Posted on 05/16/2011 8:52:18 AM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
Isn’t that the whole point of issuing tickets, deterring people from driving unsafely? If the fine is just a little nuisance fee and doesn’t actually affect people’s finances, it’s useless.
So to Rosemary Smith I say: If you were in such a hurry, you should have left home earlier.
Cue the scene from “Liar,liar”-Jim Carrey’s lawyer character giving advice to one of his criminal clients:
“STOP BREAKING THE LAW,A**HOLE!!!”
“Our cops are becoming feminized...”
Are you serious? Feminized? The cops in my county and state wear all black including boots with shaved heads. Try putting them on a camcorder, too. See what being feminine is all about when they arrest you.
In a just ended weekend visit to San Jose California the number of ombination speeders/red-light runners were too numerous to keep a count. One particular professional scofflaw managed to do speeding, run two red light and cut across three lanes of traffic with no signals or warning all in less than 8 seconds...
Sympathy? I don't think so.
If you can’t afford the ticket don’t speed it is easy.
I’ve seen a lot of examples of police being lenient because of the high fines and the economy. Our company is in an industry that is hard hit by the economy and almost everyone in our office has been pulled over and let go with a warning. That is very unusual because they patrol our road frequently. I was pulled over and got a minor fine for a minor infraction. I think he was being nice so I didn’t have to pay the high $256 fine. Someone who has a cop in the family told me that if you get pulled over, don’t find your registration or take off your seat belt. They are looking for another reason to write a ticket and not give the high speeding fines. Don’t know, but it worked for me.
“So he’s admitting that traffic tickets are nothing more than revenue generators.................”
Which is why I think they should start selling speeding passes. Imagine how much revenue they would collect by selling these things, and people could pre-pay and not have to worry about the time and expense of going to court.
It is a source of revenue, pure and simple.
The cost, placed on any infraction, is the maximum the govt can "get" for a particular deed.
Problem is, the level is approaching and in many cases has passed the acceptance level of the public.
I lost my license for two weeks last year for speeding tickets. I fought it and got it back, it would have been 30 days. It was pure hell.
I did two things. I don’t speed. Ever. I also bought a radar detector because even though I don’t speed now I like to know when they are around so I can be more aware of my surroundings.
The fact is that it IS revenue enhancement and they DO have quotas.
In New York state they slapped on a ‘driver responsibility fee’ which effectively doubled the fine for any ticket.
People are slowing down like crazy because a speeding ticket is now over $400
and so the police are having to creep around all day long FOLLOWING people to find them doing something wrong so they can give tickets and make their quota
it is a nightmare
I am leaving this idiotic state
LETS ALL GO TO TEXAS AND SECEEDE~!!!
I guess there are a lot of people supportive of traffic-based revenue enhancement, and thus the growth of big government at the expense of the citizenry, on here. They infected the thread before I could post.
In a lot of places the police themselves are being laid off or being made to take pay cuts. I think that provides a nice incentive for them to not work hard, especially for greedy politicians who use public safety as a bargaining chip against the electorate to try and extort higher taxes from them.
“Are you serious? Feminized? The cops in my county and state wear all black including boots with shaved heads. Try putting them on a camcorder, too. See what being feminine is all about when they arrest you.”
Maybe they have something frilly, soft and silky underneath?
Why don’t they just make speeding a $1 million fine? Why not execute people for breaking traffic laws? Are there reasonable limits to the power that government has?
LEO and politicians with common sense would not take such a hard attitude you recommend unless you want riots and street uprisings. Look at Greece. When hardpressed, anarchist attitudes rise up. Would you like people boarding buses and trains and refuse to pay. Would you like to see people vandalize ATM machines and throw rocks thru windows of banks. Would you like to see people stop filing tax returns and paying fines. It is happening in Greece and Ireland when services are cut and taxes/fees are raised. Worst would you like anti coporate/bank/authority Green Party types come to power in local communities.
LEO and politicians with common sense would not take such a hard attitude you recommend unless you want riots and street uprisings. Look at Greece. When hardpressed, anarchist attitudes rise up. Would you like people boarding buses and trains and refuse to pay. Would you like to see people vandalize ATM machines and throw rocks thru windows of banks. Would you like to see people stop filing tax returns and paying fines. It is happening in Greece and Ireland when services are cut and taxes/fees are raised. Worst would you like anti coporate/bank/authority Green Party types come to power in local communities.
Can't pay the fine?
Blame your mother, or stupid rules, or wave your "I'm special" card, or just get even by driving your pickup truck twice as fast tomorrow. Lots of ways you can assert your pre-teen-mentality personality.
Things aren't aren't bad enough for you to put a brain in gear? maybe you can rent one.
I am so sick of this bad economy
“going 17mph over the limit... that is a clear cut case of meriting a ticket when a cop sees that.”
Not always the case. In my neighbor there is one spot that quickly goes from 55 MPH to 45 zone to 35 zone. A cop sits right at the beginning of the 35 zone and can ticket pretty much anybody he wants.
Well, I'm a cynic.... But if I was a cop, who would I rather go after? Drug dealers, likely armed, likely in groups, and likely defending their "turf"? Or soccer moms hurrying home to get a roast in for dinner?
Either way, I'm enforcing the laws. Laws, which, the public *demands* that I enforce.
I used to sit on a "Neighborhood Watch" board. It was a surreal experience - lots of retirees with little to do but mind everyone's business for them. 90% of the complaints generated were speed/driving related.
The *real* problems in the neighborhood were gang-related (a number of members of MS-13 had just rented a house in the neighborhood), and theft-related (lots of smash and grabs, car break-ins, etc). But - since the seniors incessantly were terrified of the thought that someone, somewhere, might be driving 30 mph in a 25 zone.... we got more traffic enforcement. The cities' gang unit, also property crimes unit, were specifically requested to be given secondary priority.
That's my experience. I've no idea why people would be terrified of a driver that's not obeying a speed limit 6 streets over, but not give gang members breaking into their houses a second thought.
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