DETROIT – Hundreds of people have lined up outside a Detroit courthouse to take advantage of a program that waives fees on old, unpaid traffic tickets.
The crowds were for Tuesday's final day of the event at 36th District Court.
Chief Judge Nancy Blount said in a release that the program is a "one-time opportunity" for motorists "to restore their driving privileges and save hundreds of dollars on each ticket.
More than 1,000 people were processed on Monday and triple that number were processed on Tuesday. However, there were still far too many people to process when the deadline arrived. Still, the line was allowed to continue growing after the 1:45 p.m. deadline. Many were turned away Monday after hours in line.
"They told me I wouldn't have to wait today ... but when I came they sent me to the back of the line again," said one man.
Even the latest of the "Johnny-come-lately's" will be served. After seeing the long line, the court extended the offer for those in the back of the line for another 30 days.
"We wanted our citizens of Detroit to be able to drive without concern to start the year with a clean slate," said Traffic Criminal Director LaWanda Crosby.
Between 70 and 80 percent were in line for driving without a license or driving without insurance, which is known as "driving dirty." Many ignored the original fine which added hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of dollars in later fees, penalties and warrant costs.
Many said they didn't have the cash to pay the original penalty and when they did have it the added late fees kept putting it out of their reach.
The court reported a take-in of $103,000 on Tuesday.
