Above is my interview with Dallas’s WFAA channel 8, broadcast on March 23, 2010, which was about my Texas’s Worst Speed Traps article.
WFAA also talked to Keller Police Chief Mark Hafner. He disputed that Westlake is a speed trap. (Westlake contracts policing to Keller PD.) He says, “When we took over policing in 2002, Highway 114 had 3-4 fatals a year. In the last 2 years, we have not had a fatal accident on highway 114.”
I pulled all Westlake auto fatalities from 1996-2008 on a graph. Remember that Keller took over policing in 2002. Here’s the graph:
(Important note:1996-1998 really did have 0 fatalities, but no ticket data was available from the state.)
Sorry, I see no correlation. Do you? Except maybe a lack of a correlation between fatal wrecks and tickets–although I admit that you can’t draw much of a conclusion from this limited data. Plus TX-114 was recently rebuilt in the area, but I can’t find answers yet on how this affected Westlake’s portion. (EDIT 3/26/10: According to State disputes Westlake speed limit (Fort Worth Star-Telegram),TX-114 reconstruction through Westlake was completed in late 2002.)
But wait, there’s more!
Let’s narrow down Westlake fatalities just to TX 114:
1 fatality on occasional years on Westlake’s TX-114, a far cry from “3-4 fatals a year.”
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I have to wonder if you are confusing speedtraps with highways where drivers like to set their own speed limit rules. To me, speed traps are sections of roads where speed limits are manipulated to deceive or confuse drivers. Usually dropping the speed limit abruptly so as to catch drivers off guard. Or pulling over and ticketing drivers for 2-3 miles over the limit. Latley when I hear someone complaining about being caught in a speedtrap upon firther investigation I find they were just speeding and got caught. One of the speedtraps on your list is right up th road from me on IH35. Selma. I drive through there all the time and I have never been ticketed. But then I am usually only going around 5 mph over the speed limit.
It’s about ticket volume, not strictness. Per Wikipedia: “Cities or road sections become known as speed traps where police have a reputation for writing an unusually high number of traffic tickets, especially speeding tickets.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_trap)
Just because it’s written on Wikipedia doesn’t necessarily make it so. I routinely drive through Selma, Driscoll, Patton Village, and Shenandoah and have never been pulled over. I am also usually driving 5 miles an hour over the posted speed limit. I am a peace officer in south Texas, for a department that focuses on traffic enforcement. The speed limit is 70day/65night for the entirety of my patrol area. It’s real easy as far as I am concerned. Go faster than eight mph over the speed limit, get a ticket. The speed limit is clearly posted, people choose to violate it, just as I do in the cities mentioned above. If an officer in any one of those departments were to pull me over and issue me a citation for five over, I would deserve it. People make a conscious decision to violate the law. I don’t personally care if Westlake were to make twice the amount of money that they do presently, as long as it’s made honestly. If you don’t want a ticket, DON’T SPEED!
I could not agree more with your article I was going 3 over the speed limit and the police department gave me a ticket for 14 over this town is so greedy over this something needs to be done.
Dear Aren Cambre, my wife and I just went through Marshall TX and she go a speeding ticket just before the north loop. Where can I find data on how much Marshall takes in for citations? It does not make your top 40 list, but it is one of the only small towns to have stop light cameras and I suspect it is a real speed trap.
Marshall was only in the 32nd percentile of traffic ticket revenue per citizen, so about 68% of Texas cities were more prolific.
My data source is reports I pulled through http://www.dm.courts.state.tx.us/oca/reportselection.aspx.
Apparently they have now moved to the roads surrounding 114. I was clocked doing 44 in a 30. When I had just passed a limit sign for 35 with the thing on it that clocks you. And it said I was doing 35.
I would like to divert from the debate for a moment, and ask: How much of the revenue police collect from traffic tickets is used on more important crimes such as homicides and burglaries (especially important since burglaries are on the rise while recovering stolen property is nearly impossible) ?
Policemen have a tough job, and most perform with honesty and integrity. There are, however, some bad guys in uniform. I can tell you horror stories from policemen I know personally. But here it is, if you follow the traffic laws, your chances of getting a ticket are very slim. If you push the boundaries, your chances are better. Also, these guys and gals in uniform are human beings and subject to the occasional human error. I think they do a pretty good job overall. Except for the few bad ones.