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?

Every cop in this Small town gets busted for forgery now they have no police force!

If you have been through Macks Creek, you know that it is a huge speed trap.  I grew up just a short ways away and every time you went through there on the way to the lake or to the outlet malls you would always see people pulled over.  I bet that there are hundreds of people that cheered when they heard these cops were facing charges over these missing funds.  But it is even more hilarious that they wiped out the whole department.  Here is the article in the Pitch.



Lawless in Lanagan, The Missouri town without a police force
By: Jonathan Bender


If you don't pay your traffic tickets, your car might get the boot. If a city apparently stiffs the state, it could lose its police force.

The two men who make up the police department in Lanagan, Missouri (three hours south of Kansas City), have been charged with forging traffic ticket documents. Police Chief Larry Marsh and officer Michael Gallhue were arrested last week by the Missouri Highway Patrol.  In November 2011, the office of state auditor Thomas Schweich issued the results of an audit, which discovered "missing funds" and what was termed routine violations of "Macks Creek Law." The town apparently failed to send excess funds (estimated at $36,000) collected on speeding tickets to the state for distribution to local schools. The report asserts that the police department then filed false Missouri Vehicle Stops Annual Reports with the attorney general's office to hide that money.

A grand jury in McDonald County indicted the two officers for felony forgery. Marsh has been charged with five counts of felony forgery and altering a racial profiling report, while Gallhue faces two charges of felony forgery. The Missouri Highway Patrol then arrested the two men, who have been suspended without pay. The McDonald County Sheriff's Office has taken over the law enforcement duties in Lanagan.