Consistent with his statutory responsibility to appoint magistrates to the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal, Chief Justice Paul A. Suttell has established a three-member panel to solicit and review applications from candidates interested in a current vacancy. The three persons named to the magistrate selection committee are RITT Chief Magistrate Domenic A. DiSandro III; RITT Magistrate
Cranston, RI 2/19/2020: Dennis G. Gerstmeyer, cq, the Court Administrator of the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal, looks over boxes of unpaid tickets. This is for a story on state s effort to collect $29 million owed since 2000. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe StaffSuzanne Kreiter/Globe staff
PROVIDENCE â A year after the stateâs new collection agency began pursuing $29 million in 20-year-old traffic fines, it has recouped a little more than $367,000 â about 1.26 percent of the delinquent debt.
The old debts are holdovers from an embarrassing chapter in Rhode Island, when the former traffic court known as the Administrative Adjudication Court was so poorly run in the 1990s that thousands of unpaid tickets filled boxes stacked to the ceiling.
Dennis G. Gerstmeyer, the Court Administrator of the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal, looks over boxes of unpaid tickets in February, 2020.Suzanne Kreiter/Globe staff
CRANSTON, R.I. â So, you get a traffic ticket for something minor, with a court date in a few weeks. A little offense can cause a lot of headaches, when you have to take time off from work, maybe find child care, and get a ride to court.
Then, someone who says theyâre calling from the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal offers to help you resolve your case.
The caller says you donât need to go to court. The judge has taken a look at your file. They can offer you a plan to resolve it quickly.