If the calculator on this computer’s working right, it looks like CHP’s crack down on Bay Bridge speeders might have made California nearly $150,000 in fines.
But we’ll get to the money part in a minute! First, according to ABC7, speeds at the Bay Bridge S Curve of Death have decreased since CHP started cracking down on folks speeding in that area on November 11.
ABC says that the accident rate pre-crackdown was 7 per week, but that in the nearly three weeks since the crackdown began, that rate’s dropped to just two accidents weekly.
They’re also reporting an astounding 1,000 tickets written since the crackdown began 20 days ago, which would be 50 tickets daily, right?
Let’s do some math! According to a (possibly outdated, if so, correct me, please!) document I have from the CA DMV, speeding ticket costs are:
1-15 MPH over the speed limit: $146
16-25 MPH over: $266
26+ MPH over: $380
Since it seems like exceeding the 40 MPH limit even slightly will send you plumeting over the edge, let’s lowball and say no one was going more than 55 when they got nabbed. If that’s the case, then that means CHP’s generating $7300 a day, and so far has made $146,000 in fines since the crackdown began.
Yowza! Not to question ABC7’s reporting (especially when our math is more likely to blame), but can that be right? We’ve called CHP to check our work, and will update when they get back to us. Until then, man, we’re in the wrong line of work!
