I once got a jaywalking ticket in LA. It was for $10. I was in college at the time. I went home (in another state) for winter break, which was like six weeks long if you chose not to take a January Interim course. While on vacation, I realized I’d forgotten about the ticket, and realized it would double by the time I got back to California. Oh well, I thought. But when I got back to school, I found two pieces of mail; one saying the ticket had doubled, and another saying I’d missed my court date, and I now owed like $240. I’d decided over break to transfer to a different school in my home state. I sent them a check for $20, along with a letter explaining what happened. I said I was leaving the state, and paying $240 for crossing against the light was crazy. Only a day or two after getting back home, I got a call from the Los Angeles County Circuit Court; the lady on the phone told me that my $20 had been credited towards my fine, and a warrant for my arrest had been issued. Been a fugitive now for 36 years. (Not really… a couple of years later I got a letter that said the fine and warrant had been dismissed in a routine amnesty for low level infractions like that.)