Get a Ticket, File a Claim

Here an innovative idea that just might get very popular:

Don’t like paying speeding tickets? Now you won't have too, if you buy into a new service called Traffic Care.

Founded by retired police officer Troy Simpson, Traffic Care works as a ticket insurance that picks up the tab for ticket fines and for subsequent increases in insurance premiums, MyFOXKC.com reported.

“A ticket is written every 2 seconds in America,“ Simpson told the TV station, “I knew that the traffic ticket industry — and it is an industry — is a billion-dollar-a-year industry nationally.”

Simpson now taps into that industry, by offering to cover ticket costs for a monthly fee of $12.95. Traffic Care members are allowed up to seven moving violations per month, including “speeding, red light, seatbelt, stop sign, yield sign, illegal lane change, anything considered hazardous,” Simpson said. Parking tickets aren't included.

At $156 a year, some drivers may question the service’s worth. One Traffic Care customer told the station, however, that she’s never gotten a ticket but pays for the peace of mind. Traffic Care says 80 percent of its clients never get tickets, the station reported.

$156 dollars a year is not that much when you consider what you'll end up spending for most moving violations these days. In Orange County a carpool lane violation will run you over $300 plus whatever it does to your insurance. How many times have you as a driver without passengers wished you could jump over and use the carpool lane but didn't want to risk the ticket? This might make the risk worth it.

And, if you want to keep a ticket off your record, you can go the traffic school route, however in my county you still have to pay the cost of the ticket plus the traffic school charges. On top of all that is the 8 hours of absolutely wasted time you'll spend sitting in traffic school. Many years ago I did traffic school to get rid of a ticket because I was afraid it would hit my insurance. The class was taught by some off-duty cop who clearly didn't give a rip about what he was doing. The class meandered meaninglessly all day without any clear curiculum or purpose for being there other than to do 8 hours in class. I almost think I would have preferred 8 hours in jail.

Since I haven't had a ticket for several years, if I get another one, I'm just gonna pay the fine and walk away. One citation won't hurt my insurance and it's not worth spending 8 hours in a stupid class.