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The economics of traffic fines
Speeding tickets are not only determined by the speed of the offender, but by incentives faced by police officers and their vote maximizing principals. Our model predicts that police officers issue higher fines when drivers have a higher opportunity cost of contesting a ticket, and when drivers do not reside in the community where they are stopped. The model also predicts that local officers are more likely to issue a ticket when legal limits prevent the local government from increasing revenues though other instruments such as property taxes. We find support for the hypotheses. The farther the residence of a driver from the municipality where the ticket could be contested, the higher is the likelihood of a speeding fine, and the larger the amount of the fine. The probability of a fine issued by a local officer is higher in towns when constraints on increasing property taxes are binding, the property tax base is lower, and the town is more dependent on revenues from tourism. For state troopers, who are not employed by the local, but the state government, we do not find evidence that the likelihood traffic fines varies with town characteristics. Finally, personal characteristics, such as gender and race are among the determinants of traffic fines.
That is from Thomas Stratmann and Michael Makowsky, both at George Mason. Here is the paper. I believe also that wealthier communities have a higher demand for both safety and law enforcement, which will imply higher fines, whether or not the cost of contesting the ticket is high. I also would expect to see racial effects, as one finds in Paul Heaton's paper on racial profiling in New Jersey.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on February 20, 2007 at 12:53 PM in Law | Permalink
Comments
"The farther the residence of a driver from the municipality where the ticket could be contested, the higher is the likelihood of a speeding fine, and the larger the amount of the fine."
This is consistent with the observations James Q. Wilson made in "Varieties of Police Behavior" (1968).
Posted by: jp at Feb 20, 2007 1:21:39 PM
Other considerations include whether or not a state is a tourist destination. For example, in the 1980s, it was common knowledge among people with Illinois license plates that you could get away with driving like a bat out of hell in Michigan but not in Indiana. Michigan is a sizable tourist destination for Chicagoans, while Indiana is just a place you drive through to get to Michigan. Indiana didn't care whether getting money out of Chicagoans hurt the Michigan tourist business, so it gave out lots of speeding tickets.
Posted by: Steve Sailer at Feb 20, 2007 4:23:18 PM
I would think the size of the town also matters. Smaller towns generally seem to give larger fines, though this may be the "distance" effect rather than a small town effect.
Posted by: eriks at Feb 20, 2007 4:24:08 PM
Woe unto the man who speeds in Kingman, AZ (In the middle of no where, between Phoenix and Las Vegas). They take their policing, fining, and collections VERY seriously.
When I was in college, Western Pennsylvania interstates were heavily policed, but Ohio was a free-for-all.
Posted by: Reticent Man at Feb 21, 2007 6:42:22 PM
I agree that police officers do tend to issue higher fine when both the driver is out of state and when the driver has a high opportunity cost of taking the ticket to court. I also see that a driver's record determines how much of a fine he or she will receive. If a driver has already received a ticket, then I would think they will receive a more extensive fine. But if an officer sees that the driver is likely to take the ticket to court, the officer will issue a higher fine that way the opportunity cost would be much better for the offender to just pay off the ticket rather than pay for court fees also. The best thing anyone can do is just to drive the speed limit and then you don't have to worry about any of this.
Posted by: Darren at Feb 25, 2007 2:32:49 PM
I would definitely agree that the farther from home a driver is the greater the fine is likely to be. The city police seem to always be giving out tickets more often than a trooper because of the revenue for the city. As long as the opportunity cost is high for an offender to take the case to court it will give the police a great opportunity to give significant fines. The system is brutal for visitors and as long as it stays the same the fines will be high.
Posted by: Ricky at Feb 25, 2007 9:32:57 PM
I think that economics has a lot to do with the speeding ticket process. I also agree with this concept, especially when it mentions the fact about out of town and out of state drivers being more likely to get speeding tickets. These out of town drivers are less familiar with the roads and when spotted by an officer they are more likey to be pulled over and given a ticket. These drivers are more than likely not going to want to appear in court over the expensive ticket so they just pay it off. I agree that this is a prime example of opportunity cost. They would rather give the ticket to a driver out of town and receive more money for the ticket.
I don't think that out of town drivers should be penalized more because they are not aware of the speed limits on unfamiliar roads. I'm glad I did read this article because I never thought of tickets being associated with economics, but now it makes perfect sense.
Posted by: Meagan H at Feb 26, 2007 4:45:33 PM
I agree with the fact that police officers are more inclined to give higher
fines to out-of-town speeders than they are to in-town speeders. It makes
sense that the visitors would be more likely just to pay the fine rather than
go to court. They are willing to give up the opportunity cost of possibly
not paying a fine for convenience. Police officers realize this fact and will
therefore, make visitors' fines higher. It does not seem fair; however, it'
more than likely occurs regularly. I also agree with the fact that "wealthier
communities have a higher demand for both safety and law enforcement." The
police of these communities will give more tickets at higher fines in order
to keep the wealthy community safe.
Posted by: aw at Feb 26, 2007 9:36:00 PM
Although I never really considered it before, I do completely agree that economics comes into play when dealing with speeding tickets. But there are also many factors that are involved: the state, the police force, the area, wealth, etc.
Posted by: Mallory at Mar 12, 2007 10:09:57 PM
Um, police don't set fines, courts do. All a cop can do is cite you for a different offense (e.g., reckless driving instead of speeding).
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Posted by: 謝文豪 at Apr 1, 2008 9:55:06 PM
They are willing to give up the opportunity cost of possibly
not paying a fine for convenience. Police officers realize this fact and will
therefore, make visitors' fines higher. It does not seem fair; however, it'
more than likely occurs regularly. I NEW DELL INSPIRON 6400 E1505 1501 85 WHr 9 BATTERY laptop battery also agree with the fact that "wealthier
communities have a higher demand for both safety and law enforcement." The
police of these communities will give more tickets at higher fines in order
to keep the wealthy community safe.
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