State Patrols Collect Billions From Speeding Tickets

Speeding ticket revenue amounts to as much as $2.3 billion for 40 state highway patrol agencies, with a list of the top ten ticket states.

Forty state highway patrols issued over 8.1 million citations for speeding in 2003, generating as much as $2.3 billion in revenue, according to an analysis of data found in the Governors Highway Safety Association "Survey of the States: Speeding" report.

The number reflects the maximum base ticket amount for a first offense, not including common surcharges such as court costs and driver responsibility programs. Ten states reported that they do not collect data on the number of speeding citations issued.

The number of tickets issued by state patrols is only a fraction of the number of speeding tickets issued statewide by local police forces. In Florida, for example, state police issued 396,252 tickets worth up to $99 million in revenue.

City and county police in Flordia issued an additional 394,752 tickets worth up to $98.5 million. Insurance companies also generate revenue by increasing the annual insurance rates for speeding ticket recipients, which often exceeds the cost of the citation.

Although not a state, the District of Columbia has a population greater than Wyoming, the state issuing the second highest number of tickets per capita. Residents of Washington, D.C. are twelve times more likely to be issued a speeding ticket than residents of the neighboring state of Maryland. District police pulled over only 10,391 motorists, but speed cameras issued 423,910 tickets.

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