is seguin, texas a speed trap? (Geronimo, Estelline: budget, vehicles, speeding tickets)

[hamjeepr]

Originally Posted by notmeofficer

Contract cities and small municipalities Do make money when we write tickets.. a hard working traffic car can pay for a policeman to be out there. It costs roughly 250k a year to fund one 24 hr policecar in most areas. Without offsets like traffic paying for this our taxes would be higher for everyone.

80 percent of felony arrests come from traffic stops.. that means a lot of dirtbags, the ones that hurt you and me, are being taken out of circulation via simple stops for vehicle code violations

I let a lot of people go.. there is little pressure to write a cite (although I was a crime car and not a traffic car).. generally traffic cars are expected to write about 10 cites a week on my department.. its easy to write those in several hours...

I imagine in a small city it would be easy to see at least 100 cars per shift... out of those you got picked... congrats... thats why they give us the radar and fancy car and lights etc... would it be better they sit and eat donuts and get fat.. I think not

When people whine about law enforcements actions I always highly recommend seeing if you could go on a ride-along. Ten minutes in a radiocar will have you wishing YOU could write a cite after you see the stupidity people exhibit behind the wheel.

If you adjust your life so you don't violate (I understand that this is hard to do) the vehicle code you will reduce the stress you experience when you see the blue lights in your mirror... just imagine how a real bad guy feels knowing they might be going (back) to prison

I'll give you that alot of vehicles are doing some really stupid things that make me wish I didn't have to drive in my job. However, I am a Texan driving an unmarked company vehicle with Florida tag. I have made it a policy to drive 5 under (before I would lock in right at the limit) and that has reduced the harassment I experience regularly. I have been followed for miles on end, I have been tailgated, and I have been pulled over for no reason only to be let off once my TX DL is shown. I come under scrutiny of many local LEO I pass. The only cops that overlook the FL tags are the DPS officers. You cannot convince me local LEOs don't target out-of-state tags.

[wehotex]

Originally Posted by wehotex

i was just cruisng thru there on thanksgiving eve at night when the police claimed that i was doing 70 in a 55 mph zone. when i looked at speedometer at time of flashing light, i was doing only 60. anyone have these experiences in small town texas?

this is another example of "hidden taxes" here in texas. it seems like every municipality is out to get you. i rarely experienced this the whole 15 years that i lived in california. as a matter of fact, i only rec'd 2 citations in all of those years. i've already rec'd 2 in living here a little over 2 years.

EVerybody's replies are right on the money. I've started using my GPS to "calm" me when i'm driving. when i'm looking at expected "eta", i am realizing that i really don't save that much time by going just a little faster. it also keeps me in a rythm. i'm also avoiding those little greedy towns at all costs. from now on, it's just interstates for me. i hope that everyone out there has a safe holiday and will remain ticket free.

[tstone]

Funny you mentioned ''greedy'' little towns. It's not like there's a whole lot of money flowing through those places to begin with. You don't exactly move to a tiny town to build a solid career. They'll ironically pinch every dollar they can get, and at the same time conspire to burn down the local Wal-Mart.

Anyway, I'm going back out to SA this weekend. I-10 all the way, and I'll bet the troopers will be out in droves. I don't feel like having a repeat of my Thanksgiving day warning, so I'll set the cruise about 2-3 mph over instead of 7.

[notmeofficer]

[QUO. You cannot convince me local LEOs don't target out-of-state tags.[/quote]


Heck yes I stop out of town plates.. and every other plate I dont recognize....

you want to catch a good doper.. skip the car with the obvious gangbanger.. go for the lay off rental car behind him with the clean looking white man or grandma whose papers are in order.. thats the guy/gal thats going to have the dope and guns

would I "profile" plates that are out of the area... hell yes... I give service to the citizens I work for and it is my responsibility to check out people who dont live in an area (within the bounds of legality)... I would EXPECT my law enforcement officials to do this in keeping me safe

Can this be abused ..sure.. you know someone from out of state will have a harder time fighting a ticket than a local.. but that never stopped me from writing either...

I write tickets....
a) because they are a demonstrative way to show someone they are driving like a knucklehead
b) to document my actions for the stop ( it is to protect me and not any "revenue production"... which is blatantly illegal)
c) women always get cited... if I was ever to get beefed for a stop I want the cite to show why... this is my personal work ethic
d) traffic stops are only a mechanism to find evil wicked nefarious individuals

Some coppers are pretty hardassed about it.. Texas sounds like they have little leniency. I will drive carefully when visiting with my out of state plates

And yes... coppers DO write coppers... unfortunately... but then.. we are just regular citizens too.....

[hamjeepr]

(within the bounds of legality)

These are the key words... I've researched probable cause in cases and it seems if you cough the wrong way, acknowledge the officer, ignore the officer, relax your grip, tighten your grip, etc... that gives a cop cause for suspicion. What I have experienced were cops trying to make me do something so they have an excuse to pull me over. I know where I stand and will not let them cause me to do something stupid while on the highway. I'm not sure of when it happened, but the general attitude is guilty until proven innocent and the comments above seem to confirm it. The assumption is that a clean cut white guy in a nondescript vehicle is more likely to have "the dope and guns" so target them. BTW, what is wrong with possession of firearms. Possession of a concealed firearm is a legal right in most of the country (soon to be all) and the majority of states recognize some if not most other state's concealed carry permits. Operating under the assumption that all are guilty until proven innocent pits LEO against public and this can only end in disaster. Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Public are starting to no longer see the LEO as a peace officer but instead someone who cannot be trusted.

Also, if its not about revenue, then why is it that there will be a cop with a tripod laser relaying to a multi-jurisdictional group waiting down the road to pull over speeders and write tickets; while just above on the overpass, 3 or 4 cars are running the red with every cycle of the light and no-one is pulling them over? Which is the greater safety hazard?

I do want to reinforce one thing. I am in favor of red light cameras as well as speed cameras so long as their use is realistic and there is strict monitoring of device operation. I just don't believe traffic control should be used as a fishing expedition. Its purpose should be strictly for maintaining traffic safety.

[notmeofficer]

Guns for citizens are fine...most police WANT citizens to own and carry legally... guns for crooks are death to everyone. "Fishing" means getting bad people that harm us all. Recently a sharp DHS trooper stopped what turned out to be a fake Texas DOT truck for a vehicle code violation and because to him "it didnt look right". (The pictures of the truck showed it to be an excellent repo.. nearly perfect.. right down to the plate).. it was stuffed full of dope... great fishing trooper!!!

No one... and I mean no one can drive 100 yds down the road and not violate some vehicle code (ours has more than 40,000 sections)... and thats all a policeman needs to stop you.. where the stop goes from there depends on a multitude of factors.. I didnt even throw in the other codes.. criminal, business and professions, welfare and institutions, fish and game// local township or municipality... heck... you cant even walk down the street today and not violate something

Forfeiture is a huge "business" and any police administrator that tells you otherwise isnt being forthcoming. A small town's entire budget can be made on one good dope/money seizure... which coincidentally is more likely to be found on a freeway than the back road of some little farming community.. although everything is being run down any road today

I wouldnt be so ready to accept big brother speed cameras... we have them here in California and while they are VERY effective at writing cites and making money for the city they are in they remove all human element from the equation.... I personally dont want to be part of a robotic system that doesnt listen to the people its supposed to serve... and yes I DO accept excuses or reasons from speeders and they Do get off unless what they have done is grossly unsafe.. or they are really rude... yes.. tickets do get issued to difficult people that might not get them if they had been polite...hey.. its reality

We just got two cameras up and running in my town.. with many more slated... just one of them wrote 1000 tickets in the months time... that amount will decrease over time as violators "adjust" but... it will pay for the system in several months time and then just be a money maker.. I think its sad

Theres a whole cottage industry springing up on defeating the cameras... gotta love America

[Freemtd]

There are several places where they just sit and take radar looking for a payday. HWY 46 south of town Between Court street and FM 725, Hwy 123 north of 10. They dropped the speed limit down just to catch people. They are talking now about lowering the speed limit north of Geronimo to line the city pockets some more. They will tell you it is because all the accidents. Truth is lowing the speed limit will not affect that number of accidents on 123 because people turn left. That is the major cause of accidents. How about a turn lane. San Marcos has a petition for them to have one on 123 sout to fm 1979.

[wehotex]

Originally Posted by Freemtd

There are several places where they just sit and take radar looking for a payday. HWY 46 south of town Between Court street and FM 725, Hwy 123 north of 10. They dropped the speed limit down just to catch people. They are talking now about lowering the speed limit north of Geronimo to line the city pockets some more. They will tell you it is because all the accidents. Truth is lowing the speed limit will not affect that number of accidents on 123 because people turn left. That is the major cause of accidents. How about a turn lane. San Marcos has a petition for them to have one on 123 sout to fm 1979.

I got my ticket in the stretch on 123 just about 1 mile north of 10. As I mentioned, the sign was VERY small and the area was incredibly DARK at night. It seems to me that they could install blinking lights on the sign if they REALLY wanted to do something about getting drivers to slow down.

[Dopo]

So what's "the rule" in Texas?
In Missouri you can drive 5 over the speed limit anywhere except school zones.
I guess in Texas is everywhere except small towns

[Kibby]

I've been traveling 123 for well over 40 years - it's good road, mostly divided and I enjoy going through the small towns on that road. As a woman driving alone, I like knowing that if I were to have any car trouble then the locals would be around and more than willing to help me out.

Everyone knows that along 123, the "speed trap" is at Geronimo. I've never had a problem anywhere around Sequin (or on most of that road) but you better be extra careful anywhere near Geronimo.