I've always avoided driving through towns like Hearne and Calvert as much as possible as they are notorious speed traps.

I have a second car that is pretty old but I let the registration expire. I had to drive it through Hearne recently and got pulled over Apparently he ran my plates while at a stop-sign (for no other reason than being nosy) and pulled me over for the registration. $280 ticket. That same ticket in Houston? $75. Hearne is charging almost 4 times the amount Houston charges, that is insane.

Looking at their other fines and they are much higher than other cities.

I'm in no way saying I didn't deserve the ticket (though I think nosy cops suck) but how can a small Texas town charge so much more? The local town government just votes on whatever amount they want to charge?

Then they put a phone number on the ticket but nobody ever answers the phone and there is no voicemail. They don't respond to emails either. Many google reviews say the same thing.

F these small towns using their police force for revenue streams.

IDaggie06 said:

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...these small towns using their police force for revenue streams.

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This is your answer. This is a fund raising move.

Most of my life, Diboll was probably the absolute worst. Corrigan bad too. Me my bro and dad caught a cop in Corrigan in an outright lie years ago about my dad's speed and called him out and he was like "tough sh**, you'll have to pay it or fight it in court". I always wondered how heavily these cities relied on that type of shakedown revenue. Some of them probably would cease to exist.

Are they nosy if they pull someone over for paper plates?

I drive through Hearne and Calvert relatively often. Never had an issue....just make sure to drive the limit and make sure your registration is up to date. Pretty much the same as every other small town.

New World Ag said:

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I drive through Hearne and Calvert relatively often. Never had an issue....just make sure to drive the limit and make sure your registration is up to date. Pretty much the same as every other small town.

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Here's the thing. Speed limits in small towns suck. 35 on a 4 lane road? f.u. Not doing it.

They are sucking off the tit of transit that is forced to go through their crappy town to get where they are going.

Last time this happened to me was in CS. They told me to bring the new registration to the judge and he would dismiss the ticket. I had to pay like a $25 court processing fee.

I thought that a number of years a go Texas passed a "speed trap law" which set a maximum percentage of city revenue that could be raised with traffic citations?

Don't forget Splendora. That patch of trees between North and Southbound 59 was practically a substation for the Splendora PD

cecil77 said:

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I thought that a number of years a go Texas passed a "speed trap law" which set a maximum percentage of city revenue that could be raised with traffic citations?

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They did. Martindale was another town that got hit with this rule.

My my 79, how do you expect folks in smalltown America to travel. Not all roads are interstate Hiways. Find another route .

Are you in that big a hurry that you need that one minute of time? Small towns want slower traffic going through to make it easier for vehicles to merge in and prevent accidents.

Boo Weekley said:

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Most of my life, Diboll was probably the absolute worst. Corrigan bad too. Me my bro and dad caught a cop in Corrigan in an outright lie years ago about my dad's speed and called him out and he was like "tough sh**, you'll have to pay it or fight it in court". I always wondered how heavily these cities relied on that type of shakedown revenue. Some of them probably would cease to exist.

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Oh yeah, Corrigan. They have two cops, one at each end of 59 every darn day. Nothing but a shakedown op.

vmiaptetr said:

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Last time this happened to me was in CS. They told me to bring the new registration to the judge and he would dismiss the ticket. I had to pay like a $25 court processing fee.

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Well I've tried for two weeks for someone in Hearne to answer the phone and they don't, which I assume is intentionally. Emails ignored. The number is 979-279-6677, bet you $100 if you try to call it nobody will answer. And I'm not driving a couple hours to Hearne just in hopes to be able to talk to someone.

I ended up just paying the ticket online to get it over with (which is exactly what they want). Then they hit you with a $16 payment transaction fee.

I-45 it is for now on.

Estelline

It does suck.

If you want a likely answer...

The costs associated with operating a police force and court for a small town are very high. The high fines probably have to cover all these costs.

Larger cities can spread the costs over a larger number of offenses and offenders.

IDaggie06 said:

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I've always avoided driving through towns like Hearne and Calvert as much as possible as they are notorious speed traps.

I have a second car that is pretty old but I let the registration expire. I had to drive it through Hearne recently and got pulled over Apparently he ran my plates while at a stop-sign (for no other reason than being nosy) and pulled me over for the registration. $280 ticket. That same ticket in Houston? $75. Hearne is charging almost 4 times the amount Houston charges, that is insane.

Looking at their other fines and they are much higher than other cities.

I'm in no way saying I didn't deserve the ticket (though I think nosy cops suck) but how can a small Texas town charge so much more? The local town government just votes on whatever amount they want to charge?

Then they put a phone number on the ticket but nobody ever answers the phone and there is no voicemail. They don't respond to emails either. Many google reviews say the same thing.

F these small towns using their police force for revenue streams.

---

You'll probably enjoy this story, as I've heard it about 1000 times.

My dad graduated in the Spring of '55, but had to wait a year for his commission because he wasn't 21 years old. The family had a pretty big peach, plumb, and fig operation in DFW, and my dad made runs down to CS to pick up various items needed for the business.

He was returning very late one night from Cstat back to DFW, and was going through Calvert. The ONLY light in the city was turning red, and he didn't want to downshift the truck, so he just "rolled" on through the light, only to be pulled over by Calvert police pretty quickly.

The cop asked for my dad's ID, and saw he was from DFW. The cop said "Son, don't they have red lights in Dallas?". My dad said "Helll yeah, more than one", and he spent the night in the Calvert lock-up.

Anyone who knew my dad could absolutely see him saying that.

I drove through Calvert and hearne 10+, maybe 100+ times, and never got pulled over. Maybe it's bc I kept my registration up to date and didn't speed. Weird.

MEENAGGIE09 said:

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It does suck.

If you want a likely answer...

The costs associated with operating a police force and court for a small town are very high. The high fines probably have to cover all these costs.

Larger cities can spread the costs over a larger number of offenses and offenders.

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Larger cities typically have way less police force than needed. These small towns seem to have more police force and bigger court system than needed but pay for it by writing so many tickets at inflated rates.

I've driven through Hearne, really makes you think.

MEENAGGIE09 said:

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It does suck.

If you want a likely answer...

The costs associated with operating a police force and court for a small town are very high. The high fines probably have to cover all these costs.

Larger cities can spread the costs over a larger number of offenses and offenders.

---

OP doesn't want a likely answer.

Local rule means local rule.

People in the towns should speak out more if it is an issue.

Texaggie7nine said:

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New World Ag said:

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I drive through Hearne and Calvert relatively often. Never had an issue....just make sure to drive the limit and make sure your registration is up to date. Pretty much the same as every other small town.

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Here's the thing. Speed limits in small towns suck. 35 on a 4 lane road? f.u. Not doing it.

They are sucking off the tit of transit that is forced to go through their crappy town to get where they are going.

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My small fight back is to refuse to do commerce in those towns: Hearne. Calvert. Riesel for damn sure. Clayton, NM. Doesn't make a hill of beans to the convenience store owners in those towns; they are fine without my patronage. But I feel better.

IDaggie06 said:

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I've always avoided driving through towns like Hearne and Calvert as much as possible as they are notorious speed traps.

I have a second car that is pretty old but I let the registration expire. I had to drive it through Hearne recently and got pulled over Apparently he ran my plates while at a stop-sign (for no other reason than being nosy) and pulled me over for the registration. $280 ticket. That same ticket in Houston? $75. Hearne is charging almost 4 times the amount Houston charges, that is insane.

Looking at their other fines and they are much higher than other cities.

I'm in no way saying I didn't deserve the ticket (though I think nosy cops suck) but how can a small Texas town charge so much more? The local town government just votes on whatever amount they want to charge?

Then they put a phone number on the ticket but nobody ever answers the phone and there is no voicemail. They don't respond to emails either. Many google reviews say the same thing.

F these small towns using their police force for revenue streams.

---

To answer your question, most traffic violations are Class C Misdemeanors. Under the felony code, a class C is punishable by a fine up to $500.00.

Lots of small town speed traps like Calvert.

Selma, Palmer, Wilmer Hutchins, Montgomery, Comanche, Patton Village (particularly notorious history. Look it up). Anna is a newby to the group.

State law limits the amount of town revenue that can be generated from traffic tickets. This limits the incentive some but certain towns are simply more prolific at generating revenue this way than others.

Diboll also had traffic light cameras for a while too. That whole town was a racket. They are building that bypass around Diboll now and I cant wait to see it starve that town out of ticket revenue.

New World Ag said:

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Are you in that big a hurry that you need that one minute of time? Small towns want slower traffic going through to make it easier for vehicles to merge in and prevent accidents.

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Correct, if you don't have some kind of limit those idiots would fly thru the town…..dangerous.

Krautag81 said:

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New World Ag said:

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Are you in that big a hurry that you need that one minute of time? Small towns want slower traffic going through to make it easier for vehicles to merge in and prevent accidents.

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Correct, if you don't have some kind of limit those idiots would fly thru the town…..dangerous.

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There are towns where the reduced speed is pointless though. Like Paige where 290 goes to 55. It's a 4 lane divided highway with no lights. If you can get in and merge 3 miles down the road at 75 then you can do it there too.

IDaggie06 said:

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MEENAGGIE09 said:

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It does suck.

If you want a likely answer...

The costs associated with operating a police force and court for a small town are very high. The high fines probably have to cover all these costs.

Larger cities can spread the costs over a larger number of offenses and offenders.

---

Larger cities typically have way less police force than needed. These small towns seem to have more police force and bigger court system than needed but pay for it by writing so many tickets at inflated rates.

---

First off, it's been 20+ years since I prosecuted cases in a small town municipal court, but even back then, over half the fine money on moving violations went to the state. I can't recall a single infraction where the fine was less than $90 (once you add in the state fees).

Small towns do have more police per capita, if they have a force at all, because they do not have economies of scale. Big cities need a sizeable force to respond to serious crime, but by having a large force cover an even larger city, they can get the scale right. In a small town, you're limited by three numbers, that being: (1) whole persons (can't have a fraction of a cop), (2) 8 hour days, and (3) 40 hour weeks. If you want to have someone to cover every shift, 24/7/365, and not be solo (or not solo all the time) or paying overtime, you're going to need about 8-10 officers. They aren't going to have much serious crime to prevent or investigate, so they will spend an inordinate amount of time on traffic control just to keep them busy and justify the expense.

But, as noted, state law limits how much revenue municipalities can generate from traffic fines; if they collect more, all of it goes to the State. That's why you don't see quite as much traffic enforcement in Calvert now as you used to years ago. While Hearne has always patrolled Highway 6, they've never been as aggressive as Calvert or Reisel, and Hearne has some genuine traffic jams on Fridays and Sundays when A&M is in session. I would not label Hearne a speed trap, or a jurisdiction that relies heavily on traffic fines for revenue.

Los Fresnos, right before South Padre Island is effing notorious for this. I have heard countless tales about tickets for 31 in a 30.

Speed limits on those roads are set by TxDot.

Martin Cash said:

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IDaggie06 said:

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I've always avoided driving through towns like Hearne and Calvert as much as possible as they are notorious speed traps.

I have a second car that is pretty old but I let the registration expire. I had to drive it through Hearne recently and got pulled over Apparently he ran my plates while at a stop-sign (for no other reason than being nosy) and pulled me over for the registration. $280 ticket. That same ticket in Houston? $75. Hearne is charging almost 4 times the amount Houston charges, that is insane.

Looking at their other fines and they are much higher than other cities.

I'm in no way saying I didn't deserve the ticket (though I think nosy cops suck) but how can a small Texas town charge so much more? The local town government just votes on whatever amount they want to charge?

Then they put a phone number on the ticket but nobody ever answers the phone and there is no voicemail. They don't respond to emails either. Many google reviews say the same thing.

F these small towns using their police force for revenue streams.

---

To answer your question, most traffic violations are Class C Misdemeanors. Under the felony code, a class C is punishable by a fine up to $500.00.

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Ugh I guess I didn't think of this as being a Class C Misdemeanor when I just paid it. Guess I should have tried to get it reduced or something. Hopefully doesn't affect my insurance. First ticket of any kind I've had in about 10 years.

Get your car registered w/in 30 days of the ticket and pay the state mandated $10 dismissal. You'll have to pay an ~$30 penalty when registering since you got a ticket. No big deal.

Tom Doniphon said:

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Speed limits on those roads are set by TxDot.

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True, but the city can request that they be lowered, or raised. TXDOT does a study and either approves the change or not.

One day the state will put in a bypass to skip right by Calvert and Hearne (similar to Marlin and Reagan), and I will be most pleased.