Posted on 05/16/2011 8:52:18 AM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
Hopefully people are driving safer and not speeding during these times of high gas prices. To save 5-10 minutes it costs quite a bit in gas. I think it is crappy that the lawmakers are raising these fees to foil folks into thinking that they are against tax hikes. Very fishy. Of course, at least the only ones paying the cost is the guilty folks so it sorta works out but it is still slimy.
“It’s a drastic drop that means we have to find revenue from other places,” said Tim Finch
REVENUE?
I thought it was about safety?
“It’s a drastic drop that means we have to find revenue from other places,” said Tim Finch, St. Petersburg’s director of budget and management. “It makes it tougher on other departments.”
And there is the rub. Traffic tickets aren’t for enforcement, or public safety. That’s garbage. They are for revenue. My daughter has to venture into Cleveland for school. She got a traffic ticket in the mail from a camera. She was doing 46 in a 35, it will cost her $150. But there are no points on her license, since the driver of the car could be disputed.
Land of the free? Hmmmmm.
Geez, the government just needs to tighten it’s belt. This is just crazy. So what will they do to get more money? Make up more rules? Double the ticket costs? That might not be such a bad idea. It might get people to drive more safely. But, I could see them then pulling over people doing 1 or 2 miles over the speed limit. Or other petty things.
I can think of 2 solutions immediately. 1. Don't quit your job. 2. Don't speed. There, problem solved.
My office managers’ husband got a ticket in Austin for turning right on red against a “no right turn on red” sign. Turned out the cop couldn’t see the light and based his ticket on the flow of traffic. He set up at the location every day and handed out dozens of tickets each day. He got the ticket dismissed (drove 3 hours to fight it - cost him more in gas and lost pay than the ticket would have been).
So, the heavy hand of government puts the boots on the necks of its citizens as a means to fund their activity. What's wrong with this picture?
It would be interesting if someone set up a radar and measure the average traffic speed without a cop being around. Maybe people are driving slower and safer (which is what the cities claim is the reason for traffic enforcement) so when people get caught they aren't nearly as far above the speed limits as the tax departments' predicted they would be for budget purposes.
Yep.
If she was going at a speed that was within the margin of error of the measuring device used to catch her I might have some sympathy... but 17mph over the limit? Come on.
Tax revenue is down. The state’s finances are more important than yours peasant.
And please no ‘obey the speed limit and you won’t get a ticket’ absolutist nonsense. Enforcement is taut or lax at the whim of officialdom. The feds provide seed money in the form of OT pay so departments can do nothing but run radar, etc. In hilly areas police sit on the downhill side where, having mashed your accelerator simply to maintain speed up the slope, you may inadvertently exceed the limit due to gravity. I could go on but common sense and FR’s usual healthy suspicion of authority often seem to go out the window when it comes to speed limit pedants.
So, driving while smoking crack, yelling and blaring the horn, while holding a running chainsaw out the left window and trying to hit pedestrians and other cars with it, is RIGHT OUT?
Thus proving, once again, that it's little to do with safety, and more about money.
Everyone has a sob story when they get pulled over. Funny but they weren’t sobbing when they drove too fast or ran that stoplight.
Our cops are becoming feminized and traffic violators will bring out the faucets more if they know it will work.
In before the insipid “Don’t do the crime if you can’t pay the fine” posts.
Over the last couple of years in California, a soft paranoia has come over many of the drivers.
There is more of a sense of being hunted here, and especially as we see how the fines and the hidden fees associated with them climb into unreasonable and predatory ranges.
Its not about public safety, its about revenue.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.