Williamson County Among Regions With Most Speeding Tickets Issued

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, TX — Williamson County has emerged as one of the Texas counties where officers have issued the most speeding tickets, according to a new analysis.

According to a study by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram of Texas Department of Safety data from 2012-16, Williamson County ranked sixth in terms of most tickets issued. In the four-year period, 31,213 speeding tickets were assessed in the county.

Researchers found a lack of big cities on the top ten list, learning that DPS troopers focus on the smaller jurisdictions in knowing larger municipalities already have the needed staffing levels to find speeders.

“DPS is picking up the slack in some border counties where local police and sheriffs offices are overworked or understaffed,” University of Houston political science professor Brandon Rottinghaus told the Star-Telegram. “The surge of DPS troopers in these counties may be reflected in increasing moving violations.”

The other counties with the most speeding tickets issued include Cameron, Harris and Hidalgo. Travis County (of which Austin is the seat) didn't break into the Top 10. The majority of counties among the top ten were along the Gulf Coast, the study found, with Brazoria and Fort Bend counties also making it in the top tier.

Bolstered border enforcement was attributed partially to the higher ticket-issuing levels. If you're planning a trip to South Padre Island before summer ends, you might want to stay within the speed limits, as the newspaper's study found that region to be a hotbed for ticket issuance.

Among the findings:

▪ Speeding tickets were issued in every one of the state’s 254 counties during the past five years.
▪ Loving County — the least populated county in Texas at 113 last year — fittingly had the fewest tickets issued, with a near-negligible eight over the past five years.
▪ Two other counties saw fewer than 100 DPS-issued speeding tickets over the past five years: Borden, with 68, and Kent, with 93. Both are near Lubbock, Texas, in the western portion of the state.

The Top Ten counties for speeding tickets, in descending order, were:

• Hidalgo, with 58,669 speeding tickets issued during the four-year period between 2012-16.
• Harris County, 46,082 tickets issued.
• Cameron, 42,846 tickets.
• Montgomery, 42,447 tickets.
• Brazoria, 37,811 tickets.
• Williamson, 31,213 tickets.
• Bell, 30,597 tickets.
• Fort Bend, 26,630 tickets.
• Parker, 26,506 tickets.
• Collin, 26,431 tickets.

>>> Read the full story at Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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