Tight for cash, governments raise traffic fees

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Here's the problem with this...at some point, you can't get water from a rock. This could ultimately cost the county...there are going to be plenty of people you can't squeeze this out of...then what happens? The original exorbitant fine becomes more exorbitant when it isn't paid and some may simply opt to do the time in jail or do it anyway when they get caught on a bench warrant.

With respect to the seatbelt law in general...this idiotic law started out as a nominal fine and not counting against your driving record. Now it is predictably another money grab and counts against your driving record. Why do we do continue to help politicians do this to us???

LOS ANGELES – Shomari Jennings was willing to pay the $70 ticket he received for driving without a seatbelt, but not the slew of tacked-on fees and penalties that ballooned the cost more than tenfold.

Every $10 of his base fine triggered a $26 "penalty assessment" for courthouse construction, a DNA identification program, emergency medical services and other programs. Other fees ranged from $1 to $35.

"It's the new tax," Jennings, 30, complained while waiting in traffic court to contest a staggering bill compounded by a $500 fine for missing a court date.
And motorists can only expect more of the same as cash-strapped cities and states consider measures ranging from expansion of red-light camera systems to charging drivers for cleanup after accidents.

In Iowa, lawmakers grappling with shortfalls in the state's public safety budget are exploring ways to increase fines for traffic violations. There's a proposal in Maryland to add a $7.50 charge to traffic fines to help pay for *************** and fire protection equipment.

Cash-strapped California, however, is seeing some of the most aggressive efforts to squeeze money out of motorists.

Last year, lawmakers agreed to a budget deal that nearly doubled the vehicle license fee that owners pay when they register their cars every year. The fee rose from .65 percent of a vehicle's value to 1.15 percent. A significant portion of the revenue goes to the state's general fund, and the rest to local crime prevention programs.

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