House Bill 1456 would empower the state Public Safety Commissioner
to designate segments of interstate, federal and state highways for
primary traffic-related enforcement by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol if it
is believed local law enforcement officers are operating a speed trap.
Principal authors of the measure are House Speaker Larry E. Adair,
D-Stilwell, and Sen. Frank Shurden, D-Henryetta.

The bill zipped through the House, 91-8, on Tuesday, then passed
the Senate, 38-5, on Wednesday. The next stop is the desk of the
Governor, for his signature.

"There are a number of areas across the state where we think
traffic citations are being abused," Adair said.

"I've tried to get this passed for several years," Shurden said.
"Hopefully this will solve the problem."

Criteria for defining a speed trap are outlined in the bill to mean
enforcement practices:

* intended "for the purpose of generating more than 50 percent of
the revenue needed for operation of the municipality,"
* conducted in such a manner "so that the preponderance of
citations issued by the municipal law enforcement agency are for
speeding 1 to 10 miles per hour over the posted speed limit,"
* undertaken inside the boundaries but on the outskirts of a
municipality. The bill defines "outskirts" to mean an area of low
land-use density, the absence of any school or residential subdivision
requiring direct entrance or exit from the highway, and a scarcity of
retail or commercial business abutting the highway.

HB 1456 would direct the Public Safety Commissioner to investigate
questionable municipal traffic enforcement practices and submit a report
of those findings to the state Attorney General. If the investigation
uncovered sufficient proof of a local speed trap, the OHP would maintain
primary traffic enforcement "for such time as determined by the
Commissioner."

Earlier this year state officials reported numerous complaints had
been lodged against several communities in southern Oklahoma along U.S.
69, and other speed traps were alleged to have been maintained on U.S.
75 near Glenpool, U.S. 59 near Watts, S.H. 51 near Hulbert, U.S. 412
near West Siloam Springs, U.S. 81 near Rush Springs and Interstate 40 in
the vicinity of Checotah and Roland.

For several years Rep. M.C. Leist, D-Morris, has regaled his House
colleagues with periodic updates on traffic tickets issued by police
officers in Atoka County towns along U.S. 69. "Our speed traps are alive
and well," he quipped recently.

A little over 3,000 citations were issued in Stringtown, which has
about 350 residents, during the most recent 50-week period, Leist said.
During that same period, he continued, 1,755 tickets were issued in
Caney, which has fewer than 200 residents; 1,372 tickets were written in
Tushka, which has 255 residents; and 1,665 citations were issued in
Atoka, a community of approximately 3,000 residents.
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Speed traps for the unwary have long been a huge problem all over Oklahoma.
If you would like to see the size of the problem and learn where most of the speed
traps are you should visit
Oklahoma Speed Traps

You will also find speed traps listed for just about every other state and city too.

And if you know of a speed trap that is regularly set up in your area you should report it to this
website. It will help lots of others in the future to know about them.

Another excellent site to get info on speed traps is to be found at Bear Traps website