A stretch of Highway 6 has apparently become infamous for the amount of speeding tickets issued by a trio of Texas towns. WFAA pulled ticket files on a group of cities along I-45 to prepare a story, but the “problem” apparently extends beyond that Interstate. Hearne, Calvert and Lott are apparently funding local government operations through nabbing speeders on the venerable highway. The Blaze explains.
After that story aired, a local judge who had volunteered for 15 years contacted the station to say the problem is even more widespread and that it got so bad in his area, he resigned.
“When I first became a judge, we had one reserve officer,” David Viscarde, the former judge in the town of Calvert, told WFAA. “That’s all he did on Friday and Saturday every other weekend. He’d write 100 citations.”
So why? Well, many local governments, and especially police departments, are funded by tickets and municipal court fees, the station says.
The outlet calls it the new area the “Texas triangle,” named for the three-city area southwest of Waco, Texas. Here’s how bad it is in those towns, Hearne, Lott and Calvert:
Hearne has just 4,400 people, but it has more than 12,000 municipal court cases pending, records show.
Lott is one of the top 20 in the state for pending municipal court cases, records show. The town’s mayor, Anita Tindle, would not provide budget numbers. But state records show Lott has more than 3,400 municipal court cases pending. That’s nearly five cases for each of its 743 residents.
Calvert, also in the top 20 for pending cases, also declined to provide financial numbers. But state records show it has 5,159 municipal court cases pending — which is nearly five for each of its approximately 1,100 residents.
“The pressure to collect revenues in Calvert — and probably other small towns in Texas — is excessive,” Vicarde said. “And what happens is, you got judges like me who say they’ve got better things to do with my time. ‘Thank you very much, and God bless you, I’ll move on.’”
So what happens if you find yourself in the town of Calvert with a ticket in hand? Vicarde has some inside information:
Former Judge Viscarde says small towns bank on no one taking their traffic tickets to court and simply mailing in a check. He said Calvert is incapable of trying cases because it has no prosecutor, and doesn’t want to pay for one.
According to WFAA, the state of Texas does have the ability to audit and fine towns who get more than 30 percent of their revenue from traffic tickets, but none of the three towns mention have ever been investigated.
Red drives this route at least ten times a year and has noticed that there is almost always a police car stationed on the north side of Calvert, but has not otherwise noticed excessive police presence in the area. Red also notes that people drive too damn fast in general. Ever since 75 mph became the norm, left lane traffic is ripping along at 90 mph. I really don’t blame these towns for enforcing the speed limit. The problem would be solved if everyone slowed down just a bit. As Red’s Dad used to say, “They sure are in a hurry to go somewhere and do nothing.”
