DATA: Not Paying Fines? Keep Speeding, Says New York City - Streetsblog New York City

"The more speeding tickets a driver collects, the fewer he pays, according to city ticketing statistics crunched by data journalist Michael Cahana. Cahana combed through city data and found that drivers with violations such as going through red lights or speeding through school zones, simply stop paying most of their tickets once they start accruing more of them, because they operate in what Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch would call a "consequence-free environment" (a term she invented to describe cyclists, however)."

"People with just a handful of violations usually pay them off, but such compliance drops off, with some scofflaws paying as few as one in seven tickets once they get more than 80 fines, the researcher and reporter found. Worse: after a driver is "in judgment" for more than $350 in unpaid fines - about five school-zone tickets - his car can be towed or booted ... but very few are.."

"Cahana found that half of the motorists in judgment continued committing violations - something that would not happen if their cars were towed, as they could be if the city better connected the dots between the army of NYPD traffic agents handing out tickets and its towing operations, a shortcoming that Streetsblog has documented. This status quo leads to staggering numbers of drivers entering judgment every day, yet they continue to speed, as Cahana's data visualization shows."

City ticketing statistics show that drivers who accumulate more speeding and red-light violations increasingly stop paying them. Compliance falls sharply as ticket counts rise; some drivers with more than 80 fines pay as few as one in seven tickets. Vehicles with more than $350 in unpaid fines are eligible for towing or booting, but few are actually immobilized. Half of motorists with judgments continue committing violations, demonstrating weak coordination between traffic ticketing and towing operations. The enforcement shortfall costs the city millions in lost revenue and allows tens of thousands of school-zone violations to go effectively unpunished.

Read at Streetsblog