Speeding on the highway and lost my warning ticket!

June 24, 2013 7:11 AM

Last Saturday, I was speeding on the highway leaving West Bloomfield, Michigan on my way to Cincinnati, Ohio. A police officer pulled me to the side and forgave me for the transgression by issuing me a speeding ticket warning that carries some sort of monetary penalty that my parents have to pay for. I lost the ticket stub itself and don't remember where I was on I-275/if I was even on I-275 and my Mom said that if I don't get it to her ASAP the fines will triple and I'll be grounded. Do any of you guys know if there is a central repository of tickets issued in Michigan that I can go to to see the warning ticket number since locating the exact spot on Google maps is difficult? If not, what can I do?
posted by anonymous to Law & Government (17 answers total)

Best answer: I don't know if there's a central repository, but what I'd do is call the police offices of the various towns that you passed through at or around that time and ask them. You'll want, at a minimum, your license plate number and the location and approximate time you were pulled over and cited.
posted by gauche at 7:25 AM on June 24, 2013

If you were ticketed in West Bloomfield, Michigan, the first place to contact would be their police department.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:25 AM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]

Were you pulled over by a Statie or by county or local police. I suspect it was highway patrol. Contact them and see if they can help.

Also, you're 21 years old. This is YOUR ticket, YOU should pay it.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 7:29 AM on June 24, 2013 [34 favorites]

You can look up any traffic tickets you have in Michigan here, on the Michigan DMV website. Sounds to me like a normal speeding ticket, not some kind of special warning ticket.

(By the way, I googled Michigan traffic tickets to find this & it was the first result).
posted by insectosaurus at 7:33 AM on June 24, 2013 [2 favorites]

Several district courts in Wayne County, along your path, seem to participate in an online ticket payment system that allows you to search by county/court and driver's license number.

Incidentally, DMV.org is not the Michigan DMV web site but rather a private service charging $40 for some sort of public record lookup.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 7:37 AM on June 24, 2013

If you were in West Bloomfield, the ticket should have gone to the 48th District Court. Call the traffic division and explain what happened, they may be able to retrieve the number for you or at least tell you which agency pulled you over. Once you have the ticket number, pay it here.

Do it ASAP or it could default -- all sorts of bad things happen, like you lose your license, missed the notice in the mail and then you get arrested next time you get pulled over for speeding for having a revoked license.
posted by mibo at 7:37 AM on June 24, 2013

Wow, I totally missed the giant banner at the top stating that it was not the real DMV website. Sorry about that! Please ignore my comment.
posted by insectosaurus at 7:41 AM on June 24, 2013

Several years ago I kept getting parking tickets here in Chicago. I successfully contested all of them (none of them were legit, long story) but I wanted to make sure there weren't any outstanding. I called the issuing body (City of Chicago Department of Revenue) and asked them to do a manual lookup of my plate number.

If I were in your position, I would do the same thing. I would start by calling all of the various ticketing agencies (state police, highway patrol, local cops, etc) and having them look up your plate number to see if there are any outstanding tickets.

And I completely 100% agree with Ruthless Bunny here. Your mom was not speeding. YOU were speeding. This is your ticket and you pay for it, no matter who the car belongs to. If the fines triple, too fucking bad--you shouldn't have lost the ticket. Lesson learned for next time.
posted by phunniemee at 7:44 AM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]

Call the county traffic court line, this should be easy. Get an operator on the line and they will help you. If you're not sure which county you were in start with the most likely one.
posted by cairdeas at 7:45 AM on June 24, 2013

Mod note: Ticket tracking question, not family money-handling question. Point's been made already, please keep it focused.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:48 AM on June 24, 2013

1) It was a warning ticket for speeding, not a ticket with points toward my license.
2) It wasn't in West Bloomfield, it was in some other city that I can't remember. I was pulled over by highway patrol.
posted by lotusmish at 7:48 AM on June 24, 2013

AFAIK warnings do not have a fine associated with them.
posted by Gungho at 8:07 AM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: You should be able to find the police department that issued the ticket by calling the Michigan DMV or the DMV that issued your license.
posted by unreasonable at 8:20 AM on June 24, 2013

nth-ing guache.

I'm assuming a warning was issued for a specific infraction but a ticket was issued on a lesser one.

I'm not sure what kind of ticket it would be that would put your parents on the hook for as tickets are typically issued to the driver of the vehicle (aside: me and the missus borrowed her father's camper van just last week and were pulled over for expired tags. The missus, who was driving, was issued the ticket, not her father.) Photo radar, on the other hand, will be issued to the owner of the car.
posted by mazola at 8:22 AM on June 24, 2013

Best answer: I was pulled over by highway patrol

Great, you can call Michigan Highway Patrol, they should be able to help you out.

Address and Telephone

Michigan State Police Headquarters
333 S. Grand Ave.
P.O. Box 30634
Lansing, MI 48909-0634
Information: [phone]
External Telephone Directory


Call the number and ask them how you can get a copy of the ticket.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 8:40 AM on June 24, 2013 [2 favorites]

Thank you, everyone. I found the ticket number with Ruthless Bunny's help and have forwarded the information to my Mom.
posted by lotusmish at 9:12 AM on June 24, 2013

Sounds like you are a recipient of the famous "impeding traffic" citation in Michigan. It's a very common citation -- the police officer will generally tell you that he or she is doing you a favor, since if you simply pay the fine this citation incurs no points and is not reported to insurance companies. The more likely explanation is that it brings in more income and such tickets are less likely to be contested. Either way, it is better than receiving a speeding ticket.
posted by pardonyou? at 1:49 PM on June 24, 2013 [2 favorites]