Traffic Ticket Warrants Tossed For Nearly 270,000 Clark County Residents
You read that headline right. According to Clark County Commissioner William McCurdy II, around 270,000 people in Clark County have warrants for an unpaid traffic ticket. That’s nearly 12 percent of the population!
Well, thankfully for a slew of Clark County residents, and the rest of Nevada, you’re about to get a “get out of jail before you get sent to jail” card. A new change to Nevada law will have many traffic tickets decriminalized.
Assembly Bill 116 was approved back in 2021 and starting January 1st, minor traffic infractions that go unpaid won’t result in potentially getting arrested. There will be no warrants handed out after that date. Plus all existing warrants (and there are a bunch) will be tossed.
It’s worth noting, this is for minor traffic infractions. Broken tail light here. Texting while driving there. Just a smidge over the limit everywhere. But major infractions like going 20+ over the speed limit, reckless driving or DUIs will not be given the same leeway.
You’re not totally off the hook…
Don’t think you’re getting off TOO easy though. You’ll still be on the hook for the ticket, and if they are unpaid tickets then it could be reported to your insurance or a collections agency. It’ll also likely stop you from renewing your registration or license.
The thinking behind the policy change is it stops a potential snowball effect. A person gets a traffic ticket. They can’t afford to get the ticket fixed or pay the fine, so they let it linger. They forget to pay. Then inevitably they get pulled over and arrested and held for a couple days. That means they miss work for a couple days, which only exacerbates the problem of being unable to pay in the first place.
Nearly 40 other states have had laws on the books decriminalizing minor traffic violations.
