This Louisiana Town Runs Largely on Traffic Fines. If You Fight Your Ticket, the Mayor Is Your Judge.
stopthatgirl7@kbin.social to 
propublica.org
Fenton, population 226, brings in over $1 million per year through its mayor’s court, an unusual justice system in which the mayor can serve as judge even though he’s responsible for town finances.
I live in Louisiana. Fenton is what's known here as a speed trap town.
Except for the i-10, every major highway in LA has these. The trick is that the average speed limit on these highways is around 60 or 70, and then it drops to 30 or 40 for a mile stretch where cops are waiting for you just after the sign.
If you missed the sign or haven't slowed down sufficiently by the time you reach it, they pull you over and write you a ticket for ~$600. I got one of these in 2018 for the latter reason.
You can follow the speed limit to the letter and miss one sign on accident. It actually is a trap. As the article says, It's a main source of income for the small towns along the highways of LA. It's corrupt as shit but we allow it so what can you do?
Sounds like highway robbery. Literally.
They also like to throw up temporary construction signs with adjusted speed limits without actually doing construction.
Fucking parasites.
Friendly reminder that highway robbery is legal if you're a cop
Robbery is legal if you’re a cop*
Civil asset forfeiture is fucking evil
An expensive CO2 pistol of mine was "temporarily" held. I never got it back
So, like every other mile of state highway in Georgia?
Repeal the town charter and fold it in to the control of the county? I'm not going to pretend that I'm well versed in Louisiana law, but this has happened in lot of other states. If the town is a legitimate trap for the residents of that county/state then isn't it everyone's best interest? Including Fentons who clearly doesn't have another income source.
omg! its literal Hazzard County!
Sounds like a grave conflict of interest
Yea, but that's just because it is.
Yeah…. Uhm…. Seems like that’s a fairly easy thing to appeal?
I assume that for many people the time and effort to try and appeal shit like this is way more than the original fine is worth.
That is why it keeps happening.
yup. But, I imagine a half-decent lawyer could turn that into a class action and make bank.
I dunno the success of any suits against these towns, but they exist all over the country. They count on you passing through and not being able to come back for court.
Which is perhaps why a class action might be the best way to go, rather than just appealing it.
But part of due process is a free and impartial trial. I suspect there’s other forms of corruption, as well, though. It’s the kind of thing that festers
But you have to have $$ for it be worth a lawsuit. Notice in this case they don't even keep records, so it's likely hard to even fight them using their own papers. Better would be to contest in federal court using the Supreme Court opinion imo
90+% of the victims of these towns lives far enough away that it's cheaper to just pay the damn ticket than drive 400 miles to show up for court.
This is the exact plot of Nothing but Trouble except the mayor in the movie is a literal dicknose.
That movie sounds fucking insane.
It very much is. 2Pac dances in it. He was a dancer in Digital Underground. You might know them from the hit song "The Humpty Dance". There's a random performance from them in the movie.
I watched it once at the age of 8 in a hotel on a roadtrip. It has haunted my dreams ever since.
ummm, holding an executive and judicial position simultaneously