Mar 27
Perhaps we should all tow one of these, for the officer’s convenience.
A study in the Journal of Law & Economics concludes:
as many motorists have long suspected, "governments use traffic tickets as a means of generating revenue." The authors, Thomas Garrett of the St. Louis Fed and Gary Wagner of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, studied 14 years of traffic-ticket data from 96 counties in North Carolina. They found that when local-government revenue declines, police issue more tickets in the following year.
With government income down substantially in St. George, I guess we can expect SGPD to start getting even more aggressive about tickets. As if that was even possible.
March 28th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Have you noticed the number of Trafficams springing up at intersections in St George? When completely operational they will monitor “non stop right turn on red” violations and increase over 100 fold the number of “robot officers” issuing tickets. Easy pickings – some private companies monitor these for $5000 per camera per year and the excess runs off to municipal governments. OK our next project should be to invest in then control one of these companies, right? Maybe even get a ticket or two in the name of corporate revenues. I have a few possible names after we are in control : Bear Stearns Right Turns, American Intersection Group, and Citilights Group.
March 29th, 2009 at 10:54 am
I asked about those when they started popping up. They “claimed” they wouldn’t be used for enforcement. The lying bums.
March 29th, 2009 at 10:56 am
If they are doing what you say Frank, they need to update their website:
Question How do I get the recorded video from the cameras that are on the signal arms.
Answer You may be curious as to what the video cameras on the signal arms are for. They are used for detection of vehicles in the travel lanes. The cameras are motion detection cameras that can tell when a vehicle has pulled up to the intersection in order to change the light from red to green.
The City of St. George and UDOT have also installed closed circuit cameras “CCTV” on St. George Blvd. and Bluff Street. These are used to help watch traffic flow and diagnose problems that occur with traffic operations.
The City of St. George or UDOT does not record the video feeds from any of thier cameras.
March 29th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Go to the local dealer, ask for paper plates they use on new cars. They are more than happy to hand them out. Put those on instead of you real plates. Worse that happens is you get a $10 fix it ticket. You can get ten of those before they equal one red light ticket.
They cant send you a ticket if they dont know who you are.
“The cameras are motion detection cameras that can tell when a vehicle has pulled up to the intersection in order to change the light from red to green.”
Magnetic sensors in the pavement do this.
March 30th, 2009 at 6:57 am
huh, wonder why they hand those out.
that could help avoid registration nonsense too.
Registration is another money racket. It is unneeded and is just another way for government to get your money.
March 30th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
They and them out because its free advertising. You still have to register your car, of course, and I know people who carry the plates under the seat in case the cop asks. You can just say you forgot to put them on. The cop can check your registration by your VIN or reg card so I recommend you have that up to date.