Traffic Tickets Rise As City Income Falls

A Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis working paper concludes that municipalities use traffic tickets as a means of supplanting falling local revenue. Economist Thomas A. Garrett and University of Arkansas at Little Rock Professor Gary A. Wagner explain that although there is ample anecdotal evidence to show that this is the case, no empirical studies have ever examined the question in detail.

Using county-level data from North Carolina between 1989 and 2003, the working paper analysis takes into account demographic factors such as population and traffic growth that could influence the number of tickets written for offenses such as speeding, failure to yield and following too closely. Some counties issued as many as one ticket for every resident, while the average was closer to one ticket for every ten residents.

Garrett and Wagner found that for each one-percent drop in local government revenue there followed a .38 percent increase in the number of tickets written, each worth between $5 and $250. When local revenue increased, however, there was no corresponding decrease in the number of citations issued.

"The fact that local governments increase traffic tickets during periods of revenue decreases but do not decrease traffic tickets in response to revenue increases reveals some degree of revenue maximization on the part of local governments," the authors concluded.

Source: TheNewspaper.com - Are Traffic Tickets Countercyclical? (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 8/30/2006)

Georgia Teen Mistakenly Jailed For Unpaid Traffic Ticket

A high school athlete was imprisoned Monday in Atlanta, Georgia after being wrongfully accused of not paying a minor traffic ticket. U.S. Customs agents apprehended Stephen Kelsey, 17, at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport after the youth had returned from a long international flight he took to play soccer in Europe. Kelsey pleaded with and Atlanta police to verify that he had paid the the $175 ticket for slowing, but not completely stopping, at a stop sign. Police, instead, slapped him in handcuffs and hauled him away in front of teammates and his family. He was then tossed in the Fulton County Jail cell with thirty hardened criminals.

"I was actually thirty seconds away from having to strip down with the other inmates," Kelsey told WSB-TV in an interview.

The teen's mother, Marlene Kelsey, scrambled to marshal evidence that the fine had been paid. She found it, but the jail insisted that the police department that had issued the arrest warrant, Sandy Springs Police, agree to the release. When Marlene Kelsey attempted to call the Sandy Springs police, they were no longer answering the phone for the evening.

Stephen Kelsey spent eight hours behind bars and was released around 4am Tuesday. Sandy Springs officials apologized for the incident.

Source: Teen Jailed Over Ticket He Had Already Paid (WSB-TV (GA), 8/2/2007)

If you have a traffic ticket or speeding ticket in Georgia, get legal help from a Georgia Traffic Attorney.

Traffic Ticket Woes for Maverick Carter - CEO Of LeBron James Company

It seemed like an odd place for the regional managing partner of a major law firm, Squire Sanders & Dempsey, to be practicing. Amid the untucked T-shirts and denim shorts of a couple of dozen drivers resigned to plead "no contest" to their traffic offenses, Nance stood out in a natty suit and polka dot tie.

His client was Maverick Carter, 25, right-hand man of Cavs superstar LeBron James and CEO of James' LRMR Innovative Marketing & Branding. Carter was charged with driving 94 mph on a stretch of I-71 where the speed limit is 60. He already has 18 traffic convictions since 1998 and currently has eight points on his license. The potential four points from the Middleburg Heights ticket could result in a suspended license.

Enter "Fred the Fixer," who worked out a deal before court began in which Carter would attend a remedial driving course, knocking some points off his offense.

Carter wore a surgical mask during the hearing because he recently was released from a hospital after being treated for strep throat. Magistrate Kevin M. Preston got chuckles when Carter approached and explained the mask. "You can step back," he said.

He signed off on the driving course and Nance and Carter were on their way. Major civic crisis or misdemeanor traffic offense, "Fred the Fixer" still had his mojo.

"If a CEO of any of our major clients has to go to traffic court and wants me there, you'll see me in traffic court again," said Nance. "There are clients and there are clients."

If you need help with a speeding or traffic ticket in Ohio visit Ohio Traffic Ticket Attorneys

From article in The Cleveland Plain Dealer 8/2/07 - Michael McIntyre, reporter

Outsourced Traffic Tickets In Orange County?

ASSOCIATED PRESS

2:37 p.m. July 31, 2007

SANTA ANA – The Orange County Superior court will stop processing traffic tickets in Nogales, Mexico, following a public outcry over the practice.

Court officials on Monday amended the contract with the company that handles the tickets, Cal Coast Data Entry. Beginning Friday, Cal Coast will process all of the court's tickets at its Cerritos and Phoenix locations, court spokeswoman Carole Levitsky said in a statement.

The controversy erupted last week, when KFI radio's “John & Ken Show” attacked the outsourcing and urged listeners to complain. Hundreds called and e-mailed the court and county supervisors.

“We took this very seriously. We're concerned with the public's confidence,” said Chelle Uecker, the court's assistant chief executive officer.

The court has contracted with the Cerritos-based Cal Coast since March 2006. Information from tickets – including driver's license numbers, car license numbers, birth dates and addresses – has been scanned at the Cerritos facility and sent electronically to the Nogales branch.

The court has said the information was sent by electronic encryption and that the company has state-of-the-art security.

Uecker said that Cal Coast, which gets $752,000 a year for processing about 500,000 traffic tickets, was cooperative in amending the contract.

From SignOnSanDiego.com - the Union Tribune.