Let punishment show state has common sense

EDITORIAL: It’s about time the state stops suspending licenses for single unpaid parking tickets

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   One of the hallmarks of our justice system is its basis in fairness, with punishments meted out in appropriate measure to the crime.
   So why do New Jersey drivers face the disproportionate punishment of license suspension for the most innocuous crime in the book — a parking ticket?
   We have wondered why this is so and why it’s tolerated here ever since learning of the law (disclaimer: that lesson came dressed in a Hillsborough Township police uniform with an arrest warrant for an overdue ticket issued by Princeton Borough in 1994).
   We recognize parking laws exist for many reasons, including protecting the safety of drivers and pedestrians on crowded areas. Or even to allow for the safe plowing of snow-covered roads.
   But many parking violations are not violations of safety, but rather violations of rules intended to earn a municipality revenue — not safety, public health or other reasons protecting a greater societal good.
   We would submit revoking a driver’s license for such an infraction is undeniably excessive, and may even be found in violation of the New Jersey State Constitution if anyone were to challenge their $5 ticket through the courts.
   Parking tickets double if unpaid by their due date, an entirely reasonable punishment for ignoring the violation, but to cause someone to face the hundreds or even thousands of dollars getting a license restored is absurd.
   We don’t have a problem with aggressive punishments for the true scofflaw, but not for the occasional lapse represented by a single unpaid ticket.
   Now, two legislators are trying to do something about it by dropping the provision allowing for license suspension for a single unpaid ticket.
   Sen. Thomas Kean Jr., R-Westfield, and Assemblyman Eric Munoz, R-Summit, each introduced this common-sense legislation in their respective houses.
   The bills include a provision allowing the state to withhold vehicle registration for unpaid tickets, a far more reasonable approach and one used by many other states.
   It may come as a surprise, but this simple change is running into resistance. Speaking on behalf of the Administrative Office of the Courts in an article in the Courier-News last week, Tamara Kendig said her office does not support the change.
   Ms. Kendig objected to people not paying their tickets, but the change does not eliminate the need for the tickets to be paid — it only gives the motorist a final chance before compounding it with an expired vehicle registration.
   We urge readers to contact Assemblymen Peter Biondi, a member of the Assembly Transportation Committee currently reviewing Mr. Munoz’s bill, A-2033.
   We also urge readers to contact the members of the Senate Law and Public Safety and Veterans Affairs Committee, reviewing Mr. Kean’s bill (S-2036), Sens. John Girgenti, Paul Sarlo, Anthony Bucco, Peter Inverson and Nicholas Sacco.
   The legislators can be quickly contacted through the state’s Web site, www.njleg.state.nj.us.
   Let’s let the punishment fit the crime — no matter how minor the crime.