Columnist Susan Snyder: Business gets us out of line

Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2001 | 8:26 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or 259-4082.

Lorraine Solomon says the trick to starting a service-based business is to remember one common aspect of human nature.

"People are basically lazy," she said.

That's not a bad thing, she added. It's just that we're so busy. Many of us are willing to pay someone to perform tasks we simply don't have time to do ourselves.

You can hire someone to walk the dog, water the plants, watch the kids, hang Christmas lights, clean house, buy groceries, stand in line for an auto tag and drop off the film, dry cleaning or prescriptions.

Now if you have a traffic ticket that must be paid in Clark County Justice Court, Solomon will stand in line and pay it for you -- for a fee, of course.

Traffic Connection is barely three weeks old, and on Friday co-owners Solomon and Michelle Ely said they hadn't yet served their first customer. But they figure it just takes time for people to know they're around.

Here's how it works: Send Traffic Connection a photocopy of the ticket and include copies of your insurance card and driver's license if you need to have proof of those. Also include a cashier's check for the full amount of the fine plus the $20 fee.

For the $20 Solomon will stand in line and pay fines for up to three tickets per person. The business handles only tickets that are paid in Clark County Justice Court's Las Vegas township office, where Ely says the wait can be three to four hours long.

Traffic Connection doesn't make traffic school appointments or deal with ticket disputes. It also doesn't give legal advice, and the ticket must be sent before the scheduled court date.

Fines paid in person before the court date noted on the ticket generally result in a discount, Ely said. So it pays to pay up in person.

Once the ticket is paid, Ely and Solomon send the person the original receipt and any refund. The refund amount is written on the court receipt, so clients know they aren't being cheated.

Ely and her husband have owned and operated Southern Nevada Process Service for five years. The business uses runners to deliver and file court documents.

Solomon was working as one of Ely's runners late last year when she came up with the idea for Traffic Connection.

"I was standing in justice court, and I saw a friend of mine there. I know he makes good money, and it seemed a shame this guy was losing about $200 to stand in line to pay a $60 ticket," Solomon said.

She says even after paying the $20 fee, most people still will come out ahead on the discounts for having their tickets paid in person.

"When I was managing restaurants one employee taking the day off killed me (financially). I'd have gladly paid someone $20 to do this for them," Solomon said.

They're targeting people who work in the service industry, parents who don't want to drag small children into a crowded waiting room, people who don't want to hassle with parking in downtown Las Vegas, executives who don't have time to stand around -- basically anyone for whom time is money.

Or sanity.

"We are so, so busy in our society," Ely said.

You can call Traffic Connection at 385-5771, or visit its office, 320 S. Third St., Suite 9, Las Vegas.