We are interested in civil fine amounts for all vehicle traffic law violations for all states and jurisdictions.
Does anyone know the website or open data portal that contains this information?
It appears that in New York State the Department of Motor Vehicle Referees (this is the title of the person that makes the decision at the Traffic Violations Bureau (TVB) hearings) seem to have a list of civil fine amounts (both minimum and, I assume, maximum) All this information should be public and also does anyone know the process on how the civil fines (minimum and maximum) are determined. That also should be a public process.
I've called our New York State Department of Motor Vehicle Data Services and FOIL department and they very politely told me that they are not sure if this data exists and I would have to pay the FOIL search fee and the fee per page for this information. That seems odd for such general information that should be publicly available in our DMV website and open data sites.
In the meantime, I have uploaded all the NYS traffic tickets from 2008 to 2012 here: http://bit.ly/nystickets The data is from the very limited function NYS open data site.
If you know SQL then, read carefully. I've placed the raw data here: https://bigquery.cloud.google.com/table/personal-real-estate:nys.traffic_tickets?pli=1
You can query all the data yourself.
Here's one interesting query result:
The top ten actual traffic violations:
count violation_charged_code violation_description
1898178 1180D SPEED IN ZONE
976955 1225C2A IMPRPR CELLPHONE USE
788251 1180B SPEED OVER 55 ZONE
759342 306B UNINSPECTED MOTOR VEHICLE
752639 1110A DISOB TRAFFIC DEVICE
671633 5091 UNLICENSED OPERATOR
667455 1229C3A NO SEAT BELT DRIVER
507210 37512A2 TINTED GLASS
480491 1225C2A OPERATING MV MOBILE PHONE
471609 1229C3 NO SEAT BELT ADULT
There are even bicycle/skater specific law but apparently they do not have to be used. It is apparently at the discretion of a police officer what violation they wish to place on the ticket. Is this the equal protection of the laws?
count violation_charged_code violation_description
9636 1231 RULES ROAD VIO BICY
2532 37524A OPER MV/MC/BIC W/MORE 1 EARPHONE
2357 1236B NO BELL/SIG DEV BICY
1412 1236A NO/INADEQUATE LIGHTS-BICYCLE
1169 1236B NO BELL OR SIGNAL DEVICE ON BICYCLE
768 1234A FAILURE TO KEEP RIGHT-BICYCLE
228 1232A IMPROPER OPERATION OF BICYCLE
227 1234C FAILURE TO STOP WHEN ENTERING ROAD/BICYCLE
155 18231A UNAUTHORIZED USE OF RESTRICTED VEH ON PKWY-BICYCLE
148 1236C NO/INADEQUATE BRAKES-BICYCLE
143 1236E NO/IMPROPER REFLECTOR-BICYCLE
95 1236D NO REFLECTOR WHEEL/BICYCLE
90 1238 NO CHILD BICYCLE HELMET
74 1229AB BIC/PUSHCART/ANIMAL DRWN VEH ON EXPRESSWAY
60 1232B TOO MANY RIDERS - BICYCLE
50 1234B MORE THAN TWO ABREAST-BICYCLE
31 1122-A FAILED TO SAFELY PASS A BICYCLE
30 1235 CARRYING OBSTRUCTIVE ARTICLES ON BICYCLES
6 1230A PERMITTED VIO OF ARTICLE 34/OPER OF BICYCLES
3 1122AU UNSAFE PASS BICYCLE
Unusual actual traffic violations:
1 398D2 FLD TO MAKE WRITTEN ESTIMATE/CHARGED EXCESS
1 12221B NO OPER-RACKS INSEC
1 5072JL FLD EXHB LIC JR <=60
1 2130A5 PROD/MANUFCTURE/POSESS DEV TO REPRODUCE TITLE CERT
1 509L2B PERMIT/REQ OPER/REMAIN ON DUTY INTOX
1 2129B FAILED TO REPORT RECOVERY VEH
1 1203D2 PARKED ON HIGHWAY FOR REPAIR
1 10311 EMER LIGHT EQUIP-TWY
1 14F4C OPERATING A VEHICLE OUT OF SERVICE
1 415A10B FLD/KEEP IMPROPER RECORDS SCRAP COL
1 10736 FLD USE DESG LA-TBTA
1 1228 RIDING IN HOUSE TRLR
1 509L1C POSSESS ALCOHOL ON DUTY OPERATING BUS
1 1022 PROH LIQOR/INTOX BEV
1 17055 NONE
Amazing!!! RIDING IN HOUSE TRLR is specifically prohibited by law???
Why not have a law specifically prohibiting RIDING IN ELEVATOR, RIDING IN OUTDOOR TOILET, RIDING RECKLESSLY INTO OUTER SPACE AND TO THE MOON, etc. etc. etc.
Here is a FOIL request to the New York State Department of Motor Vehicle
If you are a non profit organization or public representative, please comment here or contact us we'd like to form an organization to make law and civil fines more transparent and equal and logical.
Please provide in CSV all civil fine amounts (both minimum and maximum) for all New York State (NYS) Vehicle Traffic Law (VTL) violations for all jurisdictions in New York State.
The header row should be:
Jurisdiction, VTLnumber, minfine, maxfine, dateenacted, active
Example Format of Data Expected:
NYC, VTL1231, 0, 50, 2000-01-01, Y
