quote:

It’s a ridiculous concept, but somehow it seemed inevitable. Check out this story from USA Today:

The surging price of gasoline has come to this: a “fuel surcharge” on your next speeding ticket.

Drivers caught speeding in this north Atlanta suburb [Holly Springs] soon will have to pay an extra $12 — to cover $4-a-gallon gas costs for the police officers who stop them.

Is your police cruiser running low on fuel? No problem, just pull over someone driving home from work, ticket them, and you’ll have a full tank of gas in no time. It doesn’t matter who you pull over because — thanks to Atlanta’s notoriously under-posted speed limits — everyone is a speeder.

Need to balance your budget? Maybe you should look to Pizza Hut for inspiration:

[Police Chief Ken] Ball says he was seeking ways to maintain patrols despite record high gas prices. “I was hearing that Delta (Air Lines), pizza deliverers, florists were adding fuel charges to their services, and I thought, why not police departments?” he says.

Unfortunately it looks like this isn’t going to be an isolated case. As with any situation where money is available to be taken from citizens, local government is on the case immediately:

Ball says he’s being “inundated” by calls from police chiefs and city managers. “I’ve heard from at least a dozen police chiefs and half a dozen city managers,” he says of the measure passed Monday night. “They want to know how we did it, and could we send them a copy of the ordinance.”

Yikes. For an extra dose of craziness, check out this story on phantom speed bumps.

Source

Perhaps we should just pull the AC from the cars, better mileage and no incentive for them to leave their cars running.

--M

Disturbing...

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Perhaps we should just pull the AC from the cars, better mileage and no incentive for them to leave their cars running.

Actually cars using AC get better mileage on the highway than those with the windows open. Aerodynamics I guess.

Pat, but very often you’ll see a cop car idling with the ac on while the officer is doing whatever his detail demands of him. But heck, I’d want to go back to a cold car too if my job made me stand outside in the hot sun wearing a dark blue suit!

As for a gas surcharge for speeders, why does anyone find this surprising? We already have a ‘gas guzzler’ tax on vehicles that do not achieve the gas mileage as made mandatory by the do-gooders so this seems to be the next logical step. This is just another tax on the normally law abiding citizen. I can’t wait for this to come up to Massachusetts! Our boys in blue need the extra money!

Also, we need to put a little more tax on Twinkies because the people that eat them become over-weight and that causes the ambulance to use more gas when the ambulance takes the Twinkie eater to the hospital after their heart attack. Ya, we ought to pay for ambulance services by the pound! That’s the ticket!

Resistance is futile... you will be assimilated...

Now wouldn't you think they would just increast the ticket by $4 or $5 dollars and avaid the embarrasment of an article such as this? It is madness.. and it may never end. You can bet... anyone and everyone who can get on this gravy train will.

Wray....

Good Idea

quote:

Originally posted by Wray:
Now wouldn't you think they would just increast the ticket by $4 or $5 dollars and avaid the embarrasment of an article such as this? It is madness.. and it may never end. You can bet... anyone and everyone who can get on this gravy train will.

Wray....

I believe that the issuing city gets some % of the fine, the county gets some % and the state takes some % (not certain if the Fed gets some but I wouldn't be surprised). It sounds like the surcharge will allow the issuing authority to "keep more" without sharing.

Seems to me that when the King's men start living better than the King's subjects that revolt/Robin Hood is not far behind.

--M

Wray,

Traffic fines in MA are already ridiculous. What's another 4 or 5 dollars?

TJ,

The reason the car is left idling is usually the blue lights are on during a detail or the officer may have to leave quickly in other circumstances. A cold engine does not react well to putting your foot to the floor, e4ven in hot weather.

Pat, I don't care if it is so the cop gets in a cooled down car during a detail. I don't question those guys too much. I wouldn't be able to do that job without hurting punk criminals.

As for Mass speeding tickets, now you know why I drive slowly! I can't afford the speeding tax and the associated insurance premium increase!! I got poor people depending on my tax dollars!

I must admit even in a cool car the sun blowing through the windows on dark blue shirts with kevlar underneath makes for some very warm days. A good double (16 hrs.) in a cruiser on a hot humid day is something to behold. You get home and go directly to the rain locker for a Hollywood shower.

PAt, I will routinely stop and get the cops some water. At first they wouldn't take them from me. But now that they know me, they are pretty thankful. Right now it is too hot to dress like that and stand in the sun a freaking day!

We used to have a Chief that let us wear white shirts on details. Nothing like a cold bottle of water when you are out with a paving detail and it is 100 degrees and 100% humidity.

In the winter everyone brings coffee. However, after the first few cups you need a porta potty.

Maybe the cops should just stay in the cruiser more ... yeah, that's (not) the ticket!

Soc, but if they did that, who would screw up the traffic?