Crappy economy = more tickets

[Porsche Monkey]

Both the wife and I have seen and experienced this phenomenon.  I too would be interested in seeing some hard data to back this up.  Unfortunatly this thread may already be stretching the forum guidelines though.   

[superjohn]

Well, speed limits are set artificially low in order to increase government coffers, so I'm not surprised.

[Popeye the Sailor]

Well, speed limits are set artificially low in order to increase government coffers, so I'm not surprised.

Because it's absolutely impossible to not drive faster than the limit. 

[lethe]

Because it's absolutely impossible to not drive faster than the limit. 

On a lot of highways around here it is. The trucks will run you off the road if you do 65 on the Thruway south of Harriman, NY for example.

[NAKID]

Because it's absolutely impossible to not drive faster than the limit. 

I don't think that's what he was saying Dave. Think of it this way, when you first turn on to a road, you can gauge pretty quickly what a safe speed should be. Now if you look at what the speed limit on the sign is, it's typically 5-10 mph lower than what the "safe speed" is...

[DucHead]

Because it's absolutely impossible to not drive faster than the limit. 

I think you're being sarcastic, but are you also implying that it is possible to obey the speed limit??!! 

[somegirl]

Because it's absolutely impossible to not drive faster than the limit. 

http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=17509.msg310507#msg310507

[Statler]

I don't think that's what he was saying Dave. Think of it this way, when you first turn on to a road, you can gauge pretty quickly what a safe speed should be. Now if you look at what the speed limit on the sign is, it's typically 5-10 mph lower than what the "safe speed" is...

I tend to think it's marked 20 to 50 lower than the safe speed outside school zones and residential neighborhoods, but that may be just me.   There are plenty of areas on the beltway around the city where 130 makes total sense.   I dare anyone to run under 80 on a bike and feel safe.

police departments should never be about raising money....ever.   They should be a cost and a very big cost for a community.   The pay should be very high and every person in uniform should be trusted as an absolute ally.    Any fine type enforcement should be an extra...not a necessity.    We're make the beast with two backsing this up badly and it will get worse before it gets better.   I bet most good officers would love to be able to do their job without the pressure to be fund raisers.

Keeping this to speeding tickets as cash cow and carefull phrasing of the editorials should be fine as long as we're not slinging insults at anyone.

[Craig Thomas]

I should be glad my Monster's speedometer reads about 10mph too fast on the freeway. 

[tcspeedfreak]

I should be glad my Monster's speedometer reads about 10mph too fast on the freeway. 

yours too huh mine does the same thing but ive learned to compensate for that now and it doesnt make any sort of difference ah a 55 mph posted means my speedo should read 65 mph but more than likely it reads 70-75 mph

[Capo]

There are some countries in the world where the third week in every month is ticket week to raise the funds for the paychecks

[Slide Panda]

..police departments should never be about raising money....ever.
We're make the beast with two backsing this up badly and it will get worse before it gets better.   I bet most good officers would love to be able to do their job without the pressure to be fund raisers.

Falls Church VA pd had some real problems with a similar issue.  They WERE NOT on a ticket quota system.  But, they were on a work quota so to speak.  The department mandated that they had to average 3 enforcements of the laws per day.  This could be as small as a speeding ticket, to a biggie like Grand Theft or assault.. but each incident counted as 1.  So a 20 min ticket counted the same towards this average as an 4 hour theft investigation.  As a result, a defacto state of ticketing quota became the norm, since the officers (understandably) didn't want to fall below this average and face reprimands etc.  So if they spent a whole shift working though some big event like a crash, then they were still on the hook for 2 enforcement related tasks to keep their average. 

When the FCPD policy made the news, it made a pretty big stink as it was seen as a ticket quota sytem. 

PDs shouldn't be press-ganged to be fund raisers, there's much better work for them to do.

I still really like to see some driving stats, based on sources other than ticket numbers for the same time periods.  Perhaps there is an enforcement bump.. but there's probably also more bad/aggressive driving.

[herm]

i look at traffic tickets the same way as toll roads.
its a use fee. if you want to use the airspace beyond the posted limit, you may be required to pay for it.

seriously though,... its pretty easy to stay unnoticed if you keep your speed consistent with the traffic around you.

[bluemoco]

Our assumptions that traffic tickets are an increasingly important source of revenue are being proven true.  

Of all cities in the US, it's obvious that Detroit is under serious financial strain.  The police are writing more tickets to compensate for their local funding shortfalls.  Check out this article from the Detroit News:

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081117/METRO/811170333&imw=Y


Some highlights:

• In Romulus, there were 12,040 tickets written last year, which represented a 136 percent jump from the 5,091 violations written in 2002.

• The number of violations in Plymouth rose from 440 in 2002 to 2,584 in 2007, a 487 percent jump.

• In Detroit, there were 126,007 traffic tickets written in 2002, and 245,249 written in 2007.

• Southfield police wrote 13,724 tickets in 2002; in 2007 they wrote 31,795 tickets for an increase of 131 percent. [/i]


These are dramatic increases in the number of tickets written around the greater Detroit area.  The population has certainly increased somewhat in these areas, but that alone can't explain the increase in the # of tickets being written. 

Also, as Statler correctly noted, police officers aren't happy about their role as revenue collectors.  Another quote:

"A portion of the tickets our officers write helps pay their salaries, but the rest is profit for the city," said Priebe, a former police officer. " 'Profit' may not be the right word to use in government, but that's pretty much what it is.

"Obviously, revenue isn't the only reason our officers are out there -- but I wouldn't be telling the truth if I said it wasn't a consideration."

[hbliam]

As a CA leo I can tell you I have never been asked, encouraged, told, instructed, etc., etc, to write more tickets. I don't even know what the fines are but do know that most of them don't go to us. The City gets to keep all the revenue from a parking ticket but only a small percentage from a traffic ticket. So I'd be apt to pregnant dog about parking control.