At what point are traffic violations just a way for a city to make money?

I drove to Cow Hollow earlier today to get a haircut at Descend Salon from my buddy, Marco. I parked at a meter and saw the parking enforcement dude eyeing my car. As I counted my change and went to the meter, he was still looking my way. I struck up a conversation with him.

"How's it going?"

[He points to the car in front of mine.] "I'm ticketing that car for not turning in their wheels"

"Wow, thanks so much"

I then get back into my car and turn my wheels in.

I'm really good about this stuff, but I was definitely not parked on any sort of grade that I felt warranted turning in my wheels. But I guess it doesn't matter how steep the hill is, turning your wheels in is always a good idea. I started talking to a couple store owners who were standing outside their shop. Apparently the city has been super strict about this recently, and this guy was going around ticketing a lot of people.

So why is the city so aggressive about giving out these tickets? Is it a serious danger? Or is the city trying to make a little extra money?

I was just reading in Car and Driver about how speed cameras are going up all over Arizona. But it was clear that they were going up purely to make more money, not for safety concerns.

They added speed cameras to balance the budget. As their budget deficit increased, so did the camera ticket program to match.
These tickets don't add points on your record. They just want the money. This means more people just pay it and don't bother fighting.
These are civil offenses, not criminal. So they only have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you were speeding. This means more people just pay it and don't bother fighting.

Instead of balancing the budget, Arizona just ticketed more people in a way that was unfair, but for most people not worth fighting. In future years, you think they balanced the budget and removed the cameras? Of course not. Each year will just get worse, and more cameras will be added.

As an avid driver, obviously I'm very anti speed cameras. But at least if they were being put up under the premise of safety, I'd just groan and live with them. Oh well. At least my radar detector will stop me from getting ticketed by the cameras.

Also forgot to mention that since I moved back to SF, I've been pulled over TWO times for my front tinted windows. Luckily no ticket. But it's odd since I've always had front tinted windows (how can you have a black car without tinting! For 10 years no problem, and now boom. Something is definitely up.

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Mar 11, 2009

dustin curtis said...

I was ticketed a few weeks ago for parking with my wheels straight on a flat street. Fuck SF traffic cops. It was $45.

Evan Bartlett said...

I was pulled over for not putting my registration stickers on my car (hey, im new to all these crazy california rules!), and when they saw that i still had a Texas drivers license, they impounded my car immediately and left me on the side of the road to walk home.

They wrote me a ticket for "driving without a license". Hmmm, I had a perfectly good valid license that allows me to drive in any state, and apparently would have allowed me to drive in CA if it had been a rental car.

Anyway, $500+ later I got my car back, and they let me off the hook for the registration because i had my paper work, just hadnt put the stickers up yet. Seems like a shake down to me.

Maggie Cheung said...

Definitely to make money! SF's usually pretty good about not handing out tickets to nonsense (like your case), but sounds like they're trying to rack in some $$. I hear there's a quota each officer must reach every year...I wonder if it's true.

Adam Rodriguez said...

you know how in california you can put propositions on the ballot? what's stopping us from putting propositions on the ballot like "All parking ticket revenues go straight to school budgets" or "all parking tickets and traffic citations get redistributed in the form of tax refunds"

the problem here is incorrect incentives. If tickets generate revenue for the government, then the government will try to create more tickets. If all the money the tickets generate goes to a group separate from the government (taxpayers, schools...), then the incentive to write tickets changes from revenue generation to safety.

The dis-incentive to get a ticket stays the same (the fees stay the same) but now the person writing the ticket is going to ticket you because you're being unsafe, not because the city needs the money.

while i'm on that topic, why can't we put a proposition on the ballot to raise the speed limit to 90? that would be awesome.

Sachin Agarwal said...

@Evan Holy crap that's one of the scariest stories I've ever heard (in terms of how serious the consequences were for such a minor offense!)

I've also been pulled over 2 times in 2 months for front tinted windows. Luckily no ticket

Mar 15, 2009

Sally Strebel said...

My husband built the site for the company who put up the speeding cameras in Arizona. He jokes with them explaining that they will get their money back in speeding tickets. So far we've received 4 tickets in the last year. :(

Mar 17, 2009

Anthony Martin said...

See 4409: the man seen in the video, was later arrested by Scotsdale’s finest. According to the Scottsdale PD, he was charged with “Refusing to Provide Truthful Name and Obstructing Government Operations,” yet Shelton and his supports claim that the vehicle in the video was owned and operated by an Australian firm, so the latter charge is not applicable.

Mar 18, 2009

Mr. Cheeks said...

Sachin - I got lucky with my tinted windows; it took about 4 years to be cited. Fortunately it was a fix-it ticket, and they waived it once my tinting was removed. At least it's not about raising revenue!

John Lin said...

I'm sure it's illegal to tint the windshield and front side windows in California. The cops freak out if they can't see what the driver and passengers are doing - like possibly aiming a gun at them. I'm surprised you got away with it for so long.

@Evan - how long were you in CA when you got ticketed? I got caught in the same situation (although just a warning!). Apparently within a few months of moving to CA you're supposed to declare residency and get a CA DL. This is especially true if your car is registered in CA but you DL is from another state.

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