Court Opinion

ID: 9534509
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:40:27.727967+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:31:03.376240
License: Public Domain

Finley, J.
(concurring) — I concur in the per curiam opinion. However, it seems to me that the instant case highlights and clearly demonstrates the need for a training and educational program respecting the handling or processing of serious traffic offenses, and this prompts the following additional brief concurring remarks.
Such a training and educational program comes under the caption “Judicial Administration and Management of the Courts and their Operations.” It should reach law enforcement officers, city and county attorneys, magistrates, and judges processing serious traffic offenses. This function could and should be performed by the office of the Court Administrator of the State of Washington, essentially with the assistance and cooperation of the Washington Magistrates Association. But for more than 6 years the state administrative office for the courts has consisted of only one full-time man, i.e., the Court Administrator, and one full-time secretary-stenographer. The problem is one of appropriations to permit a reasonable increase in the Court Administrator’s staff. With a modest increase in appropriations and a consequent modest expansion of staff, the functions of the Court Administrator could be strengthened and expanded with constructive results in terms of a more effective administration of justice. This *737could well include the launching of an effective program of education and administration respecting the processing of serious traffic offenses in the courts of limited jurisdiction.
The indicated policy of very limited administration and management respecting the courts, and the reasons for it —i.e., the lack of a very modest increase in appropriations for the Court Administrator’s office — have in my opinion contributed substantially, in fact permitted, a comedy of errors which literally has occurred in the instant case. A serious traffic offense and the alleged perpetrator of it, presently at least, are beyond the pale of the law, and perhaps little can be done about the matter in terms of improving or regulating by court action the dangerous driving habit of the traffic safety violator. The only fortunate thing about the instant case is the fact that no law-abiding citizens were injured by serious traffic safety violations involving the alleged illegal lawbreaking proclivities of the defendant truck driver. Much of the answer to the problem of more effective and efficient courts lies in the application to the courts of modern business administration or management techniques. This, however, does require additional legislative appropriations, which to date have not materialized. Perhaps this footnote added to the per curiam disposition of the instant case in the interest of improving traffic safety by improving the effectiveness of the administration of justice in the traffic courts will be helpful, and not just idle talk.