Editorial: Traffic fine alternatives a good idea
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In Pennsylvania, a driver’s license is often a lifeline.
The state Legislature’s Center for Rural Pennsylvania puts the number of residents who live in rural areas at 27%. That’s definitely not the majority.
But those 3.5 million or so people are scattered over the largest part of the state. Not the 29% that makes up more urban areas like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. No, they occupy the remaining 48 counties that have smaller communities spread out further away from each other.
In these areas, mass transportation is frequently either nonexistent or impractical. You might need a car to get to a central point for a once- or twice-a-day pickup. Any option might be limited to senior citizens or disabled residents. It is not as easy or obvious as a bus stop down the block where buses coming and going from different locations stop several times a day.
And that is why a proposal from state Sen. Jay Costa Jr. of Forest Hills, who is the Senate Democratic leader, and state Sen. Pat Stefano, a Republican from Connellsville, is a perfect example of bipartisan problem-solving and real-world understanding.
The two are advancing an idea that would provide new ways to pay traffic fines that don’t involve cash, instead turning to alternatives like community service.
Unpaid traffic fines for drivers between the ages of 16 and 24 led to 124,650 indefinite suspensions between 2014 and 2017, according to the Buhl Foundation. That means thousands of young Pennsylvanians either didn’t drive because they had no legal license or they got behind the wheel without one.
And in 71% of the state, where there are fewer buses, one of those options is probably more likely than the other.
“We’re talking about desperate people who need to drive and can’t afford to pay the fines to get their licenses returned,” said Westmoreland County Public Defender Wayne McGrew.
Costa said he is “confident there is bipartisan support for this,” which is encouraging.
If there is support for allowing it for young people, maybe there could eventually be support for having the threshold be income rather than age.
If a 22-year-old who needs a license to get from class to work is worth helping, so is a 40-year-old mom driving kids to school and herself to work and picking up groceries and the hundred other things that go into running a family.