I live in Lockland, and I know for a fact that some of the idiots who drive between Arlington and Lockland need to slow down. I have seen many cars take off in
front of my house and hit probably 40 to 45 miles per hour in a 25 zone. I have dogs, and a son who I try and keep in the back yard, but if they get out front
the danger to them goes up immeasurably. I for one am glad that Lockland and Arlington are out there writing tickets. It seems that the only weant these people
will learn if you hit them in the pocketbook.
Perhaps Arlington Heights’ motto should be, “Slow down.”
At a quarter-square mile, it’s the smallest community in Hamilton County. Yet the tiny village of 802 has the busiest mayor’s court in the region – and the
seventh busiest in the entire state, according to state figures.
The reason? Traffic tickets.
Traffic cases accounted for 93 percent of the 3,596 cases that came through Arlington Heights’ mayor’s court last year. Such courts are used by more than 300
Ohio communities to handle traffic and misdemeanor cases.
To some nabbed by Arlington Heights’ police, the town is little more than a speed trap along I-75.
“I feel like they just want money,” said Travis Postway, 23, in mayor’s court recently for driving with no license.
But the town bristles at that characterization. Officers don’t hide in bushes or post lower speed limits along I-75 just to trap motorists, the police chief
argues. Added the mayor: “If they wouldn’t be out there speeding, we wouldn’t be out there writing tickets.”
Concerns about the purpose and fairness of these types of courts have spurred attempts in the statehouse to get rid of them, a move that would devastate
Arlington’s police department.
The chief justice of Ohio’s Supreme Court says it’s a conflict of interest for mayors and their appointees to preside over courts when the fines collected
directly help fund their town. About 25 percent of Arlington’s Heights’ income comes from its mayor’s court – though most of that is negated by the cost of
running the court.
Arlington Heights is tucked in the nook known as the “Lockland split,” between the northbound and southbound lanes of Interstate 75.
Founded in the late 1800s, the quaint village includes 418 modest, well-kept, single-family homes and apartments. It boasts its own police and fire departments,
a handful of businesses, including the Meyer Dairy Co. Inc., and a new business park under construction.
But most people simply drive through Arlington Heights because of the 1.25 miles of highway .75 miles northbound, 0.5 miles southbound within its boundaries.
Between 151,730 to 166,810 vehicles travel that stretch of highway daily, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation.
The village’s three full-time and seven part-time officers write an average of 2,700 tickets a year, most of them for traffic violations.
Many cases end up in mayor’s court.
“It’s almost all speeding,” said Village Magistrate Massimino Ionna?. “Probably the majority of the tickets are off of the highway.”
Officers aren’t even required to patrol the highway, but can volunteer to do it for overtime pay.
In terms of the sheer volume of cases, Arlington’s court with 3,724 last year actually isn’t the busiest. It ranks fifth among the region’s 52 mayor’s courts,
in caseload, according to the Supreme Court data. Reading tops the list with 9,066 cases last year.
But for a village of its population, Arlington Heights soars to the top of the list. Way to the top.
The court processed about 4 cases per capita last year compared to runners-up Addyston at 1.5 and Lockland at 1. (Reading logged 0.8 cases per capita). Arlington
Heights is also well above the state average of 0.55 cases per capita. But is it a “speed trap?”
That depends on your definition.
Yes, village cruisers vigilantly patrol the interstate. Yes, they issue a lot of tickets. But the term “speed trap” has certain connotations that officials
here say don’t describe Arlington.
“A speed trap is someone who hides behind bushes,” said Arlington Heights Police Chief Rob Lawson. “Everyone knows we’re out there.”
The National Motorists Association defines speed traps as places where the speed limit is lower than is reasonable for most drivers and where violators are
aggressively pursued, said Jim Baxter, association president.
The term “speed trap” also insinuates excessive unnecessary ticketing to pad the city’s coffers. Among the more notorious of these types of speed traps was
New Rome, Ohio, just outside of Columbus. The 60-person village raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in ticket fines in mayor’s court, many for
driving just a few miles above or below the speed limit. Years of complaints and internal corruption eventually spurred a state law that disbanded the town
in 2004. The law, dubbed the “New Rome Bill” allows the state to dissolve villages of fewer than 150 people and less than two square miles if they aren’t run
properly.
Greater Cincinnati’s mayor’s courts aren’t immune to problems either. Lockland’s mayor’s court is under review by the state auditor at the village’s request.
A village employee resigned abruptly after being questioned about irregularities in the mayor’s court deposits, and village officials later found thousands of
dollars and 92 unpaid traffic tickets in her desk. An isolated problem like that though, wouldn’t be grounds to disband a court.
Some people such as like Postway, the Arlington Heights’ mayor’s court defendant, might argue that the village is, indeed a speed trap. The village resident
says he almost feels harassed by police. He’s been pulled over more than once for traffic infractions and says the fines are excessive.
Anderson Township resident Nancy Pater said she, too, has heard people claim the village is a likely place to get ticketed.
“More and more people I’ve talked to say that,” she recalled after her recent mayor’s court appearance for driving 74 miles per hour in a 55 mile-per-hour zone
on I-75 through the village. “I guess they’re doing they’re jobs,” she said about the police.
Baxter, from the motorists association, said a large amount of ticketing typically indicates a speed trap.
“If they’re out there writing many, many tickets, it’s a red flag,” he said. He noted if that many people are speeding through Arlington Heights, perhaps the
speed limit on that stretch of highway is too low. But “the fact they (the village) haven’t set the speed limit doesn’t absolve them from responsibility for
exploiting the system,” he said.
Lawson argues his officers aren’t exploiting anything. They don’t go after the drivers doing just five or 10 miles over the speed limit.
“We write tickets that are 15 miles per hour or more over the speed limit. People need to get the message to slow down,” said Lawson. “I don’t buy the whole
‘speed trap’ thing.”
Mayor Joe Harper, a former police officer for the village, said the highway is curvy, and dangerous and accident-prone.
“I used to spend a lot of my time up on that highway taking accident reports,” he said.
The patrols are meant to keep people safe, rather than to harass drivers or bankroll the village, officials said. And it seems to be working.
Between 2004 and 2006, the Ohio Department of Transportation recorded 801 traffic crashes on the three-mile stretch of I-75 from Paddock Road to Lockland – which
includes Arlington Heights. In contrast, the three-mile sections of highway to the north and to the south logged more accidents at 872 and 1,044, respectively.
“It’s greatly diminished the accidents with injuries and fatalities on the highway,” Lawson said of the patrols.
