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I doubt they get paid that much as they are usually poorly paid. But I would pay more taxes for this. A 1% budget increase? For every $1000 we pay in taxes that would only be ten dollars. Plus the fines could return some of the money spent as well.
A police salary in NC isn't $70,000, but it costs a lot more than the just the salary to put a policeman or woman on the street...payroll taxes, insurance, pension, uniforms, cars, weapons, training, etc. It adds up.
I doubt they get paid that much as they are usually poorly paid. But I would pay more taxes for this. A 1% budget increase? For every $1000 we pay in taxes that would only be ten dollars. Plus the fines could return some of the money spent as well.
As others said, costs are much more than the paycheck. Benefits and all the associated things(cars, maintenance, gas, training and on and on) cost money. Many of the things you mention in your initial post don't even result in fines. For instance(not that this was mentioned), state law doesn't allow for a fine if you are going less than 10mph over the speed limit, only a warning and 0 points against your license. Failure to use a turn signal doesn't carry a fine either unless it causes an accident. I'll use myself as an example....when I was younger, I got stopped by a state trooper for not stopping at a stop sign for 8 seconds, not using a turn signal and going 8mph over the speed limit. The result? Nothing...not even a warning! Did it deter the behavior? Nope, if anything, it sent the message that there are no consequences for it, so who cares. Mind you, I'm much older now and a smarter driver now. I also got stopped not long ago by RPD for a burned out tail light, which I wasn't aware I had. The result? Same as my first example. They didn't even check my license or registration. The moral if the story is that more police will not fix behaviors and may even embolden them if they figure out there aren't consequences.
So many stupid, careless drivers on the road now that a ticket blitz would be great if there were enough officers to be dedicated to traffic enforcement.
This would rack up fines, outrageous court costs, and insurance points enough to get through the brains of the idiots now on our roads.
One time, I was walking my grandson in a carriage across the street in front of Triangle Town Center. We were in the crosswalk with the white "cross" indicator lit up. An idiot apparently on a phone made a right turn nearly taking us out. Luckily an officer was nearby and tried to pull her over. She didn't wake up until he put on the siren. I told him I'd testify if she fought the citation.
These losers need to be hit so hard by fines and insurance surcharges that they'd either clean up their acts or get their sorry selves out of our communities.
Talking on the phone per se does not need to be illegal. There could be fines/warnings based on erratic driving behavior: slow starts from a stop light, stopping at least a full car length behind the car ahead, wobbling all over the lane (and outside of the constraint lines), drifting, and other obvious signs of being consistently distracted. Some people can talk and drive perfectly well, but others, who are probably not very experienced drivers in the first place, should only do one thing at a time. And some locations are safer than others. But wherever there are two cars near each other on the road, the drivers need to be paying attention. Ditto where there are pedestrians, parked cars, bikes, motorcycles, innocent deer.
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