Over the holiday season, travel increases. And so do the number of police on the roads. So to help you make travel choices this year, Texas Watchdog decided to take a look at the state’s highways to see where drivers were getting the most tickets.
The data, a database of all tickets issued last year by the Texas Department of Public Safety, was procured for us by our news partner Brian Collister of WOAI-TV San Antonio and analyzed by Texas Watchdog’s Jennifer Peebles.
Because this list only includes TDPS ticket data, the vast majority of these tickets will have been written by Texas state troopers on the state’s major highways. This list does not include, for example, tickets issued by local police or county sheriff's officers.
See the interactive map pinpointing each of the ticket hotspots by clicking here or go to the map at the bottom of this story.
Now, the New Year’s Nine:
1. The Valley. Hottest spot: A spot outside Edinburg centered around Mila Doce in the Valley. We found 13,739 tickets were issued in 2010 within 10 miles of Mila Doce. This is near the Mexico border and includes US highway 83.
3. The Dallas area. Hottest spot: An area centered around Plano that includes southwest Collin County, including small parts of northeast Dallas County and southeast Denton County. We found 6,897 tickets had been written within 10 miles of Plano. That includes sections of US highway 75, state highway 190 and I-635.
4. The Austin area. Hottest spot: A swath of central Travis and central Williamson counties centered around Round Rock. We found 7,868 ticket had been written within 10 miles or Round Rock. That includes a section of I-35 and state highways 45 and 130.
5. The Longview area. Hottest spot: A section that includes a large chunk of Gregg County, the northwest corner of Rusk County and a small eastern part of Smith County. We found 6,128 tickets had been written within 10 miles of Rolling Meadows. This is an area where many state and US highways come together (US highway 259 and state highway 149, for example). This also includes a section of I-20.
6. The Beaumont area. Hottest spot: We found 4,612 tickets written within 10 miles of Vidor. This includes a large section of the I-10 corridor east of Beaumont.
7. The Corpus Christi area. Hottest spot: Much of western San Patricio County, centered around Edroy. We found 2,670 tickets written within 10 miles of Edroy. This area includes a stretch of I-37.
8. The San Antonio area. Hottest spot: Around Lytle, southwest of San Antonio. This is the area where Bexar, Medina and Atascoca counties all touch. We found 4,139 tickets written within 10 miles of Lytle. I-35 runs right through this section.
9. The Midland area. We found 3,943 tickets written within 10 miles of a spot roughly halfway between Midland and Odessa. This includes a stretch of I-20 and state highway 191.
Contact Trent Seibert at trent@texaswatchdog.org or 832-316-4994 or on Twitter at @trentseibert or @texaswatchdog.
Keep up with all the latest news from Texas Watchdog. Fan our page on Facebook, follow us onTwitter and Scribd, and fan us on YouTube. Join our network on de.licio.us, and put our RSS feeds in your newsreader. We're also on MySpace, Digg, FriendFeed, and tumblr.
Photo of Texas state trooper by flickr user rschroed, used via a Creative Commons license.
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Comments
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Hill Sanders
Friday, 12/30/2011 - 07:23PM
The Clubs,need be observed,including those local neighborhood cafes.Their parking lots should be viewed for peple ,including their groups too intoxicated to drive.If police start checking for drunk,or under influence of controlled substance drivers etc;at traffic lights,or at some stop signs;Ther would be less D.U.I.related accidents.Neighborhoods of every kind aren't off limits to police,as the upper class get drunk,an in secret use some controlled substances,an aren't surprised with a police checking them!H.S. |
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kathi
Saturday, 12/31/2011 - 03:51AM
Don't speed, don't drink and drive, wear your seat belts and don't text/talk on cell phone and drive. Simple enough so as to not get stopped, huh? |
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Alberto
Sunday, 01/01/2012 - 04:08PM
Kathi, you forgot to mention, be sure you are WHITE! |
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dbeck
Wednesday, 01/04/2012 - 03:12PM
Most of the state has NO LAW regarding texting and driving. Sad but true. |
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