Police Writing More Tickets
Stinking Economy = More Traffic Tickets!?
Once upon a time many people believed police wrote more speeding tickets at the end of each month. Why? They had to hit some kind of magic quoto number. As a result, at the end of each month more speed traps appeared and the ever-conscious driver trying to shave a few minutes off travel time, would slow down in fear of getting a ticket. Of course police everywhere deny such reports and say they do not step up speeding tickets at the end of each month.
Now, just when you thought you could believe them, word comes out that police are writing more tickets when the economy stinks! Just what we needed right? When many are concerned about stretching the every-shrinking dollar, we now need to be aware that the police are looking to dip into our wallets.
Local Governments Cash-Grabbing
If you haven’t already noticed, local governments are strapped for cash these days too. Every time we turn around we’re hearing of more government budget cuts. Services are cut, jobs are cut, and taxes increase. As a result, governments are now looking to make up the cash-flow problem any way they can. That includes nabbing motorists for various moving violations at a more frequent clip than during better economic times.
While this may not be true across the nation, researchers Gary Wagner and Thomas Garrett say that’s exactly what’s taking place in North Carolina. They came up with their conclusion after looking over revenue and traffic citation information from over the past 14 years, in 96 counties. On the surface, it doesn’t look like North Carolina police are writing more tickets since a 1% decrease in local government revenues has resulted in a 0.32% bump in traffic tickets.
Even though the increase is slight, Wagner and Thomas say it’s still a statistically significant correlation, speculating that stricter traffic enforcement acts as a kind of government fundraiser since local municipalities keep the money they collect from motorists. The researchers also advise drivers not to get too relax once the economy starts to improve. Mainly because there’s no evidence saying police write fewer tickets when government cash registers get fatter.
Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus
