Now we have the economic literature to confirm what we all know is happening: local governments using traffic citations to make up for revenue shortfalls. According to a paper in the February Journal of Law and Economics, published by the University of Chicago, “as the economy tanks, motorists may be more likely to see red and blue in the rearview.” Study authors Thomas Garrett, assistant vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and Gary Wagner from the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, examined fourteen years of revenue and traffic citation data from counties in North Carolina. Revenues drop, traffic citations go up. Specifically, “a one percentage point decrease in last year’s local government revenue results in roughly a 0.32 percentage point increase in the number of traffic tickets the following year.”
Meanwhile, an article in Wall Street Journal says one can buy photoblocker spray ($29.99 a can) or a plastic shield that promises to render your license plates invisible to ticket cameras (c/o Phantom Plate Inc., of Harrisburg, PA.). Needless to say, California has already banned their use.
You can also take advantage of a free iPhone application on Trapster.com to mark speed traps and traffic cameras on a Google map.
Several years ago traffic enforcement seemed almost nonexistent in Northern California, but now there seem to be radar guns and patrols everywhere.
Honestly, I’m fine with this. Speeds seem to be coming down on the highways and there are plenty of really bad drivers who need the whip cracked at them.
I figured hairspray would, maybe with a little dust, do the job on the plates. Has anybody tried the special spray? How does it differ from hairspray? How about “Baker’s Joy”?
On my way to work EVERYONE is doing 10 to 15 mph over the 55 mph speed limit. All a LEO has to do is point his radar gun and pick out a target. If anything, their speed traps back-up traffic as everyone brake checks to go by.
One night after working late, the city had four speed traps setup within 15 miles. I had one LEO follow me for a mile just begging me to go over 55 mph.
I know it doesn’t work on, say, the toll gates on Highway 407 in southern Ontario, because I know a few people who have tried things similar.
The raised characters on the plates cast a shadow, and unless the light is coming from directly behind the camera, the cast shadow is going to reveal the plate. Even then, if the camera works with a flash, the flash just has to come from a direction(s) guaranteed to cause it to cast a shadow.
The real solution, for most people, is to go the speed limit, stop safely, and fight the ticket only if you feel you were actually falsely snapped and can prove it.
Oops, meant to post this in the Hammer Time thread so I deleted it.
Having said that, I agree that the best approach in these times is to beat the cops at their own game and go the speed limit. I *hate* tickets with a passion.
I haven’t had any tickets in a while, but during the last two I got the cop told me that he has to give me the ticket instead of a warning because he is being videotaped by the dashcam.
They mentioned that on their own, out of the blue, I never try to argue speeding tickets at the scene.
Just in case people think that towns paid for the dashcams to protect citizens from officer misconduct, protecting the towns’ revenues from lenient officers that give warnings is likely the real reason.
Not that protecting citizens from officer misconduct hasn’t been a huge side benefit.
I think the very structure of ticket income is flawed and corrupted.
Police enforcement is fair only if they don’t have any conflict of interest in this. So the best policy would be:
1) all ticket incomes go elsewhere, such as schools, so that police officers don’t benefit directly from the money
2) the police are rewarded/penalized base on local traffic death/injury rates as compared to the nation average.
So true about the raised characters on the plates. But maybe you can beat this problem. Many states make their personalized plates differently, not punching them out, but printing a flat appliqué. If that’s the case, the spray works pretty well.
If you use the personalized route, go one step farther; make it hard to read by human or computer. Examples: O0DOQ0C 0OQOC0O The difference between zeros, O’s, and Q’s is very slight, and hard to discern. A little added dust or dirt and you’re golden.
On my way to work EVERYONE is doing 10 to 15 mph over the 55 mph speed limit. All a LEO has to do is point his radar gun and pick out a target. If anything, their speed traps back-up traffic as everyone brake checks to go by.
And this is why LEO enforcement of speeding via “traps” is, if you’ll pardon me, bullshit:
* It’s inconsistent. Anyone who’s a parent will tell you that the worst thing you can do is enforce inconsistently. You end up with poorer behavior than if you didn’t enforce at all, because people will test the limit.
* It’s a waste of money. If all the officer is doing is pinging cars as they go by, a camera can do the same thing more cheaply and more effectively. A camera also will not net double time and a half overtime when it’s required to go to court.
Either use the cameras all the time as a calming device so that everyone knows the rules and that they’re always in effect, or don’t use them at all and pull only people who are driving at an unsafe differential versus the “natural” speed of the road.
No kidding. My parked car got a ticket for expired plate this morning and my plate is not expired until May! $40!!!
As one of the above posters noted…..the only way to put clamp down on ticket revenue is to force all fines to go to a state pot so that the county/municipality doesn’t see any of that money….
chances of that happening are really low.
Trapster works on Windows Mobile phones too – not just the “Jesus-phone.”
We have a red light cam here in Providence (RF’s neighborhood, actually) and, if I forgot it was there, Trapster would remind me.
Not that I would even come close to running a red – or even “chasing an orange” in a neighborhood with kids and cyclists.
I use PAM on my plates – lasers and camera shots just slide right off. Nothing sticks to PAM!
Just make sure to observe the limit and you have nothing to worry about.
Where I live in Reno there are frequently city cops on cycles working the major arterial roads. In most cases the speed limits are set reasonably for the road so its no big deal. Speeding on a road like that is a total waste as you just have to wait at the next signal anyway.
I have to second Mr. Horners observation that traffic enforcement is weak in portions urban of Northern CA. IMHO it is due to the fact that the number of CHP officers authorized has not increased for 20+ years while the state has been growing gangbusters. There are many suburban areas that are unincorporated where the CHP is responsible for all traffic enforcement and investigations. Most of the urban officers are on a never ending treadmill of accident investigation and devote little time to patrol & enforcement. Now when you get into some of the rural areas like Crescent City, Yreka or Red Bluff they tend to be thick.
I was only thinking about thwarting lasers with spray.
To all the “obey the limits” types:
It doesn’t always work for two reasons-
1) In some states (The Carolinas especially) , the speeds can change with seemingly little warning- on a four lane highway I’ve seen speeds drop by 10mph for a small patch where there’s an intersection (there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason for which intersection.) Guess where the cops love to catch speeders? And they aren’t the weaving-in-and-out-of-the-left-lane doing 30 over the limit type.
2) I’ve gotten pulled over for complete BS reasons when I had out of state plates- things like ‘following too close,’ or ‘hogging the left lane’ – when I wasn’t. I know I wasn’t, but it was just a BS excuse to pull me over. Although I didn’t get any ticket, it’s a good example as to how ‘obeying the law’ really just means they’re going to shift their definition as to who is violating it so they can keep catching their target number.
They’re not out there protecting your safety, they’re out there to get your money, and the line they draw of who is a criminal, already insanely narrow, is going to be more and more oppressing as more and more people ‘obey the law.’
I’m not blaming cops so much as the policies that are pitting citizens against them by labeling them as criminals. I’ve talked to a few state troopers about this and they’ve said it’s the state government cracking down on them. Although they’re willing to reduce fines, it’s the points that bother me- it serves as nothing more than a kickback to insurance giants.
Revenue enforcement is arbitrary and capricious at best, the very definition of injustice (per Daniel Webster).
Speed limits are set artificially low in many locations (I-285 in Atlanta was the subject of a film on the same, and DOT traffic surveys show that over 3/4ths of the populace “routinely” ignore them) as are yellow light times for this sole purpose, as are the various add-on “fees” and other punitive extra-$$ generators.
Btw, the plate covers work well enough vs high-angle cameras (stop light, etc), but are technically illegal.
Due to revenue requirements, someone will inevitably be getting their wallet lightened.
Get a good quality detector, pay attention, drive defensively, and try to avoid being the inevitable stuckie.
“all ticket incomes go elsewhere, such as schools, so that police officers don’t benefit directly from the money”
That is already how it is. The police department doesn’t get to keep the money collected from tickets, at least not in jurisdictions of any size.
Didn’t Myth Busters (or somebody else) test that spray and find out that it doesn’t work?
“as the economy tanks, motorists may be more likely to see red and blue in the rearview.”
Ground zero for this would be Warren, which is an inner ring suburb just north of the Detroit border. There are numerous speedtraps but the worst is the stretch on van Dyke just before the GM Tech Center. The donut eaters are pulling people over left and right in this area. Hell, several of the local news channels did specials on this. I was pulled over on this stretch and had to go to district court….they mustr hyave earned Warren at least $15,000 in the 30 minutes I was there.
Vorenus :
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Didn’t Myth Busters (or somebody else) test that spray and find out that it doesn’t work?
Yes. Someone at the WSJ probably owns stock in the spray and plate companies.
Excellent article from the Detroit News on this subject last November:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081117/METRO/811170333
The interactive map of metro Detroit is very informative. There should be one of these maps for every major city.
The numbers do not include Michigan State Police tickets handed out on the interstate highways.
mikeolan : To all the “obey the limits” types:
It doesn’t always work for two reasons-
I totally agree with your statement. It’s also about an officer’s interpretation of the law, and how much they are encouraged to draw revenue. You also have to account for how much of an a-hole cop you’re dealing with too, or how bad his day (or week. or year.) has been. Many of you, I’m sure, have seen the video, or at least heard about the Houston Taxans football player that was stopped outside a hospital for 20 minutes or so while his mother-in-law was dying inside. Some cops love to use the power given by that badge, and if you catch them on a bad day the slightest infraction can get you a ticket. The fact that times are tough and cities need money just drives the ticket writing that much more. It sucks, cops should be there to protect and serve the citizens of their municipalities. The fact is that there is no money in catching the real criminals, and the only thing they seem to be protecting and serving these days are the budgets of their cities.
here’s a recently article from the Toronto Star that’s along similar lines:
http://www.thestar.com/article/609928
What about all the cops that make up tickets?!
Okay, everyone thinks they are innocent, and most tickets are deserved, no one is a perfect driver all of the time, and everyone makes mistakes (and should be held accountable for them). BUT, that having been said, I’m sure that a lot of cops are out there writing FRAUDULENT tickets, claiming someone ran a red light when it was actually yellow, just to bust them for a seatbelt violation/fine (or pulling them over for a 27 in a 25 just to ticket for a seatbelt too). Or adding other charges on top of the legitimate charges just to up the “revenue stolen per ticket” metric. What about that stuff that’s going on every day in this country?
SexCpotatoes,
You are so right. Just two weeks ago I got stopped in the north Chicago suburb of Morton Grove. I was surprised because I was actually going under the speed limit. After the cop pulled me over, he asked me questions like if I was drunk, high, and if I owned the car. After I responded to his questions (btw I was not drunk or high) he started to talk onto his radio then quickly yelled back at me stating I wasnt answering his questions. He tried to play me off as being drunk when I clearly wasnt. His back up came and opened the passanger door and started talking to my passangers then quickly left. At this point he still did not state the reason why he pulled me over.
After checking my i.d. in the squad car he came back with a ticket. After asking him for the third time what offense I have done, he finally told me it was a ticket for a burnt out license plate bulb…thats right a 99 cent bulb he had to call in for back up. I disagree with those who say by just following the rules you will be fine, that is not always the case.
BTW, I am fighting the ticket in court this coming wednesday so wish me luck :)
To Airhen:
One night after working late, the city had four speed traps setup within 15 miles. I had one LEO follow me for a mile just begging me to go over 55 mph.
If the cop was tailing you, why didn’t you get into a different lane and let him pass? I find that most cops simply want you to get out of their way…
That, and if you do, then you can follow them (at a reasonable distance) and go whatever speed they are. Which is usually over the speed limit anyway.
By the way, one way of not being bothered by a cop car is to drive one yourself.
@gogogodzilla
I wasn’t there, but I’ve had the same thing happen to me numerous times where I’ve been in the right hand lane and the left hand lane was empty and the cop still tailed me.
I’ve seen motorcycles in DC with the tags far up underneath the seat. Still visible from behind but not from the perch of a camera. Clever way to skirt the law. Once I saw one with a small light under the fender, the tag was right above the tire.
This won’t work for cars but unless they want to go to the trouble of legislating that tags have to be seen from 15 feet above the roadway I think it’s a winner.
John Horner :
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:32 pm
“all ticket incomes go elsewhere, such as schools, so that police officers don’t benefit directly from the money”
That is already how it is. The police department doesn’t get to keep the money collected from tickets, at least not in jurisdictions of any size.
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But they are both under the control of the same municipal government. So, there will be pressure from up there.
My point was to give that money to someone totally unrelated. Maybe to the federal level to reduce Social Security Tax.
I don’t see why everyone is so upset here… The innocent have nothing to fear.
Right?