Speeding tickets are multi-billion-dollar gov’t racket

Speeding tickets are a multi-billion-dollar annual business for state governments, municipalities and auto insurers. Politicians seeking to justify the issuance of so many citations frequently turn to statistics that show that “speeding” is the among the most common causes of traffic collisions in the United States. Not true.

Out of 2.7 million traffic accidents recorded in 25 states over the course of a year, only 1.6% were caused by drivers who exceeded the posted speed limit (analysis of annual state reports by NHTSA).

Since there is no speeding crisis, why the push to arm municipal police with RADAR? For the money.

Four commonly held, but inaccurate statements about speed limits:

• Lowering a posted limit will slow down traffic.

• Lowering a posted limit will increase safety and decrease the number of crashes.

• Raising the posted limit increases traffic speed.

• Drivers will always travel at 5 mph over the posted limit.

A speed limit sign should not dictate speed. It should reflect how drivers are actually behaving on the road. What 85% of motorists travel is called “prevailing speed.” Prevailing speed is the major consideration when setting speed limits. Why? Because it is the safest.

In Pennsylvania posted limits are 8 to 16 mph below the prevailing speed 90% of the time (F H Wa data), making almost everybody a “speeder.” Police will use RADAR to ticket these people who are doing nothing harmful and endangering no one. Tell your Representative to vote NO on Senate Bill 607, RADAR for municipal police.