Speeding Ticket Frenzy
SUMMARY: Email rumor claims state troopers are participating in a 'speeding ticket frenzy' during the month of May -- whoops, make that June, July, August, whatever -- handing out citations at a faster-than-usual pace to increase the state's revenues
Description: Email rumor
Circulating since: May 2005
Status: False
Example #1:
Email contributed by Katie S., 10 May 2005:
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Subject: FW: WATCH OUT! Folks Just a heads up thought you might travel these routes listed below. They are not kidding about five miles over SL !!! -----Original Message----- I just got this email from a friend. NJ is starting up a 30 day speeding ticket rally. From what I hear, every trooper assigned to this has to hand out 1 ticket every 10 minutes. They will be focusing in around this area so watch out. Here's what he sent me: I was doing an install last week for a New Jersey State trooper. While I was there, he told me that starting this Monday, May 2, Jersey will launch a 30 day speeding ticket frenzy. The state estimates that 9 million dollars will be generated in speeding tickets. 1 million will go to pay state troopers over time. There will 50 state troopers on duty at all times patrolling the 9 main intersections and highways. They are the following: I-295 north and southI'm warning everyone now that 5 mph above the limit can justify a ticket and every state trooper is supposed to pull a car over and write a ticket every 10 minutes. They have issued 30 brand new unmarked Crown Victoria cruisers and are bring in all their part timers on full time. If you work in New Jersey, New York, or CT, you must take one of there interstates, routes, or parkways. It's up to you how fast you are doing when they do. I was told 101.5 FM confirmed all of this. So be safe and don't forget speeding tickets are on you. You've been warned. Good Luck |
Example #2:
Email contributed by Tammy R., 14 July 2005:
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I don't know how true this is, but doesn't hurt to pass the info... New Jersey will launch a 30 day speeding ticket frenzy from July 1 through the 30th. The state estimates that 9 million dollars will be generated in speeding tickets. 1 million will go to pay state troopers over time. There will be 50 state troopers on duty at all times patrolling the 9 main intersections and highways. They are the following: I-295 north and south Warning for everyone: Now 5 mph above the limit can justify a ticket and every state trooper is supposed to pull a car over and write a ticket every 10 minutes. They have issued 30 brand new unmarked Crown Victoria cruisers and they are bringing in all their part timers on full time. If you work in New Jersey, New York, or CT, you must take one of there interstates, routes, or parkways. It's up to you how fast you are doing when they do. So be safe and don't forget speeding tickets are on you. You've been warned. Good Luck |
Comments: False. Not only is there no evidence to back this up in the form of news reports, official announcements, or even Internet chatter, but we have seen several different versions of this forwarded alert, one claiming that the so-called "speeding ticket frenzy" was scheduled for the month of May, and another claiming it was to begin on July 1. Stay tuned for Version #3; as of this writing, August is only two weeks away!
When the rumor resurfaced in 2006, New Jersey state police spokesman Captain Al DellaFave called it an urban legend "like the one about meeting a stranger in a bar who is going to drug your drink and you'll wake up in a bathtub full of ice missing a kidney."
2005 Update: "State troopers on the Garden State Parkway and the New Jersey Turnpike are cranking out traffic tickets at a record pace," reported the Jersey Journal on July 20, 2005. "The number of summonses issued between March and May - a total of 45,930 on the two toll roads - is 52 percent higher than the previous three months." The surge resulted from the hiring of 66 new State Troopers over the past year, however, not a "short-term ticket blitz," officials reportedly said, warning motorists to "get accustomed to tougher enforcement." They termed email alerts stating otherwise "bogus."
2006 Update: A 2006 version of the email claims the California Highway Patrol will conduct a "speeding ticket frenzy" in south Orange County beginning January 25. A similar message says it's also scheduled to happen in Dallas, Texas. Yet another version names Michigan as the locale, and another warns that a speeding ticket frenzy will occur in Tennessee.
Sources and further reading:
Speeding Ticket Frenzy Just an Urban Legend
Morning Call, 8 February 2006Ticket Blitz Is Bogus
MorthJersey.com, 10 June 2006Traffic Tickets Issued at Break Speed
Newhouse News Service, 20 July 2005
Last updated: 07/29/06
