->  RW> Not a perfect example but close.  Someone did a study and found out
->  RW> that either Nashville or TN had a very high rate of speeders
->  RW> and a low rate of issuing speeding tickets. The USDOT (I think)
->  RW> told them if they didn't start doing a better job of enforcing
->  RW> the speeding laws USDOT would with hold federal highway funds.
->  RW> Well it wasn't long before Nashville announced that they were
->  RW> forming a special traffic enforcement unit to do nothing but stop
->  RW> speeders.
-> This would be true in many states and cities. Again, this is not a 
-> rumor, this would be a regular happening around the country. If the 
-> accident rate is extremely high in this area, I wouldn't have a big 
-> problem with required actions to lower the accident rate. If not, 
-> this would simply be a money game. Competition for funding and grants 
-> is a continuing activity of all law enforcement agencies. If just 
-> about any law enforcement agency had to depend solely on budgeted 
-> funds from tax payers, they would be in big trouble. As a result, 
-> most agencies have people who do nothing but apply for grants and 
-> funding.
The USDOT and FHWA provide the statistics used to apportion Federal
Highway funds to the states.  What they look at is active participation
in speed control, weight control and other safety related law
enforcement activities.  Approximately 25% of the Federal Highway Funds
allocated to the states is to be used for this purpose, and if the
states aren't using it for that purpose, then they loose that portion of
the funding.  Which is a sizeable amount of money...
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