No small matter

Saturday, Jan. 31, 2009 | 2:07 a.m.

Thousands of motorists who have been issued tickets for traffic violations are essentially saying “catch me if you can” and are counting on court officials being unable to meet that challenge.

The Las Vegas Sun’s Jeff German reported this week that unpaid traffic fines owed to Clark County amount to $138.3 million. German used the word “staggering” to describe that amount of money slipping away from the county, and he is right.

We doubt there is a court system anywhere in the country that could report a 100 percent collection rate for traffic fines. But there is no excuse for the amount owed Clark County. Frankly, it is just plain ridiculous.

The problem is that officials at Las Vegas Justice Court, the court responsible for collecting traffic fines, were not aggressively going after scofflaws. That began to change in 2005, the year District Court administrators took charge of Justice Court.

Fortunately, in the years since, court officials have given collections a higher priority.

Four court staffers are assigned full time to calling offenders and arranging for them to pay their fines.

Another court effort that began in 2006 — an amnesty program that allowed overdue tickets to be paid without penalty of additional fines or arrest — ends Friday.

Offenders who have not paid their fines by then may find a constable knocking at their door. Their penalties could include being arrested and booked at the Clark County Detention Center and facing additional fines of $300 or more.

At first it sounds excessive to book someone because he hasn’t paid a traffic ticket. But people should not think they can ignore the law and nothing will come of it. Many of the long-overdue tickets were issued to people whose reckless driving was putting lives in danger.

Enforcement must be taken seriously if reckless drivers are to get the message and county taxpayers are to get the money they are owed.