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Have you noticed all the CHP officers sitting along the 101 on either side of Ventura?  Have your or someone you know received a ticket in the mail because you didn’t come to a complete stop when you made a right turn on a red light?  Have you noticed more people getting pulled over by the motorcycle cops around downtown?  (They like to sit on California Street across from Cafe Fiore and look for people driving by talking on their phone).

Of course it’s obvious what the motivation for this increased activity is:  revenue generation.   Our local governments are broke because they don’t know how to budget, so their solution is to squeeze more money out of us for relatively minor violations.  More traffic fines are a great way to boost revenue because if they’re left unpaid they don’t get passed to collection agents – they turn into warrants for your arrest.  That’s effective tax collection!  Imagine if the IRS issued a federal warrant for your arrest if you didn’t pay your tax bill on April 15.

Of course I realize the difference between income tax and a fine for a traffic violation.  But why aren’t these violations important when the economy is good?  Why are they now suddenly cracking down on people going 4 miles over the speed limit?  It’s like they’re kicking us while we’re down.

The USA Today reported recently that across the country officers have been instructed to give less warnings and write more tickets.  They’re also writing tickets for speeders who traditionally aren’t worth stopping, i.e. people going 39 in a 35.

This is all just more proof that we are revenue-generating cogs in a great machine.  You must protect your money and well being from all directions for there are vultures everywhere.   Be extra vigilant.  Don’t let the tax man take more from you because you thought there was no harm in going with the flow of traffic.