Speed Trap Karma Part 2: NMA E-Newsletter #698
Reason.com recently published a list of eleven U.S. towns where their police forces were either disbanded or their autonomy as a governmental entity was dissolved because of an addiction to, and dependence on, ticket revenue. We thought it would be informative to present excerpts from Reason’s article for those cities along with select driver-sourced comments […]
Speed Trap Karma Part 1: NMA E-Newsletter #697
Reason.com recently published a list of eleven U.S. towns where their police forces were either disbanded or their autonomy as a governmental entity was dissolved because of an addiction to, and dependence on, ticket revenue. We thought it would be informative to present excerpts from Reason’s article for those cities along with select driver-sourced comments […]
The Changing Landscape of Speed Limits
By Shelia Dunn, NMA Communications Director Editor’s Note: This piece originally appeared as the cover story in the Winter 2022 Edition of the National Motorists Association’s quarterly magazine Driving Freedoms. If you would like to receive our magazine, please become a member of the NMA today! Advocating for speed limits based on sound traffic-engineering […]
Are Speed Limit Signs (or lack thereof) Disrespectful to Drivers?
By Merrill Gehman, an Alaska NMA Member If those who establish, post, and enforce work zone, detour, and other temporary site speed limit signs wonder why so many drivers don’t obey these signs, I can show them a good example. There are a significant number of these sites where drivers are just not respected. Usually, […]
Paradise Ticket Quota Extreme: NMA Weekly E-Newsletter #636
Multiple times a year, the US Department of Transportation issues grants to states for specific traffic enforcement programs. That money trickles down to cities so they can pay officers overtime. Honolulu police officers are currently participating in one such grant program this month. To measure the program’s effectiveness, the Honolulu Police Department wants officers to […]
Driving in America: Musings from Arizona’s Interstate 17
By NMA Arizona Member Rod Harris For 15 years, I have commuted at least once a week between the greater Phoenix area and Flagstaff, AZ, roughly 130 miles each way, on Interstate 17. In my experience, the average speed was more or less the speed limit, when and where that limit is 75 mph. Of course, […]
US Supreme Court Takes Up Tribal Traffic Stops
By guest writer Richard Diamond, editor of TheNewspaper Editor’s Note: This post first appeared on TheNewspaper website January 7, 2021. High court justices to limit or expand the authority of Indian tribes to conduct speed traps and traffic stops. The power of Indian tribes to exercise authority over non-Indian drivers on public roads will be […]
“Driving While Black” Billboard Shines Light on City Ticket Records
By a Michigan NMA Member Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared as NMA E-Newsletter #602 from July 2020. If you would like to receive the weekly NMA E-Newsletter, join today! On July 6, an electronic billboard appeared along I-96 in Redford Township, Michigan, just east of the city limits of Livonia. It warned drivers leaving […]
Are Small Towns Addicted to Traffic Fines and Fees?
Editor’s Note: This article was initially written for the Spring edition of Driving Freedoms magazine and instead appeared as NMA weekly E-Newsletter #592 in May 2020. The information here pertained primarily to life before the COVID-19 crisis. Still, we believe traffic fines and fees will be even more of an issue for small towns (and […]
Speed traps have an impact
Massachusetts continues its speeding ticket blitz and people are dying. Before the ticketing rampage fatal accidents were down in absolute numbers but up relative to the amount of traffic. Now they are up in absolute numbers too: 17 in the first three weeks of May compared to 14 in the same period last year. But […]