There are towns in SC that derive a substantial portion of their revenue from traffic tickets. What you have to understand is that like many states, SC sends "normal" traffic offense ticket revenue to a central state fund. Well and good, however, the state allows towns and counties to establish other "local" offenses that are fined and the money is 100% retained by the town or county. For example, you could be cited a $150 and 4 point ticket for speeding, or the town police gives you the option of receiving a no point $200 citation for improper operation of a motor vehicle. Most people will take the local ticket because the insurance points will ultimately cost them far more than the extra $50. This way, the towns can very efficiently collect a large portion of their budget strictly from traffic citations. Many small towns in SC expect their police force to cover their salaries and expenses through tickets.

As far as proof, there was an investigative article in The State newspaper Columbia, SC a week or so back listing several of these towns and budget records verifying ticket revenue paying as much as 60% of the towns total budget.  

Edited to add, this quote from the story, as well as a link to the original story.

http://www.thestate.com/local/story/1002156.html

Tiny Jamestown in Lowcountry gets almost two-thirds of its budget from fines

JAMESTOWN - The Lowcountry's tiniest town has a national reputation for two things: the annual Hell Hole Swamp Festival and traffic tickets.

Jamestown, population 97, extends about a half-mile in each direction from the intersection of S.C. 41 and S.C. 45, which are major truck corridors in Berkeley County. The main attraction is the BP gas station and Kangaroo convenience store at the intersection.

There's not much else to slow down for. So the officer on duty keeps busy pulling over drivers and writing tickets.

Traffic court is every other Wednesday afternoon. The courtroom is in the municipal center, a neatly painted gray and white cinder block building next to the gas station.

"We'll work with you and try to save you some money and as many points as possible," Town Judge Lewin K. Platt told a handful of people sitting in the courtroom during last week's session.

Citadel cadet Moore, who said he goes by just his last name, walked out holding a ticket. He had to pay $175.

"I was passing a car (at 60 mph) and suddenly found myself in a 40 mph speed zone," Moore said. "My mother and grandmother told me this was a speed trap."

Officials expect fines to bring in $195,000 of the town's $313,200 budget this year.

That's 62 percent of the budget funded by tickets, which is nearly as much as in Cottageville, another tiny town known for its ticket-writing.

Cottageville, a town of 700 residents in Colleton County, expects traffic fines to contribute $450,000 of its $703,000 budget this year, or 64 percent.

Pretty quiet here in Iowa.  Di da couple interstate trips recently and didn't notice anything unusual.  Locals haven't done anything out of the ordinary either.  Have friends in LE and they  haven't mentioned anything (and they would tell me, they think most traffic tickets are bs anyway).

A big fat 0, knock on wood. I try to keep it within 10mph of the limit. It has served me well.

I have seen so many people pulled over the last few weeks its crazy.

In my youth i had several tickets at the same time. In about a one year period i had 6, Took traffic school on 5 of them and a cop didn't show up for the one court dates. It was quite a dance with extensions and all. They have since changed the way traffic school works and you cant get away with that anymore.  I even got pulled over on the way to court once, right infront to the court house. Cop gave me a warning after he said "Why don't we go have a talk with the judge" DOH

oh hell yes. I cannot believe the number of calls I'm getting about tickets. its up 5x-6x normal for this time of year.

Our county had massive fail of their property tax increase hopes this year, now the streets, highways, and byways around here look like a cop convention.

Maybe we should just hook them all up and take them to jail.