JEFFERSON CITY - If you ever tried to avoid paying for a parking ticket, you may want to pay attention.
If a St. Louis lawmaker is successful, drivers with 10 or more parking tickets in the same city would have their driver's license revoked until they pay all their fines.
Current law allows local authorities to impound the car of drivers with more than five tickets. But this ordinance is only enforceable within city limits.
If the driver is from out of town, the city would have to send a police officer and tow truck after the car to impound it. Because of the difficulty involved, that doesn't usually happen.
Instead, May's measure would allow local authorities to ask the Department of Revenue to revoke the license of any Missouri resident with 10 or more unpaid tickets.
Tom Stoff, a spokesman for the St. Louis city treasurer's office, testified on behalf of May's plan. "What we have found, historically, is that people who have the most significant numbers of outstanding tickets, frankly, are people who are gainfully employed," he said. "Many members of the legal profession have amassed a significant number of parking tickets."
Joe Treadway, D-Lemay, didn't see this bill as a viable solution. In his opinion, "people without licenses will go on driving anyway."
Shara Meyer, a municipal court clerk who handles traffic violations in Columbia, said she agreed with the May's plan.
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