FISCAL NOTE TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 2672

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: MAY 19, 1997

      Assembly Bill No. 2672 of 1997 would double the fines and penalties for motor vehicle moving violations committed within a school zone during recess, when the presence of children is clearly visible from the roadway, or while children are going to or leaving school during opening and closing school. The bill directs the Department of Transportation or the county or municipality with jurisdiction over the school zone, whichever is appropriate, to post signs warning motorists that fines for motor vehicle offenses are doubled in school zones. The absence of a sign is not a defense to the imposition of the additional fines.

      The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) states that it does not maintain statistics on the number of moving violations occurring in school zones, and can therefore not provide information concerning the amount of revenue the passage of the bill would generate for the State, county or municipalities.

      The AOC also notes that implementation of the bill would require a modification to the Uniform Traffic Ticket in order to include the school zone information. The cost to the State, counties and municipalities would be about $.10 per ticket. Based on last year’s statistics, the AOC estimates that there are about 5.8 million thickest written per year. Of that amount, the State Police write approximately 500,000 tickets. However, because most law enforcement agencies in the State keep no more than a three-month supply of tickets on hand, and because the bill would take effect on the first day following the second month of enactment, law enforcement agencies Statewide would have the opportunity to dispose of the majority of the old traffic tickets on hand, and to order the new ticket supplies with their regular order, thus minimizing the need to discard obsolete tickets and incurring additional costs for the new tickets.

      The AOC further states that it would cost about $20,000 to reprogram the Automated Traffic System to account for the school zone variable.

      The Office of Legislative Services concurs.

This fiscal note has been prepared pursuant to P.L.1980, c.67.