Revenue drop could mean more tickets

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WASHINGTON, March 31 (UPI) -- Police in some U.S. cities reportedly are giving more speeding tickets to offset the recession-caused decline in general tax revenue.

"Most people, if they're stopped now, are getting a ticket even if it's only a minor violation of a few miles per hour," said James Baxter, president of the National Motorists Association, a Wisconsin group that helps members fight speeding tickets.

A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock found that a 10-percent drop in revenue growth prompted a 6.4 percent increase in the growth rate of traffic tickets, USA Today reported Wednesday.

The AAA auto club, however, said its members hadn't complained of an increase in traffic tickets and the National Troopers Coalition, which represents 45,000 state police officers, disputed there was a lower tolerance for speeding among state troopers.