Your mobile phone or navigation device alerts you as you approach police speed traps.
http://www.trapster.com
Watch the video
http://www.trapster.com/presentation.php
:repost:
link?
$20
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/17850668/detail.html
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/17830557/detail.html
PITTSBURGH – A Team 4 investigation has uncovered the top speed traps in western Pennsylvania.
Going county-by-county, city-by-city and borough by borough, a Team 4 investigation uncovers the top speed traps in western Pennsylvania, listing the 10 places where cops are writing more speeding tickets than anywhere else.
But Team 4 investigative reporter Jim Parsons says the No. 1 spot is not where you might think.
WATCH THE VIDEO: Team 4: Investigation Reveals Top Speed Traps In Western Pa.
What follows is a transcript of Parsons’ report:
Jim Parsons: For years, everyone has assumed the top speed trap in Allegheny County is Kilbuck Township. Not anymore. In fact, we’re standing at one of the top ten speed traps, Route 30 in Irwin/North Huntingdon. Team 4 obtained a database of more than 69,000 speeding citations for every county around Pittsburgh. So we know where the speed traps are. Now, so will you.
Terry Donnelly: “Silver Chrysler 48, silver Chrysler 48.”
Jim Parsons: It’s the last thing you want to see in your rear-view mirror. Flashing lights. And when the police officer walks up to your car, the last thing you want to hear is…
Officer Cunningham: “Morning sir. I’m Officer Cunningham, Pittsburgh Police. The reason you’re being stopped is you were clocked doing 49mph in a 35mph zone. Do you have your drivers license with you?”
Jim Parsons: Not surprising that Pittsburgh police write more speeding citations than any other department in western Pennsylvania. In fact, from August 2007 to August 2008, city officers wrote more than 6,000 speeding tickets. One of their favorite speed traps is Route 51 near Edgebrook Avenue.
Sgt. Rick Howe:“A lot of speed enforcement happens here between 1000 and 1400 Saw Mill Run Blvd, that’s one of the hot spots in the city.”
Jim Parsons: “Why? Why this spot?”
Sgt. Rick Howe:“Because we have a number of traffic accidents, violent accidents that we have to deal with. And if we can get everybody to slow down, we hope to reduce the number of accidents.”>
Jim Parsons:So Pittsburgh is number one with over 6,000 tickets. At No. 2 is Butler Township in Butler County, where the favorite speed trap is Route 422 at the Duffy Road overpass. Bethel Park is third, where most tickets are written on Bethel Church Road between Logan and Brookside. North Huntingdon Police had the fourth highest number of speeding citations, most of them issued on Route 30 at Bob’s Service station. And at No. 5 is Ross Police whose favorite speed trap is McKnight Road at Nelson.
But sheer numbers don’t tell the whole story about the most active speed traps. Looking only at total tickets tends to reveal only the largest municipalities. No surprise there. We wondered which municipalities have the most speeding tickets per mile of roadway. The clear leader on that front is right here. Neville Township.
Chief Norbert Miklos, Ohio Twp. Police: “It’s a unique area.”
Jim Parsons: Since Neville disbanded its police department in 2006, the township has contracted for police services with Ohio Township. And in a 12-month period, Ohio Police wrote 456 speeding citations in Neville, an island with only three-and-a-half miles of state and local roads. That means the number of speeding tickets per mile in Neville is 125. But almost all of the tickets are written in the mile and a half stretch that has a speed limit of 25 miles per hour.
Jim Parsons: “I think a lot of people wonder, why is the speed limit 25mph on this four lane stretch of roadway through here?”
Chief Norbert Miklos, Ohio Twp. Police: “I agree it should be 25. You have again, it doesn’t look like a residential area because you have a four lane highway, but if you go on either side, you have small houses that go back, kids riding bicycles.”
Jim Parsons: Ohio Township police also has an officer who wrote more tickets than all but four other cops in western Pennsylvania. He wrote almost half of all speeding tickets issued by the entire Ohio Township Police department.
Jim Parsons: “477 of your 1,000 tickets were written by one officer last year, why is that?”
Chief Norbert Miklos, Ohio Twp. Police: “Um, he’s uh, he’s active.”
Jim Parsons: Ohio’s prolific ticket-writing in Neville is followed by Osborne Township, where Sewickley Police wrote 80 speeding citations per mile, mostly on Route 65. Next is the city of Butler, where police wrote 64 speeding tickets for every mile of road. Main Street Butler is the top speed trap there. And tied for fifth place in tickets per mile are Leetsdale and Rochester Boro, Beaver County, where police issued 37 speeding citations per mile, mostly on Route 65.
Rich Ament, Pittsburgh: “They’re out in full force.”
Jim Parsons: We spoke with some of the motorists on the receiving end of the 70,000 speeding tickets issued in the past year in western Pennsylvania.
Rich Ament, Pittsburgh: “They could be doing other things. I mean there’s a lot of crime in this city. I mean, they could be doing other things. Besides, ya know, writing traffic tickets.”
John Goodman, Butler Twp. Resident: “Well its definitely a good moneymaker for the township. You should go up and see their nice building.”
Jim Parsons: Actually, it’s not as much a moneymaker as you might think. A municipality’s average share from each speeding fine is less than 33 bucks. And look what happens when no there’s speed enforcement. Homemade speed limit signs beg motorists to slow down through Glenfield, where Kilbuck police once ran speed traps. But the Kilbuck department has folded. And now Glenfield is the vehicular equivalent of the old wild west.
Steve Ross, Glenfield Resident: “They’re not respecting us living here. Just every day, it’s speed, speed, speed. 50, 60 miles an hour. Everybody on the street will you tell you. And we’re just sick and tired of it.”
Jim Parsons: Pittsburgh police officer Ed Cunningham ranked 11th in number of speeding tickets for all of Allegheny County. He wrote 302 citations, and he’s proud of it.
Ed Cunningham, Pittsburgh Police: “I’m proud of the fact that I’m actively doing my job. The number is not important….The point of the enforcement is more the education than actually handing out tickets” Jim Parsons: “And you educate a whole lot of people every year, don’t you?”
Ed Cunningham, Pittsburgh Police: “I try.”
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/17850668/detail.html
Jim Parsons: And we should mention that local police and PennDOT did not object to our revealing these top speed traps because they believe our story will help get people to slow down.
For a searchable database of speeding tickets. Look for the sidebar to the right of this story.
good find
Irwin was no surprise-thought it would be higher