I agree for the most part. A single traffic ticket, even unpaid, should not result in severe punishments. No loss of license, no jailtime, no additional fines, etc. It is too likely to escalate someone's existing financial problems.
Would you say the same for repeat offenders? A traffic ticket that does not carry the risk of a compounding punishment might as well not exist. I can agree with ignoring one traffic ticket, but I do think a "three strikes and you're out" rule should be in place to prevent people from taking advantage of the system's leniency.
The system doesn't have to be lenient because we want to be nice to the repeat offenders, the system has to be lenient because the infrastructure of our country is built on the presumption of everyone owning a car. Mass transit in the states is largely a fucking joke once you leave one of the major metropolitan areas (and hell, even in them depending which city we're talking). Like, I cannot overstate, as someone who lives in a smaller town in rural Wisconsin, you can't live without a car here. We have a bus service, sure. The schedule sucks and it basically takes 90 minutes minimum to get to anywhere from anywhere if you want to use it. Cycling is just straight impossible for about 5 months out of the year, and the rest of the time you have to cross roads that are not designed for bike traffic, next to drivers who are notorious for not paying attention to pedestrians, or even other cars for that matter.
Like, let's say the worst case scenario is true: you have this person who is willfully bucking traffic laws on the regular, for some reason that we are not privy to. They just won't stop. Okay? What do you want to do about it? Do we imprison them for a completely non-violent offense? Do we just continue fining them? Do we take away their right to drive, and make them functionally immobile, and also completely still capable of driving illegally?
Would you say the same for repeat offenders? A traffic ticket that does not carry the risk of a compounding punishment might as well not exist. I can agree with ignoring one traffic ticket, but I do think a "three strikes and you're out" rule should be in place to prevent people from taking advantage of the system's leniency.