State and local budget crisis in California are causing more municipalities to increase fines for driving and parking infractions as a way to boost revenue, according to the Los Angeles Times. The ticket for an expired meter in Los Angeles jumped from 40 U.S. dollars in 2008 to about 50 dollars last year, and "fix-it" tickets for minor moving violations such as broken taillights increased more than doubled, the paper reported.

Local cities are asking for stricter measures to enforce the law. Los Angeles and other cities are urging the Legislature to allow them to place wheel boots on cars that have three unpaid parking tickets. Currently, the law allows the boot only after a driver accumulates five parking tickets. In Los Angeles alone, officials estimated the change would help them recover overdue parking citations totaling up to 61 million dollars, according to the paper.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wants cities and counties to install speed sensors on red-light cameras to catch speeding cars. Fines would range from 225 to 325 dollars, and state officials estimated the change would generate more than 300 million dollars for the state through the end of 2011. Not only California, government agencies across the country are increasingly boosting parking ticket fees, jacking up the fines for moving violations and looking for other creative ways to make drivers pay more, according to the paper.

Revenue from red-light cameras is also on the rise, doubling in Los Angeles from 200,000 dollars a month in 2007 to 400,000 dollars a month at the end of 2009, according to estimates by the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Some California cities even let drivers choose between paying a fine or adding points to their record for a traffic ticket. Police officers from the City of Long Beach in Southern California have started a policy to ask drivers who have been caught speeding whether they are willing to pay the state ticket, which gives them a point on their driving record, or pay the municipal fine with no point but more expensive.

Moreover, the new technology such as the photo enforcement program has increased the chance for violators to be caught. In less than eight years, photo enforcement programs run by more than two dozen agencies in Los Angeles County have added a new degree of efficiency to catching violators and capturing revenue, according to the paper, and fines for red-light traffic violations in Los Angeles County have jumped nearly 65 percent from 271 dollars to 446 dollars.

In November alone, Los Angeles County's Superior Court system processed an estimate 13,000 red-light tickets. Local agencies with camera systems generated nearly 1.6 million dollars in revenue, with an even larger portion of the fines flowing to a combination of state and judicial programs, according to estimates by the paper. Los Angeles' red-light traffic camera program netted more than 6 million dollars last year after expenses. The program could be significantly expanded under a contract to be negotiated over the next 14 months, the paper said. However, the red light photo program has been challenged.

There is a lawsuit against 13 local governments in Florida, some local cities are dumping red light cameras in California, and the city council in Moreno Valley, voted 3-1 to shut down the automated ticketing machines that have been operating since 2008. "Due to legal activities in the state legislature in the past few years regarding red light photo enforcement and the lack of public support for the program, city council's consensus is to discontinue the existing red light photo enforcement service at the end of its 2-year pilot program," Public Works Director Chris A. Vogt wrote in a memo. The Loma Linda City Council appeared unanimous in its desire to terminate the red light camera contract with Redflex.

Some states like Florida have policies to provide financial incentive for police officers to issue tickets. To get more incentives, some officers abused the system. A Florida highway patrol officer was recently charged with issuing traffic tickets against motorists who had done nothing wrong.