The California Highway Patrol would like to eliminate paper traffic tickets in favor of an e-ticket system that would save time, money, and cut back on clerical errors.The state is launching a pilot program to test a series of hand-held devices to administer traffic citations, according to Government Technology. Aside from eliminating the need to enter paper tickets into a computer system once back at the police station, the devices would transmit ticket data to the California courts in 48 hours or less.
“It takes several weeks for paper copies to make it to the courts,” Chappelle said. “If it’s someone that you want to revoke their driving privilege for or get them into the court system as soon as possible, sometimes you’re held up by the [current system’s] clerical processing.”
On Sept. 30, the CHP will begin a six-month test of 400 Motorola devices running Advanced Public Safety software. The pilot will include three court jurisdictions: one CHP office in Santa Clara County, another in San Bernardino County and three CHP offices in Orange County.
California Highway Patrol to Test E-Ticketing System
The accelerated processing time probably won’t be a boon to those breaking the law, but it may help get problem drivers off the road faster. The hand-held devices also help officers write tickets faster: On average, the Highway Patrol estimates that it takes an officer 10 minutes to write up a paper ticket but less than 2 minutes to write an electronic ticket. Does your state use electronic traffic ticketing? Are there other paper-based government services that should be made electronic?
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“GovBytes” is a blog series created by GovLoop in partnership with Government Technology. If you see great a story on Gov Tech and want to ask a question around it, please send it to [email protected].
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