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Bill to amend D.C. ticket appeals before council committee

Wednesday - 10/9/2013, 12:40pm  ET

D.C. DMV Director Lucinda Babers testifies at Tuesday's hearing. (WTOP/Ari Ashe)

More on the proposal before the D.C. Council

Ari Ashe, WTOP Ticketbuster reporter



The proposed bill, known as the Traffic Adjudication Amendment Act of 2013, would give drivers up to two years to re-open a ticket case if there's new evidence that clearly demonstrates their innocence. The new evidence would need to have been unavailable to someone doing their due diligence before the initial hearing decision.

The proposal also would require the DMV's appeals board to rule on appeals within six months, or else the ticket would be automatically dismissed.



"It's their position that they're right. We don't really have a lot we can say," said Jocelyn Johnson, who testified at the hearing before the council's Committee on Transportation and the Environment. "No matter what you tell them, you have to go through so many hoops. It goes above and beyond because they don't have a process to give you the benefit of anything."

That sentiment has been echoed many times to WTOP since the Ticketbuster series launched earlier this year. Many drivers are upset with the DMV over what they see as red tape and a lack of customer service. Some feel the department's hearing examiners are predisposed to finding ways to rule against drivers on challenged tickets.


"Absolutely I believe so," Babers said. "I review hundreds of these cases. If I believed they weren't, then I'd do something about it if they have evidence to support it."

Babers also was asked about whether it's fair to think hearing examiners are predisposed to rule against the driver.

"No. For parking violations it is a preponderance of the evidence, and for moving violations it's clear and convincing. That's what the statute reads," she said.


D.C. Councilwoman Mary Cheh, chair of the transportation and environment committee, addressed the issues involved at Tuesday's hearing.

"I think this bill attempts to correct the inflexibility sometimes shown by the DMV when it comes to ticket adjudication," said Cheh, D-Ward 3. "Such inflexibility results in a feeling by people that they're being treated unfairly."

"If those residents go through an adjudication process for a ticket that they believe was erroneously issued, and they find the process to be unfair, overly lengthy or poorly administered, it leads them to believe the entire D.C. government functions similiarly," Cheh said. "For the general confidence of the public, we need to make sure these processes function properly."







Cheh's committee now will review the bill's language and decide whether to change, approve or kill it.


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