Comment on ‘Waiting to get pulled over’: In Florida, driver’s license suspensions keep people in a spiral of debt, recidivism

Martin Van Buren’s life began to unravel the day he ran a red light in the suburbs of Orlando, though he didn’t know it yet. A police officer pulled him over and left him with a hefty $262 ticket, a sum the 18-year-old could not afford on his $12-per-hour call center salary. Soon Van Buren was subjected to a series of tasks: driving school, for which he also had to pay out of pocket, finding time in his work day to appear in court, and starting a payment plan, because he couldn’t pay the ticket in full and make rent at the same time.