Eric, the bottom line is simple. Objectively speaking, you broke the law. What bothers you is the added subjective component brought into the equation by the statement of the cop that stopped you. He is only a human after all, and a human with a terrible job at that, someone who puts his life in danger at every stop he makes. He probably felt slighted and belittled by what he perceived as a lack of respect that I am sure you didn’t mean to show in the first place. Other cops might not have stated their feelings and personal offense so openly, but who is to say that they don’t feel exactly the same way or are even more adamant about an equivalent situation ? By the way – you NEVER ask a cop why he picked you up out of a pack of other violators. Judges hate that too – I tried it myself and learned the hard way in my youth. What are they supposed to do anyhow ? Let YOU go because he couldn’t stop all the lawbreakers ? You just happened to be the one zebra that got picked by the lion from a whole herd that day. The herd got away unscathed, that’s all that matters .

As for the revenues generated it is clearly a disgusting incentive. Many localities plan their budgets and construction projects based on future ticket quotas. There was an argument in my city about those automatic traffic cameras. It turns out that their placement was not chosen at the intersections which were known by AAA and other sources to be the most lethal and dangerous with respect to serious collisions in the first place. They were placed at those where inconspicuous signs forbidding one to make a turn on red – an exception where I live since such a thing is generally allowed – thereby maximizing the number of drivers busted. Furthermore, the camera manufacturer was getting one third cut out of every ticket – so much for letting a profit incentive enter law enforcement. It turns out that they had “inadvertently” programmed their sensors to shorten the interval of time one was allowed to be in the intersection on yellow from the X seconds allowed by law to X-1 seconds. An “innocent” mistake, for sure, but one that netted them and the city and extra few tens of millions per year. That was a clear instance of enforcing a law AND maximizing revenue while not necessarily serving the public good/safety. Given a choice between a robotic cop and a human one, I’d pick the human one anytime.

Driving is a full time job. So be aware of all the road signs, drive carefully, but most important, drive defensively and Iam sure it will avoid having a police car on your tail. Oh yes!, I collected a few tickets in my time.