5/21/07-Small towns in Oklahoma once tagged with the label as speed traps now can get their ticket books back out.
Gov. Brad Henry has signed a bill into law that allows five towns to resume issuing tickets on state and federal highways within their city limits. The new law doesn’t change rules for interstate highways.
Until 2003, the sky was the limit for the amount of money communities could keep from police fines. For that reason, towns such as Caney, Big Cabin, Moffett, Shamrock and Stringtown had become well known to truckers and motorists alike.
The Legislature and Henry later barred the towns from enforcing speed limits on highways in the wake of an investigation by The Oklahoman that found eight cities and towns in the state were getting more than 50 percent of their money from police fines, and at least 18 communities in the state were getting more than 26 percent of their money from police fines.
The new law, previously HB1616, prevents the speed trap designation from being issued in the future. It also removes the label from the communities affected by the 2003 law.
The provision to expand patrolling authority was a last-minute addition to a bill that was nearing passage in the statehouse.