Back To News/PR Index | | The Fleecing of U.S. Motorists: States that Collect the Most Tolls, Taxes, and Fines also Divert More from Highway Spending | The
motorists’ rights organization compared all 50 states by number of speed
traps operated per thousand lane miles, as reported to The
National Speed Trap Exchange. The 15 states with the highest speed
trap activity are:
In
addition, the NMA evaluated the degree to which the states spend that money
on true highway projects. Using the results from a comprehensive
third-party survey of transportation officials from all 50 states,
the NMA assigned a financial responsibility grade for each state based
on the following criteria:
Road-user fees cover costs for road and bridge planning, engineering, construction, operation and maintenance, and overhead without regard to state vs. local jurisdiction. Funding of transit projects as well as for highway patrol or other policing activities was not considered a direct road-use investment for this analysis. Biller pointed out that since the 1970s many states have weakened constitutional protections for dedicated road-user fees, allowing them to be funneled into public transit projects. He added that state statutes dedicating road-user fees to roads are frequently amended to shift funds to general purpose. “The country’s highway infrastructure is in crisis, yet states permit policymakers to divert road-user fees in varying degrees to non-highway pet projects.” The
15 worst speed trap states and their records in collecting road-user fees
and in applying those funds toward critical highway infrastructure are
listed in the table below. Information for all 50 states can
be found here.
Contact:
|