banning cell phones (was: 30 days...)

[quk@isham-research.demon.co.uk (Phil Payne)]

In message <199808241924.TAA13807@specialdevices.com> "Ken Keith" writes:

>> This is unique to the USA.  In the rest of the world, income from fines
>> does not go to the collecting authority.

> Out of curiosity, where does it go?

Depends on the country.  In the UK, fines are routed to the Exchequer
and thus contribute to general taxation - the local police authority
is responsible for the operational costs of speed traps, and it's a
simple cost against a local taxation budget - the community charge and
local business taxes.

In Germany, it's much the same but at state rather than federal level.

In neither case is there any apportionment of the central revenue
according to local performance in collecting it.  On several occasions
in both countries, local police authorities have suspended speed (and
other) traps for fiscal reasons.

--
 Phil Payne
 Phone: 0385 302803   Fax: 01536 723021
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