The Georgia House of Representatives has passed a bill that would add $200 to the fines levied by “super speeders” — those who drive faster than 85 miles per hour on four-lane roads and faster than 75 mph on two-lane highways. The idea is to raise money for Georgia’s trauma care centers.
There is some logic to the move; speeders cause wrecks and make life dangerous for everyone else on the road. Their lack of respect for the law increases the load on the trauma care centers, and if the higher fine deters such speeders, public safety will be enhanced.
But it is alarming to see the legislature follow the leads of too many small-town governments that view traffic enforcement as a revenue generator rather than as a public safety measure. Particularly disturbing is the fact that the bill does not dedicate the revenue to the state’s trauma centers; it puts the money in the General Fund where it can be spent on anything. That’s reminiscent of the “tire recycling fee” levied several years ago, where the idea was to use the money to promote recycling but the state instead added it to the General Fund. Would the “super speeder” revenue be diverted to finance the governor’s “Go Fish” program or to build another state-run golf course?
The dilemma facing the General Assembly is that revenues are falling but the climate is not good for raising taxes or creating new taxes to increase funding. The back-door approach of adding new fees to existing fines avoids that problem and is politically defensible in that it targets those with a crass disregard for traffic laws.
The increased fines would sit better with most Georgians if the legislation tied the General Assembly’s hands tighter to ensure that the new revenue is applied to funding trauma care. That way, it would at least
look as if the state was concerned with public safety as much as revenue production.
