Traffic tickets: the ultimate municipal revenue enhancer in time of declining revenues

[Bozita]

My local teevee news is promoting a report on this topic tomorrow. They've got a local cop who's written 2,400 tickets in the last year.

I'm thinking that local governments may soon begin preying on their neighbors with things like signing bonuses for "productive" cops. Perhaps an NFL style draft for these folks.

I've got a radar detector in a box in the garage somewhere. I'm gonna go find it now.

[villager]

1. here in L.A., it's mostly all-scam....or rather, "hidden tax.."

n/t

[EFerrari]

2. San Francisco has done that forever. When we lived in the Haight

everybody we knew owed more in parking tickets than they did on their cars because there is NO parking there. It's insane.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. Every so often the Newark Star-Ledger does a story on...

this. Last time I saw one, a town in Joisey held the record for over 80% of its total budget coming from traffic fines.

Nothing new here, just an old revenue stream that might get bigger. Beware more speed traps all over the country.

[LibDemAlways]

4. In my neighborhood the cops favorite

and easiest ticket is delivered to those who unknowingly enter the right turn lane a few feet too soon at what passes for the major intersection in town. The police wait in a supermarket parking lot all ready to pounce on their unsuspecting prey. My husband was ticketed for entering the right turn lane 10 feet too soon. The ticket was $165.00. It's a major rip-off.

[ManiacJoe]

13. How do you enter a

right turn lane too soon? Would this be "driving on the shoulder"?

[LibDemAlways]

17. Not at all. The street is fairly wide. There is a bike lane

and a no-parking zone as you approach the intersection, so there is room for a car to enter the bike lane in order to make a right turn. However, the law states that you can only enter the bike lane 200 feet from the corner. Any sooner and you are in violation. Problem is there is no way to tell exactly where 200 feet from the corner is - unless you measure and mark it, as the cops, no doubt, have done. Enter 201 feet from the corner at your own risk, because you can and will be cited.

[AX10]

5. Everyone should have a radar detector.

[taterguy]

8. Everyone?

I wish I could go fast enough on this to attract the attention of cops

[Thothmes]

11. In Virginia

you would not have to worry about that. They would ticket you for going in the wrong direction on your bike.

[soup]

20. Word of caution -

might want to avoid this bike trail in FL, taterguy.



Can't help but wonder if they enforce it.

[taterguy]

21. 25 mph is actually my personal limit

I'm capable of going faster under the right circumstances but I choose not to, because well, I have an intense dislike of pain and road rash.

Looks like a multi-use trail so a limit would be understandable. No one should ever be going so fast that they can't avoid collisions.

[Thothmes]

10. They are illegal to own in Virginia

[idovoodoo]

6. Google "speed traps", there are thousands of them in the USA

one town near here was recently ordered by district court to stop giving out citations.

[onethatcares]

7. I know of a man here in floriduh that

was ticketed for 17 mph in a 15 mph school zone, his fine 200.00. Unbelievable that he didn't get a warning ticket.

[no_hypocrisy]

9. I'm a traffic attorney. My favorite ticket is "driving on the last days of the month"

otherwise known as "careless driving" which can mean almost anything. Unless you challenge it, you pay a fine and get points on your license and risk having an increase of auto insurance premiums.

When I negotiate pleas for these tickets with prosecutors, you can only go "down" to "unsafe driving" which has no points and about $450 in fines.

Traffic court is a cash cow.

[The Straight Story]

14. We need to talk :)

Especially about my recent debacle with the courts and cops.

How much do folks like you charge anyway?

[no_hypocrisy]

23. I'm an attorney who doesn't exist in real life. Meaning I voluntarily do

pro bono or a couple hundred dollars or a favor in reciprocity. I can't in good faith ask for money I know my clients don't and won't have. Times are tough and this is my contribution.

Give me a PM about your situation and I'll try to give you my opinion.

[CRF450]

12. Tell me about it...

I got a ticket early this month for a tint violation. I thought I would be safe from it since the tint I bought is 35% which is the legal limit here. Well the officer metered it at 24% which I think is bullshit, it only looks dark when its night time of course, which it was after 11pm when he pulled me over. But never the less, its still easy to see inside my car during the day. Just to keep things from getting complicated and all, I'll just pay the damn thing before the court date. Thank god its not a moving violation or my insurance would skyrocket over some petty bullshit.

[ManiacJoe]

15. If you choose to fight it

it should be an easy win for you assuming you have the manufacturer's info on what you had installed.

[CRF450]

18. Yeah today I decided to do just that

I went to the court to see how much it would be, cause the price wasent written on the ticket. Get ready... $175!! Pretty steep huh? By what they said at the court, I could take the tint off, show them proof of that with a receipt (theirs a place I can pay to have it removed) and very likely they'll desmiss all of the ticket fee.

I think I'm gonna slap the dude who told me "tint tickets dont cost much at all".

[taterguy]

19. Slapping someone will lead to an assault charge

Which will be a helluva lot more expensive to take care of than $175.00 :)

[lonestarnot]

16. Don't forget the other large beneficiary, insurance fucks.

[madokie]

22. our little town is on the road that smugglers like to use and so we have a big ass

cop shop and they work the hiway hard, one bust a few years back they found a big stash of cash and drugs and after it was all said and done the dea gave this little town close to a half million bucks for their share of the cash. You can imagine what happens now. lots of red lights and drug dogs on our streets.

[Blue_Tires]

24. hell, suburban Atlanta was doing that even when the economy was hot

back in the 90s...

I don't remember if they still do it, but in the past they used to print the county you lived in on your Georgia license plate...the TV affiliate did an expose on some exurb county who made it a point to target only drivers from out-of-county (the ticket ratio was something like 9:1)...a pretty shameless cash grab

[benEzra]

25. Some municipalities are pushing photo radar...

to pad their budgets (and in many states the manufacturer gets a cut of ticket revenues).

Setting speed limits ridiculously low, and then shaking down people who exceed the limit, is a racket.

[blues90]

26. they do that here with red light tickets

$371 each . I got one at a corner i know well , i got it in the mail .

I know for a fact i did not run the red light . I went back and timed the yellow to red , it was 1.2 seconds and it was green when I entered the cross street but turned red before I made it across since I was going across 4 wide lanes and at a slow speed . You cannot fight the ticket , the judge told me it's measured in nano seconds and my stop watch was useless there . I checked other red light cameras and most were 10 seconds yellow to red and the same 4 lane width road . This mattered not , to fight the ticket you talk to a red light tech guy . I paid the ticket and it killed me , now I'm gun shy of all lights .

One corner has a camera at all 4 corners including a timed left turn arrow , 1.5 seconds to make a left turn and I went on the second the green was on and just made it before the red came on , I fear the car behind me did not and I was moving as fast as possible .

I sat at that corner one day at the curb and counted as least 2 to 3 cars per red light on a left at $371 per ticket .

[ManiacJoe]

27. You have something weird going on.

You seem to live with a strange definition of "running a red". In most places, "running a red" is defined as entering the intersection after the light turns red; if the light was green or yellow when you entered, it does not matter the color when you finally exit the intersection.

[blues90]

28. I know what running a red light used to mean

And what it means when there is no camera there . I got the photo of my car past the intersection and the camera photo showed my speed and the times the light changed and the color of the light at the time the photo was taken . Since I must have just entered the intersection right when the light changed to yellow it was red 1.2 seconds later and there was my car in the red and I got the ticket . If I knew I ran a red seeing the light I would have never gone in trying to fight it . There were other people there caught part way through the left turn also trying to fight their tickets . It is very unclear if the camera takes the photo on yellow or red and the judge said you should have been stopped on the yellow whcih means wait , do not proceed . All I do know is if you are in the intersection and the light turns red you ran the red as the judge explained to me . When it's red the cross traffic is green .

There is no way in hell I will ever again even breath easy if I see the yellow light and try to make a left or now even straight through .

If anyone wants to try it good luck to you , I hope you make it and I am wrong . I avoid every intersection with camera lights now days .

[VP505]

30. We have those

red light cameras, if that were not a big enough rip-off they have added radar to them. Now not only will they nail you for running the light but if you speed up to get through you get a speeding ticket also.

[blues90]

31. Yes . these red light camera's here do read your speed

My ticket had the actual speed I was going and the time and the photo

If you think the photo looks bad on the ticket which it does the judge has a computer and the photo they have is as clear as a bell and it has a view of the entire intersection , in front of you and behind .

They have the camera placed well past the actual traffic light which is across the intersection so they can snap the photo of you past the intersection .

I know people may think I'm nuts . I posted this almost two years ago when I got this ticket and got bashed to hell and back by people telling me I was a whinner and a red light runner and a traffic hazzard .

The only ticket I have got since 1965 when I got a license was a parking ticket and a fix it ticket and this no accident I am a careful driver with a clean record until this damn thing .

I will add if I got nailed deliberatly running a red light then I deserved the ticket .

When I went to court to fight this thing I was not the only one , when I was at the bench telling the judge my story and she snapped back telling me I ran the red light a young lady with her boy friend sitting next to my wife and I almost fainted because she then knew she had no way of winning .

You feel like a high crime criminal in traffic court , I was amazed how this went .

[backscatter712]

29. Know what burns me?

I live just down the street from a middle school, which has school zone lights and signage that drops the speed limit to 25 mph from 40mph when lit.

Normally, you'd think the lights would be on and the zone would be enforced at times in the mornings and afternoons when the kids were walking to and from school.

But nooooo.

Here, the school zone lights flash at noon, when there isn't a single kid in sight - they're all safely incarcerated in the school. On top of that, the zone's enforced at noon - there's a damned cop right there with his radar gun, collecting all those tasty doubled speeding fines for blowing through a school zone at a time of day when the lights and zone aren't needed. Thankfully, I've been sharp enough to not get nailed myself, though I've seen plenty of people get caught.

Revenue enhancement... :mad: