A twelve percent increase in the number of speeding tickets issued in Colorado Springs, Colorado has not produced any measurable safety benefit. Compared to last year, injury accidents rose eight percent this year through mid-August and fatalities jumped between fifteen and seventeen percent.

Revenue from speeding citations has been on the rise in Colorado Springs. In 2002, the city council increased the fine amount, collecting $1.65 million that year. In 2003, they raised $4 million. If the pace of ticketing remains constant for the remainder of the year, police will collect between $4.6 and $8.6 million in tickets in 2005.

Some citizens groused that the city was more interested in revenue than in public safety. But council members were unsympathetic, and most say the number of complaints they've received in the past year is way down. City officials still must ask whether the public-safety goal is being met, though. Although accidents are down slightly -- 7,000 in 2005 compared with 7,229 in 2004 -- all other indicators are going the wrong way.