Hey Gang,
Heed this warning!!!
Be careful the police are out in force! Not sure where you live but the freeways around Cleveland are buzzing with cops. Every time the economy sours and revenue needs to be brought in the quotas get raised. This is where my disdain for the police lies, they foolishly follow orders to balance the cities budgets.
Think I am crazy? In the Cleveland area stop light cameras have appeared. What was the reason? Money! Never in any of the interviews, papers, or articles I read did it mention even in the least bit safety. In East Cleveland the Mayor was bragging how much money they raised. Is this the duty of law enforcement to raise revenue? Its been a ploy for years, projects have to be paid for or there is budget cuts and funds are needed, just issue more tickets. This is such a dangerous precedent when police are used to balance budgets or raise funds. Read history. Many of the dictatorship governments had their arm of revenue raisers, don't pay for whatever reason, jail and confiscate. When will this nonsense stop?
Traffic fines and misdemeanors are the easiest way to raise money. Why? Most people won't fight them because the cost to do so is greater than the actual fine. We all just ante up, pay and plead no contest or guilty.
Furthermore, most traffic laws and some misdemeanors are so frivolous they need to be applied with common sense and leeway. Face it, everyone reading this has broken traffic laws at some time and some of us break those laws daily. Does this make all of us criminals or dangerous? Absolutely not. Traffic and misdemeanor laws should be used as a guideline only and enforcement of them, once again I need to mention it, with common sense and an extension of courtesy.
My sister got a ticket for doing 35 mph in a 25 late at night, with no other traffic around in a commercial zone. She is a nurse, has a clean record, a new car and wasn't under the influence. Was anyone in danger with her traveling 10 mph over the posted limit? Of course not. Did the cop care? Nope! She got a ticket. How many of us can relate to this?
So why my tirade? I received a ticket for a no turn on red. If you are not familiar with the intersection where this happened I can guarantee you would of turned right also. It is very poorly marked and at a place you have to question why can't I turn right on red? Even after the cop told me, I didn't believe it was marked so I went back later on and took photos of the intersection.
The same situation played out as with my sister receiving her ticket. The cop asked for my license and registration. Did he ask any other questions like if I was familiar with the intersection? Did he take in to consideration my clean driving record? Did he take in to account I was not under the influence, the condition of my car? NO to all of these! He just wrote the ticket and immediately after issuing it he left the side street he was lurking on where he could view the intersection. I am positive he was stationed there for no other reason than to write easy tickets to fill quota.
Instead of waiving the ticket and saving court costs I chose to attend court to fight it. The judge didn't give me much of a chance to speak because of my clean driving record with zero points she quickly ruled on the case. The judge said she has a policy of keeping clean driving records clean so instead of a traffic ticket it was changed to a non-driving offense with a fine of $75 plus court costs. The gavel went down, case closed.
I left the court room feeling somewhat better until I went to pay the fine. I thought $75 plus costs would be around $110.00. Nope! $172.00!!!
The break down of the fine reads as such:
Continuance (I asked for a new date) $ 2.00
Victims of crime $ 9.00
State Revenue Fund $15.00
Court Costs $41.00
Computer Fund $ 5.00
Special Project $10.00
Criminal Justice $ 5.00
Charge Amendment $10.00
Fine/Lyndhurst $75.00
Reading this list now understand what I am getting at? Computer fund? Victims of crime? Special Project? How does those fit in with my penalty? It doesn't. Us drivers are cash cows to the local government, plain and simple. Enforcement of traffic laws are as much or more about raising money as it is about safety.
Same with wearing a seat belt it should be left up to the discretion of the occupants of the car. But this summer there is a campaign called click it or ticket to make sure you are using your seat belt. Law enforcement will be conducting traffic blitzes. Do you like that terminology? Originally seat belt tickets were a secondary offense which means you couldn't be stopped for not wearing one. Only if you were stopped for another offense could you be given a seat belt violation ticket. Now it doesn't matter. This gives law enforcement another reason to stop you to find something wrong and more access to your wallet.
Our government is quickly becoming so intrusive so big brother so controlling that we are close to losing what little freedom we have left. If we don't fight back and say enough there will come a time we won't have a voice to do so. That also will be silenced.
CKM
"http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/news/may06/0518clickit/tabid/12875/Default.aspx"
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