earthbm_IHB
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Now I would call bull on that if the information was public, but I'll just have to trust you I guess. Anyone has access to statistics on traffic violations? Via the courts maybe? I commute on the same road every day and the increase in flashing blue lights is clearly obvious.
People respond to incentives. Incentives don't need to be spelled out as for 5-year olds, so save "it's illegal" statement for the judge. If the state and local budget is in the toilet, what's the change in your motivation, Trooper? And with so many PDs out there there's bound to be a few where this was put on paper in a less than PC language ("road safety month" or "speeding awareness week"). And if anyone finds it, forget about bad publicity and lost jobs and think about class action lawsuits. You bring your graphic accident pics to court, we bring statistics. You may win, but then again, you may not.
With three kids in school I am not against giving money to the state (I donated to IUSD). I am against the arbitrary tax extracted via traffic fines. This is how the war of independence started.
<blockquote>Study: When local revenue falls, traffic citations go up
Published on Jan 12, 2009 - 11:19:28 AM
Email this article Printer friendly page
By: University of Chicago Press Journals
Jan. 12, 2009 - A new study to be published in next month's Journal of Law and Economics finds statistical evidence that local governments use traffic citations to make up for revenue shortfalls. So 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 14 years of revenue and traffic citation data from counties in North Carolina. They found that the number of traffic citations issued goes up the year following a revenue drop.
"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 in the following year," Garrett and Wagner write.
That number may sound small, but it's a statistically significant correlation, the authors say.
The study controlled for demographic and economic differences in the sample, which contained data from 96 North Carolina counties collected from 1990 to 2003.
The finding adds credence to something many drivers have long suspected: Safety isn't the only motive in traffic enforcement efforts. Since many municipalities retain the money generated by traffic fines, perhaps traffic enforcement also acts as a bit of a fundraiser.
"There is ample anecdotal evidence that local governments use traffic tickets as a means of generating revenue...," Garrett and Wagner write. "Our paper provides the first empirical evidence to support this view..."
And don't expect to be able to throttle up when the economy recovers. The study found no significant drop in tickets when revenues increased.
Garrett, Thomas A., Gary A. Wagner, "Red Ink in the Rearview Mirror: Local Fiscal Conditions and the Issuance of Traffic Tickets," Journal of Law and Economics, 52:1, Feb. 2009
</blockquote>
People respond to incentives. Incentives don't need to be spelled out as for 5-year olds, so save "it's illegal" statement for the judge. If the state and local budget is in the toilet, what's the change in your motivation, Trooper? And with so many PDs out there there's bound to be a few where this was put on paper in a less than PC language ("road safety month" or "speeding awareness week"). And if anyone finds it, forget about bad publicity and lost jobs and think about class action lawsuits. You bring your graphic accident pics to court, we bring statistics. You may win, but then again, you may not.
With three kids in school I am not against giving money to the state (I donated to IUSD). I am against the arbitrary tax extracted via traffic fines. This is how the war of independence started.
<blockquote>Study: When local revenue falls, traffic citations go up
Published on Jan 12, 2009 - 11:19:28 AM
Email this article Printer friendly page
By: University of Chicago Press Journals
Jan. 12, 2009 - A new study to be published in next month's Journal of Law and Economics finds statistical evidence that local governments use traffic citations to make up for revenue shortfalls. So 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 14 years of revenue and traffic citation data from counties in North Carolina. They found that the number of traffic citations issued goes up the year following a revenue drop.
"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 in the following year," Garrett and Wagner write.
That number may sound small, but it's a statistically significant correlation, the authors say.
The study controlled for demographic and economic differences in the sample, which contained data from 96 North Carolina counties collected from 1990 to 2003.
The finding adds credence to something many drivers have long suspected: Safety isn't the only motive in traffic enforcement efforts. Since many municipalities retain the money generated by traffic fines, perhaps traffic enforcement also acts as a bit of a fundraiser.
"There is ample anecdotal evidence that local governments use traffic tickets as a means of generating revenue...," Garrett and Wagner write. "Our paper provides the first empirical evidence to support this view..."
And don't expect to be able to throttle up when the economy recovers. The study found no significant drop in tickets when revenues increased.
Garrett, Thomas A., Gary A. Wagner, "Red Ink in the Rearview Mirror: Local Fiscal Conditions and the Issuance of Traffic Tickets," Journal of Law and Economics, 52:1, Feb. 2009
</blockquote>
