The state of Rhode Island is reporting progress in its pursuit of $29 million owed in decades-old traffic fines.
The state has already recouped just over $367,000, or about 1.26 percent, of delinquent debt since its new collection agency began pursuing the $29 million in 20-year-old fines last year, the Boston Globe reports.
The old debts are holdovers from when the Rhode Island traffic court, known as the Administrative Adjudication Court, allowed thousands of unpaid tickets to fill boxes during the 1990s. The massive amount of unpaid led to an overhaul of the court and inevitable creation of the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal, which began pursuing the debts owed by motorists in 2020.
The Central Collections Unit operates under the state Department of Revenue, whose spokesman, Paul Grimaldi, confirmed a total of 1,624 tickets were recently paid off, with the majority owed by Rhode Island residents, the Globe reports.
Grimaldi confirmed the biggest fines were paid by Western Express, a trucking company located in Connecticut, which owed $5,035 for one ticket and an additional $3,025 for a bridge violation.
Some of the outstanding fees aren't expected to be collected as some individuals have died and business have closed during the past 20 years. As of Friday (February 26), a total of 113 tickets were sent back to Traffic Tribunal because the individual had either died or the debt was previously paid off, according to Grimaldi.
Other individuals have either been incarcerated the entire time or attended college in Rhode Island and since moved away after the initial violation occurred.
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