen create. Since our states economy is the worst in the nation, maybe our representative’s pay should be among the worst in the nation to reflect the job that they are doing here. I propose that senators, reps, and the gov take 1/3 cut in pay and health insurance should come out of their own pockets.

that is a great observation! this guy/gal probable supports state sanctioned gulags and capital punishment for jay-walker. what a mohron......ooops

sympathy from texas. we have the same unethical draconian legalized-extortion practices out here. whats going in these united states? living as an expatriot in somewhere like.....i dunno.....sri lanka.....is becoming more and more enticing each day.....

Actually, you are apparently rather uneducated in regards to our laws. The RIGHT to drive has been upheld in several U.S. Supreme Court cases. Hale Vs. Hinkle is one of the cases. Go ahead and google it. It will direct you to all the other cases that involve the supreme court saying that driving is a RIGHT and not a PRIVILEGE. so get over yourself and get a bit of real life education.

The state will garnish your wages if you do not pay the fines involved with your ticket. However, they cannot garnish your wages in order to retrieve the fee. I am testament that you can stand up against this threat of garnishment because it is simply an empty one. I located testimony from a State lawyer, in court, stating that it is only a requirement to pay the fee IF you wish to get your drivers license back. Otherwise, you don't have to pay it. Stop griping about it and do something! Stand up for your rights!

The bus-driver's story that began with a speeding ticket in East Lansing is terrifically sad, made doubly so by the fact that East Lansing's speed limits are invalid. The ticket that wound up costing this fellow over $1,500, his license, and possibly his job was itself illegal. Michigan speed law changed on Nov. 9, 2006, requiring cities to re-post limits on major streets under their jurisdiction in accordance with the Uniform Traffic Code, or in accordance with a formula based on driveway frequency. (This is not true of state highways and county roads.) East Lansing has never brought its limits into compliance with state law, but continues to issue tickets under invalid limits. In some cases, East Lansing limits were legislated by its city council, something that was never legal under the old law. Anyone getting a ticket for driving while license suspended should NOT plead guilty to this offense! Most judges will let you plead to a lesser offense that does not carry the mandatory (and possibly illegal) $1,000 fine. This is what Sen. Debbie Stabenow's husband did when he got such a ticket after getting pulled over in Troy recently for dallying with a prostitute. He wasn't charged for that offense, and the judge let him skate on the DWLS offense and avoid the $1,000 fine. In the interest of fairness, many judges will not let even a rich driver, such as the Senator's husband, voluntarily plead guilty to driving with a suspended license.

I have been charged with unlawful driving away of and automobile and I wasn't even driving. Now I have to pay a 1000 dollar driver responsibility fee 2 years in a row. I believe it is just plain wrong to lose your driving privileges for something that that happened while sitting in the passenger seat of a car.

just about the money and nothing else. Ya Think? Any idiot that thinks the state has your best interests at heart should seek help immediatly. And the ones that believe all that "it's for the children" b.s. should go to the front of the line.

they cared "about the children" they would close all the government indoctrination centers tomorrow. The schools in this country are living proof that they don't give a hoot "about the children". They have become a giant make work program at the state teat and are controlled by the teachers unions entirely.

That is a lie. I recieved the drivers resposibility fee after I paid my tickets and I had insurance. I received three tickets in 2 years and they stuck me with a fee of $350 to pay within 15 days. That is so not cool and it is wrong, I think I am showing that I am responsible by paying my tickets on time, why should a person have to pay more???? The ticket is high enough!!

here is an example for you i got a ticket for no "proof" of insurance... card expired that day. I was charged normal fines which i paid and a 200 dollar driver respos... i never recieved notice on the second payment a year later and I was pulled of for DWLS... now I can't driver for 2 weeks untill my payment clears then if I actually get convicted of DWLS i have to pay $500 to the state for 2 years $125 reinstatment fee (AGAIN) and the the fines.... because I didn't have proof of insurance (I did in fact have insurance) I could wind up spending over $2000 total. and miss 2 weeks of work. **** granholm. thats 20% of my take hom yearly

yeah right! obviously a brainwashed government employee.

My son was given a ticket for driving without a license, which he did not have because I could not afford to pay for driver education classes, I accept that he deserved the ticket, and the subsequent two others he got, but now he owes the state three thousand dollars in driver responsibility fees, and he had a drivers license number issued to him just so they could suspend it. Now he is twenty years old and in college and still can't get a drivers license because of the exorbitant fees they want. He is afraid to even open a bank account for fear they will take his money. This is ridiculous. If they still had free drivers education in High School like they used to, he never would have gotten the first ticket. He is a very good and responsible driver, but as long as they want this money and he is living in this state, he will never be able to get a drivers license, which hinders him finding a job, getting to school, etc. etc. The government of the state of Michigan SUCKS!!

people who thought that 'driver responsibility fees' were a good idea, and elect people who think that REPEALING 'driver responsibility fees' is a good idea. simple as that. it may mean that democrats will need to stay home and complain that the conservatives are taking over, but such is life.

i was hit with this "fee" for no proof of insurance, i HAD insurance, but didnt have the slip in my car because i was returning from a car show and had taken it out when i cleaned my car and forgot to put it back in. the officer specifically told me that this ticket wasnt fixable by showing my proof of insurance so i went ahead and paid the ticket. i had no idea that these fees were being applied and had my license suspended. I recieved no notice that i was suspended so got pulled over and arrested for driving on a suspended. they also impounded my car,which caused me to lose my job because i live in the middle of no where. i dont have access to public transportation and cannot walk to a job. I have since moved back in with my parents (who also live in BFE.) and am pretty much stuck untill this law gets repealed because i cant pay the fees because i cant get back and forth to work. I tried to get them to give me a temporary license so i could at least get to and from work and they wont give me one. which means i have no way of paying these fees. its people like you that are the problem with this country. you automatically thing that the law only applys to people who intentionally broke the law. i never intentionally broke the law and wouldnt have driven had they done more to make sure i knew my license was being suspended, and would have paid the fees had THEY told me that i was beeing assessed them. but even if i dont get the notice im still responsible for them...how is that fair? what the hell do they think i am a psycic? well i say SHAME ON YOU and i hope you are assessed these fees and lose every thing you have!