Cops tackle man trying to turn off stove

An Ontario, Canada man says he asked the officer writing the ticket to follow him the short distance home so he could turn off a boiling pot on the stove. He also wanted to check on his severely disabled daughter. The cop refused.

When the man drove home anyway, the police allegedly tackled the 68 year old on his front lawn. (Then an officer went inside to turn off the stove.)

They take their law enforcement seriously up north. Though it was never like that on Due South.

In California, drivers by themselves in hydrid cars have been allowed to use the carpool lane for 7 years. That ended on July 1.

A West Palm Beach police chief and a Palm Beach sheriff commander are under investigaton for canceling traffic tickets. Reportedly, only the issuing
officer can do that in Florida.

Hale Center, Texas is looking to round up almost $100,000 in unpaid tickets, some 5 years old. The cops are knocking on doors. Windcrest, 450 miles to the south, is doing much the same thing.

What's the most common traffic violation? Speeding? Red light? Police in Ohio Valley say in their neck of the woods it's driving without a license.

Cities sure need money. In one Tennessee town, the collection agency for unpaid traffic tickets supposedly got the wrong file. 4,000 people who'd already paid up got collection notices.

---Ebook and free articles about fighting traffic ticket

Image courtesy of Michelle Meiklejohn

DUI checkpoints expensive -- $2,800 to arrest each driver

Two traffic officers win $2 million in court from the Los Angeles Police Department. They'd broken the silence and said there was a daily quota of 18 traffic tickets a day for motor officers on the city's Westside. They alleged the department retaliated against them for this revelation. The jury agreed.

Update: 4-15-11: The chief of the LAPD still insists he has no quotas and wants to appeal the verdict. (Please! Give me more bad publicity!)

Update: 4-17-11: One attorney wonders if all the traffic citations written under the quota system will need to be dismissed.

Slowing down to get a good look at an accident may be a violation in Ontario, Canada, this article says.

Lots of devices interact with the Iphones and Ipads to warn of red-light cameras, speed traps, schools and DUI checkpoints. Not sure how much attention you're going to pay to the warning if you're plastered.

DUI checkpoints, by the way, aren't there to catch drunk drivers. In Costa Mesa, CA, for example, less than 1% of the cars stopped at checkpoints have intoxicated drivers. California made only about 2% of its drunk driving arrests at DUI checkpoints in 2008.

The real secret to the checkpoints is federal funding--$14 million to California in 2008. That's about $2,800 per driver arrested. Strike you as pricey?

Update: On April 28, 2011, Martinez, California police ran a 3 hours DUI checkpoint. They talked to 503 drivers and nabbed one drunk driver. That's 2/10 of 1%. Is it possible if all the cops at the checkpoint had been driving around for 3 hours, they might have seen more than one intoxicated driver?

Find more information about traffic tickets at How to Beat a Traffic Ticket: The Six Steps Guide. Available for just 99 cents from Kindle or Nook. Or instant PDF download