Home >Police Enforcement > Speed Limits/Traps > Tennessee: Speed Trap Fine Refunds Possible

Related News Virginia Boosts Speed Limit to 70 California: Verdict of Evading Police Pursuit Upheld California Tightens State Speed Trap Regulations Wisconsin Appeals Court Upholds Federal Speed Limit Sign Rules Study: Higher Interstate Speed Limits are Safe View Main Topics: Camera Enforcement    Speed Cameras    Red Light Cameras    Revenue from Cameras    Camera Accuracy    Engineering/Signals Police Enforcement    Random Checkpoints    Speed Limits/Traps    Tickets and Cash    Seizure/Confiscation    Parking Tickets    Taxes and Tolls    Drunk Driving Laws Miscellaneous Issues    Miscellaneous    Hypocrisy    Bad Policy and Injustice    Propaganda    New Technologies    Privacy Issues The Revolt    Protests    Camera Destruction Subscribe via RSS or E-Mail Back To Front Page

7/4/2006 Tennessee: Speed Trap Fine Refunds Possible Coopertown, Tennessee may be forced to refund illegally issued speed trap tickets. Activists in Coopertown, Tennessee are hoping that the Robertson County chancery court will find Mayor Danny Crosby had set an illegal speed limit and order refunds to hundreds of innocent motorists caught in the notorious speed trap town. Last week, the state attorney general's office filed an writ of ouster to have Crosby removed from office. (The full text of the court complaint is available in a 680kb PDF file at the source link below.) District Attorney General John W. Carney, Jr. wrote that the mayor had disgraced his office: "By engaging in a scheme to increase operating revenues of the municipality by establishing an automobile 'speed trap,' ostensibly for legitimate purposes of public safety, but in reality for the generation of revenues, increasing the city's 'take' from citizens from approximately $12,000.00 per year to an initially projected figure of between $400,000.00 and $800,000.00 per year." The court filing includes examples of how Crosby would target soldiers, minorities and out-of-town drivers because they were least likely to challenge a citation in court. He is also charged with falsifying evidence to have critics put in jail. The ouster effort was led by Sam Childs who runs the Coopertown News website and helped collect 536 signatures -- nearly one out of five residents. "In the end, our Mayor will have to abide by the law just like any other citizen," Childs wrote in an editorial today. "Our system has worked, justice will prevail." Source: Complaint for Order of Suspension from Office (Chancery Court for Robertson County, TN, 6/27/2006) Permanent Link for this item Return to Front Page

Front Page | Get Updates | Site Map | News Achive | Search | theNewspaper.com: A journal of the politics of driving