In an attempt to lessen the agony of getting a traffic ticket and to reduce the risk of personal injury to police officers, Maryland State Police is lobbying lawmakers in Annapolis to allow electronic traffic tickets.
State policesaid the electronic ticketing would improve officer safety by reducing the time they spend standing on the side of the road writing tickets. Court officials said electronic tickets would eliminate hours of data entry, speed up the process of scheduling court dates and eliminate the headaches of illegible handwriting.
But the system?s cost, security and potential threat to the legal rights of defendants left lawmakers with some unanswered questions Thursday after a three-hour presentation.
“I don?t think there?s any question that there?ll be a bill this year,” said Del. Joseph Vallario, D-Prince George?s, who chairs the House committee that would consider the legislation. “But the devil?s in the details.”
District Court Chief Judge Ben Clyburn told lawmakers the electronic ticketing system would cut out an estimated 80 percent of the time it normally takes a police officer to issue a ticket. With a quick scan of the bar code on the traffic offender?s driver?s license and a few clicks of a mouse, an officer could print multiple copies of a complete citation with the driver?s personal information, specific charges and total fines.
Clyburn said eliminating the requirement that offenders sign the ticket to prove they received it would further speed up the process and reduce the chances of the officer and driver arguing over the signature that some offenders fear is an admission of guilt. Offenders who choose not to contest a ticket could also pay their fine online with a credit card.
The system was estimated to cost $248,000 in the first year to set up and $300,000 annually after that to maintain a technology help desk, reconcile online payment records and purchase paper for the ticket printers.
Del. Michael Smigiel, a Republican who represents the Eastern Shore, said he worried about eliminating the requirement that offenders sign the tickets because they would not have that signature availableto prove whether they were ones driving at the time of the violation.
Del. Susan Lee, D-Montgomery, who also chairs a legislative task force on identity theft, worried about the risk of identity theft when ticket information is transmitted and stored electronically by the police department.
