Tight for cash, governments raise traffic fees

[LiberalNation]

such bs.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100320/ap_on_re_us/us_traffic_fines_budget_cuts

LOS ANGELES – Shomari Jennings was willing to pay the $70 ticket he received for driving without a seatbelt, but not the slew of tacked-on fees and penalties that ballooned the cost more than tenfold.

Every $10 of his base fine triggered a $26 "penalty assessment" for courthouse construction, a DNA identification program, emergency medical services and other programs. Other fees ranged from $1 to $35.

"It's the new tax," Jennings, 30, complained while waiting in traffic court to contest a staggering bill compounded by a $500 fine for missing a court date.

And motorists can only expect more of the same as cash-strapped cities and states consider measures ranging from expansion of red-light camera systems to charging drivers for cleanup after accidents.

In Iowa, lawmakers grappling with shortfalls in the state's public safety budget are exploring ways to increase fines for traffic violations. There's a proposal in Maryland to add a $7.50 charge to traffic fines to help pay for law enforcement and fire protection equipment.

Cash-strapped California, however, is seeing some of the most aggressive efforts to squeeze money out of motorists.

[Kathianne]

http://blog.motorists.org/illinois-red-light-cameras-scam/


Illinois Red Light Cameras: Anatomy Of A Scam
July 21st, 2009 Posted in Red-Light Cameras

Last week, the Daily Herald and the Chicago Tribune each ran lengthy articles exposing the “dirty little secret” behind red-light cameras in Illinois suburbs. While the cameras were sold on the idea that they would ticket reckless drivers who blow through intersections, the reality has been much different.

The Daily Herald’s investigation showed that:

Of the 16 municipalities that issue citations for right turns and were able to break down their violation data, 100 percent acknowledged the majority of their tickets come from right turns. The total of right-turn citations going out per town ranged from 100 percent to 64 percent. Six municipalities estimated the rate of right-turn tickets was 90 percent or higher of the total violations....

...The Tribune highlights an example of a proud bureaucrat bragging about how much money his city has taken from (mostly out-of-town) motorists:


When the very first red-light camera was planted in the suburbs at 25th Avenue and Harrison Street in Bellwood, it instantly became more than just a traffic control device.

It became a cash machine.

That one device generates $60,000 to $70,000 a month in revenue from traffic fines for the western suburb, Bellwood Comptroller Roy McCampbell once declared as he likened the camera to “Lotto or casino type operations.”

“That intersection is a guaranteed amount of money,” McCampbell boasted to an Illinois Municipal League seminar in a 2007 presentation that was recorded and posted on YouTube. “… It just keeps popping.”

The reason is simple: The camera guards an entrance path to the Eisenhower Expressway and snaps away as cars and trucks make rolling right turns on red with astounding frequency.

The city insists that the cameras are for safety, but their actions don’t seem consistent with that view:...

[Sitarro]

such bs.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100320/ap_on_re_us/us_traffic_fines_budget_cuts

LOS ANGELES – Shomari Jennings was willing to pay the $70 ticket he received for driving without a seatbelt, but not the slew of tacked-on fees and penalties that ballooned the cost more than tenfold.

Every $10 of his base fine triggered a $26 "penalty assessment" for courthouse construction, a DNA identification program, emergency medical services and other programs. Other fees ranged from $1 to $35.

"It's the new tax," Jennings, 30, complained while waiting in traffic court to contest a staggering bill compounded by a $500 fine for missing a court date.

And motorists can only expect more of the same as cash-strapped cities and states consider measures ranging from expansion of red-light camera systems to charging drivers for cleanup after accidents.

In Iowa, lawmakers grappling with shortfalls in the state's public safety budget are exploring ways to increase fines for traffic violations. There's a proposal in Maryland to add a $7.50 charge to traffic fines to help pay for law enforcement and fire protection equipment.

Cash-strapped California, however, is seeing some of the most aggressive efforts to squeeze money out of motorists.

I bet Shomari remembers to buckle the seat belt next time.:laugh2:

Now for a suspended license and 2,000 dollar fine for texting while driving........ that's my suggestion.

[Kathianne]

I could agree with the text/cell phone. Seat belts? No. Helmets? No. If people don't care if their brains are left on the road, I don't either.

Want to eat salt straight? Be my guess. Drink too much? Go ahead, but not on the roads. Smoke, grass or cigs? Go ahead, just pay for them.

[darin]

$500 for left lane camping? I'd be for that.


MOST Traffic law is centered squarely around Revenue-generation. It's taxation vis citation (I made that up!) :D

Yet, sheeple keep voting into office those vile, immoral, unethical officials who support turning more and more GOOD honest people into criminals.