Friday, June 15, 2012

In what city are you most likely to get a speeding ticket?

I ran across this article and thought is was pretty interesting.  It breaks down the cities in the United States you are most likely to get a traffic ticket in.  It compiles the data and ranks the cities by taking statistics from speeding ticket or traffic ticket searches on google.  I'm not sure how accurate or scientific that is but it makes sense to me.  The place where more people are looking for speeding ticket lawyers is probably the place giving out the most traffic tickets.  Looks like the list breaks down like this.

1. Atlanta
2. Los Angeles
3. Dallas-Fort Worth
4. Miami
5. New York
6. Chicago
7. Washington, D.C.
8. Houston
9. Orlando
10. San Diego

Looks like Kansas City is not on the list so that is good.  I wonder if they compiled the entire metro if the ranking would change?  Some of the smaller towns hand out quite a few traffic tickets.  Here is the article text.

Where are you most likely to get a speeding ticket?
By Jayne Clark, USA Today

Your odds of getting a traffic ticket are greatest in Nevada, if the analysis of a motorists' rights group is on the money.  The National Motorists Association has issued its second tally of states in which motorists are most likely to catch the spirit-deflating sight of flashing red lights in their rearview. Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Maryland round out the top five.  The least likely states to get pulled over and ticketed: the wide-open roads of Wyoming, followed by Montana.  New in this year's analysis (the NMA issued a similar tally in 2010) is a ranking of most ticket-happy metro areas. They are:

1. Atlanta
2. Los Angeles
3. Dallas-Fort Worth
4. Miami
5. New York
6. Chicago
7. Washington, D.C.
8. Houston
9. Orlando
10. San Diego

Both rankings are based on analysis of ticket-related Google search queries ("speeding ticket," "traffic ticket" and similar terms) in relation to specific geographic areas.Spokesman John Bowman acknowledges the methodology isn't exactly scientific, but then, most states don't routinely track such information.

"It's unwieldy because states include hundreds, if not thousands, of ticketing jurisdictions," he says.
Another factor: In many states, a portion of some traffic fines are turned over to the state. So in order to keep revenues in local coffers, authorities might reduce a moving violation infraction to a lesser charge, Bowman says. At any rate, there's no aggregate data available for a topic that's of great interest to many motorists.

Likewise, there's no hard data on the location and prevalence of speed traps, but the NMA nevertheless maintains the National Speed Trap Exchange website, which enables motorists to add spots to the list based on personal experience.  The takeaway for motorists over the coming Memorial Day weekend and beyond: Drive in a safe and prudent manner, but take extra care if you're passing through certain states and metro areas, Bowman says.  Is there a state or locale in which you ease off the pedal? Or wish you had?

No comments:

Post a Comment