Bubbaworld

There really isn’t a town named ‘Speed Trap, Oklahoma’.  That would be too obvious even for those that operate speed traps in many Oklahoma towns through which major U.S. and state highways pass.  For many years speed traps existed all over Oklahoma.  A few years ago a law was passed to put them out of business.  That law has now effectively been repealed and the speed traps are back in business.  Therefore, Speed Trap, Oklahoma may turn out to be any town through which you pass.

As of April 30, 2007 speed traps were legitimized and condoned throughout Oklahoma.  Previously Oklahoma cities and towns ran the risk of losing traffic ticket writing authority if more than 50 percent of their operating revenue came from traffic citations.

That is no longer the case thanks to some trickery on the part of State Representative Paul D. Roan (D-Tishomingo), who in the role of ‘Flim-Flam Man’ managed to sneak what is known in Oklahoma legislative circles as a ‘woolly booger’ past not only his fellow representatives, but also the Oklahoma Senate and Governor Brad Henry.

Roan pulled off his trickery by adding an amendment to HB 1616 which was a ‘clean up bill’, one requested by the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety to clean up previous legislation, clarify meanings and issues relating to law enforcement, transportation and public safety.

What Roan’s amendment did was basically repeal Oklahoma’s anti-speed trap law, except on interstate highways.  It did this by removing the authority of the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety (DPS) to revoke the ticket writing authority of those towns determined to be speed traps.  Speed trap cities and towns are now free to write as many traffic tickets as they wish on non-interstate federal highways and state highways throughout the state of Oklahoma.

Additionally, Roan’s amendment revoked the right of citizens to lodge a complaint with and request an investigation by the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety (DPS) of alleged speed traps.  Previously anyone could lodge a complaint against and request an investigation of an alleged speed trap.  Not any more.

Under Roan’s trickery, such investigations may now only be requested by:  
the district attorney of the county where the alleged speed trap is located, by resolution of at least two commissioners of the county in which the alleged speed trap is located, by the state legislator of the district in which the alleged speed trap is located, by the State Auditor and Inspector or by the Attorney General of Oklahoma.

Previously the DPS was required to conduct investigations of alleged speed traps and to revoke ticket writing authority of those cities and towns found to be operating a speed trap.  Under Roan’s version, the DPS now “may”, rather than “shall” conduct such investigations and if so forward the results the investigation to the Attorney General for a determination as to whether the town is operating a speed trap.  Under Roan’s ‘Let’s Have a Speed Trap’ bill, the Attorney General is not bound by law to do anything other than go through the motions of considering the DPS investigation report.

Prior to Roan’s trickery, five Oklahoma towns had been deemed speed traps and were prohibited from writing traffic tickets.  Thanks to Roan’s “woolly booger” those proven speed trap towns instantly regained ticket writing authority and are free to generate as much revenue as they can via traffic tickets and DPS can do nothing about it; provided the towns run their speed traps on non-interstate highways.

These towns are Big Cabin, Caney, Moffett, Shamrock, and Stringtown.  They were found to have operated blatant speed traps, deriving the majority of their operating revenues from traffic tickets.  For example the town of Moffett derived 78 percent of its operating budget in 2003 from traffic tickets.  In 2004 it was worse, as 84 percent of Moffet’s operating budget came from traffic tickets.

So what would motivate Rep. Roan to legitimize speed trap towns?  The short and simple answer is MONEY.  Lots of money.

Two of Oklahoma’s speed trap towns, Caney and Stringtown, are within Roan’s district and once deprived of their ticket writing authority the towns are facing bankruptcy.  Many of the small Oklahoma towns through which US and major state highways pass exist only by being speed traps.  The towns are not able to sustain themselves unless they are writing tickets, lots of tickets, most of which are probably legitimate and justified and some of which are not, but all of which are required keep the town afloat.

To understand how these little speed trap towns operate one needs only look at the Bubbaworld report titled Watts, Oklahoma – The Rise and Fall of a Speed Trap Town.  In that old report we detailed a six year reign of corruption in the hellhole that was Watts, Oklahoma.  Most Oklahoma speed trap towns operate in a similar manner and are just as corrupt as was Watts.

A typical Oklahoma speed trap town can rake in between $25,000 to $30,000 per-month with a police force consisting of less than a half-dozen ‘warm bodies’ that know how to drive and write and who are willing to work for between $1,000 and $1,500 per-month.  Toss in a municipal judge for a few hundred dollars a week and any town can set itself up as a speed trap.  Especially now that Rep. Roan has opened the flood gates for them.

So what can you do to protect yourself when passing through Speed Trap, Oklahoma?

First and foremost AVOID known speed trap towns such as Big Cabin, Caney, Moffett, Shamrock, and Stringtown as much as possible.  If you have to travel through these known speed traps, you probably will be safer doing so after dark as the majority of speed traps operate during daylight hours only.

Second, when approaching a known speed trap town slow down to at least 5 mph below the speed limit.  Remember “Billy Bob”, the speed trap cop, is trying to make his quota and therefore his living.  Even if he is honest, he may not allow any tolerance at all.  We have heard of drivers getting ticked at 2 mph over the speed limit in some speed traps. Although most speed trap operators “claim” they allow 5 or even 10 mph over the speed limit before ticketing, don’t bet on it.

If you are unfortunate enough to get ticketed in a speed trap town, pay your fine and go on your way and in the future avoid the town if possible.  If you can not avoid the town in the future make sure you never spend a dime in that town for anything, ever again, and if the town has a Chamber of Commerce, call them and tell they you are boycotting their town and why.

If you are an Oklahoma resident contact your state representative and senator and tell them you want the anti-speed trap law reinstated.  Tell them you know what Representative Roan pulled and you wanted it fixed during the next legislative session, in February, 2008.

We at Bubbaworld will be setting up a special section on speed traps in Oklahoma.  Watch for it under the ‘Special Interests’ section on the Main Menu.  If you would like to report an Oklahoma speed trap, just let us know via e-mail to The Webmaster

For those interested in seeing the hatchet job that Representative Roan did on Oklahoma’s anti-speed trap law you can read it for yourself at
HB 1616 on-line via the Oklahoma Legislature web site.