{"id":14663,"date":"2010-03-09T07:00:01","date_gmt":"2010-03-09T07:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.msdn.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/2010\/03\/09\/why-is-the-fine-for-a-basic-traffic-infraction-in-the-state-of-washington-such-a-random-looking-number\/"},"modified":"2010-03-09T07:00:01","modified_gmt":"2010-03-09T07:00:01","slug":"why-is-the-fine-for-a-basic-traffic-infraction-in-the-state-of-washington-such-a-random-looking-number","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/20100309-01\/?p=14663","title":{"rendered":"Why is the fine for a basic traffic infraction in the state of Washington such a random-looking number?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.msdn.com\/willy-peter_schaub\/\"> Willy-Peter Schaub<\/a> was puzzled by a sign <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.msdn.com\/willy-peter_schaub\/archive\/2009\/03\/30\/on-a-personal-note-strange-sign.aspx\"> reminding drivers that the fine for obstructing an intersection is $101 and wonders what the extra $1 is for<\/a>.\n The laws of the State of Washington defer the monetary value of traffic fines to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.courts.wa.gov\/court_rules\/?fa=court_rules.list&amp;group=clj&amp;set=IRLJ\"> Infraction Rules for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction<\/a> (more commonly known as the IRLJ), specifically section 6.2: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.courts.wa.gov\/court_rules\/pdf\/CLJIRLJ6.2.pdf\"> Monetary Penalty Schedule for Traffic Infractions<\/a> [pdf].\n But wait, the fine listed in the IRLJ is only $42. Where did $101 come from?\n In addition to the base fine in the IRLJ, <a href=\"http:\/\/apps.leg.wa.gov\/rcw\/default.aspx?cite=3.62.090\"> RCW 3.62.090<\/a> specifies additional assessments: Section (1) specifies a 70% assessment for public safety and education, and section (2) specifies an additional public safety and education assessment equal to 50% of the earlier assessment. On top of that, <a href=\"http:\/\/apps.leg.wa.gov\/rcw\/default.aspx?cite=46.63.110\"> RCW 46.63.110<\/a> specifies various fees and penalties: Section 7(a) specifies a $5 fee for emergency services, section 7(b) specifies a $10 fee for auto theft prevention, section 7(c) specifies a $2 fee for the traumatic brain injury account, and section 8(a) specifies a $20 penalty to be shared between the state and the local jurisdiction.\n There are probably other clauses which add to the fines and penalties. I remember investigating this a few years ago and convincing myself that after taking all the fines and penalties and assessments and whatever-else-they-call-its into account, the total did come to $101. (Actually, they bring it to something close to $101, and then another rule about rounding kicks in.)<\/p>\n<p> And you won&#8217;t get the numbers to add up to $101 any more because there were changes to the fee schedule in July 2007. The fine for basic traffic infractions is now $124. The new calculation appears to be 42&nbsp;&times;&nbsp;2.05&nbsp;+&nbsp;5&nbsp;+&nbsp;10&nbsp;+&nbsp;2&nbsp;+&nbsp;20&nbsp;=&nbsp;$123.10, which rounds up to $124. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Willy-Peter Schaub was puzzled by a sign reminding drivers that the fine for obstructing an intersection is $101 and wonders what the extra $1 is for. The laws of the State of Washington defer the monetary value of traffic fines to the Infraction Rules for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction (more commonly known as the IRLJ), [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1069,"featured_media":111744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[103],"class_list":["post-14663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oldnewthing","tag-non-computer"],"acf":[],"blog_post_summary":"<p>Willy-Peter Schaub was puzzled by a sign reminding drivers that the fine for obstructing an intersection is $101 and wonders what the extra $1 is for. The laws of the State of Washington defer the monetary value of traffic fines to the Infraction Rules for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction (more commonly known as the IRLJ), [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1069"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}