New Jersey

I'm a municipal law and traffic law defense attorney. For more than two decades, I've watched my town find new and creative ways to fine anyone within its borders. It used to be a joke that the only way you knew you had been in our small town was you'd get a traffic ticket for *something*. Stuff like a STOP sign: if you didn't have your foot on the brake for at least five seconds, you "went through a STOP sign" or if you had your brake on for 10 seconds (to let the police really see that you stopped), you'd be charged with blocking an intersection.

We have lots of on-the-street parking. It used to be that every time we had a blizzard (5-plus inches to over-the-hood), the police would simply go up and down the street, giving out illegal parking tickets (like we had somewhere else to put all those cars). I got one of those tickets on one of the worst blizzards 20+ years ago and challenged it in Court and won. The police no longer give out the tickets -- at least until 24 hours after the snow's stopped. At $50 a pop, that's at least $5,000 that would have gone to the municipal general fund.

Another things is EVERY street has regulated "No Parking" except for Saturday and Sunday. If you're not thinking when you park your car at night, you may wake up to find your car ticketed the next morning.

Our municipal taxes have increased at least 25% in a year and our town still depends upon the extra income from fines.

Don't get me started on ticket quotas and "Driving on the Wrong Day of the Month".