City is not getting rich from traffic tickets
There is a common misconception that Stamford makes a lot of money from speeding tickets and traffic enforcement. I cannot speak for other states, but that is not the case in Connecticut and definitely not the case in Stamford.
A man was recently arrested for holding a sign letting drivers know that there was a distracted driving checkpoint up the road. I won’t comment on his actions but instead his motive ... that the City of Stamford was using this checkpoint to make money.
Yes, those tickets do cost the driver or pedestrian money. But the city sees almost none of it. The vast majority of most traffic ticket fines is kept by the state. Mayor David Martin has asked for more fairness in remittance of ticket revenue to municipalities in the last two state legislative sessions but it has been turned down every time. So we still lose money every time we write a traffic ticket.
To further illustrate this point: the City of Stamford has a traffic enforcement unit of six officers. That unit costs the city $650,000 each year in salaries and other benefits. For all of the tickets they, and all other police officers write, the city receives $120,000 a year back from the state.
The City of Stamford enforces traffic laws for public safety. The rate of car and pedestrian crashes across the country has been increasing over the last few years, mostly because of distracted driving, and distracted walking (crossing the street while looking down at your cell phone). Stamford had three crashes resulting in pedestrian fatalities in 2017. We’ve already had two in 2018. It is imperative that the city do everything it can to enforce the laws and reduce the number of crashes.
There is no argument that traffic enforcement is an important function of a municipality to maintain safe roads and safety for residents. But it is unfair to say that Stanford’s traffic enforcement is to make money. That is just not true.