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Getting a speeding ticket can easily make you feel singled out, especially if you watch dozens of other obvious speeders zip by while you wait for the officer to run your license.
There might actually be some truth to what you are feeling, depending on who you are and where you are driving in the state of New York. Certain people in certain cars in certain places just seem statistically more likely to get a ticket than others. For instance, young males driving sporty coupes have some of the highest rates of getting speeding tickets. Of course, that invites the chicken and egg question: are these individuals more likely to get tickets simply because it’s more likely they are speeding or are they more likely to get tickets because enforcement officers have some expectation or preconceived notion regarding how these individuals are likely to drive?
We can’t know the exact reasons why certain people tend to get speeding tickets more often than others. However, we can offer some interesting information about when and where you are most likely to get a speeding ticket in New York. Here are some of the top factors that make you most likely to get a speeding ticket in New York and some tips for avoiding getting pulled over for speeding.
Compiling traffic ticket data from the NY Department of Motor Vehicles shows that certain counties are more likely than others to issue a speeding ticket.
Unsurprisingly, the five boroughs of NYC issue far more speeding tickets just because of sheer volume. Queens leads this charge, followed by Bronx and Kings.
But there are certain areas of the state that don’t necessarily see the volume of traffic that NYC does but still issue a comparable amount of tickets.
According to data provided by The Buffalo News, the tiny town of Amherst issued more than $3 million in traffic violation tickets in 2015. Tonawanda wasn’t far behind with $2.1 million, followed by Cheektowaga, West Seneca, Hamburg, and Lewiston.
You’d be forgiven if you don’t live near Buffalo and none of those names ring any bells. That’s because these tiny hamlets all have one thing in common: they love to bust speeders heading to and from the Canada border.
Interstates 290, 190, 990 and 90 are all hotbeds for commuters and travelers driving through Buffalo. The surrounding towns greet them with a ready and waiting force of speed enforcement officers and are happy for the revenue generated by the fines.
The City of New York is understandably secretive about where they place their speed traps around the city. Wherever they are, they appear to be working.
While NYC got a paltry $2 million from speed camera fines in 2014 when the program began in 2014, that number quickly shot to $31 million in 2014 and then turbo-boosted to $59 million in 2016.
Curious about where these robot-driven speed traps lay, WNYC went on a quest to sift through ticket data and pin down some locations. They discovered a number of hotspots where over 384 tickets were issued per day. These include locations at Eastbound Atlantic Ave at Essex St. and Eastbound Shore Parkway at West Ave., just near the exit ramp for Coney Island. Queens Boulevard and 36th also had a penchant for nailing drivers, with an average of 66 tickets a day.
Unfortunately for some drivers, the study also revealed that nearly half of the speed cameras were mobile. Inconsistent data and no physical evidence of a camera at certain hotspots mean that the cameras must be fixed instead of NYC vehicles. These vehicles rove around in spots like the school zone for P.S.22 near Forest Ave.
The interesting part about these cameras is that you are “lucky” if that’s the speeding ticket you get. These are not treated as moving violations. They are written against the plate/registration much like a parking ticket would be. It’s not about the driver and thus not about points on a license and insurance rates. Plus the fines are lower. While no one wants a ticket, a camera ticket is much less damaging than an actual moving violation issued during a car stop by an officer.
“They can’t possibly get me if I’m just going 10 over,” you may think, and statistically, you’re somewhat right.
A long-term study of tickets issued near St. Paul, Minnesota found that only 3% of all tickets were for people speeding 10 MPH or less. In a pool of over 220,000 tickets, just 37 were issued for going less than 5 MPH over.
The most common ticket issued was for drivers going 12 MPH. The median ticket was 16 MPH, meaning that as many people ticketed were going over 16 MPH as they were going under.
The study also noted that certain times of day were more likely to result in a ticket, especially those times after rush hour loosens up. More tickets were issued after 9 a.m. or in the afternoon break between 1 – 3 p.m. than any other time.
Police officers asked about the results fully admitted that it’s just too darn tough to pull over people in the middle of the rush, but it’s also harder to speed during those times. Besides, who wants to pull someone over and make an already bad traffic jam even worse?
While the results of the study were specific to Minnesota, it’s likely that the same lessons can apply here in New York. Lesser speeds during more crowded commuting times are less likely to be ticketed than greater speeds when the roads traditionally are a little more open.
Young men are charged the highest insurance rates because they statistically get in the most accidents. This assertion is reflected in the data from the Minnesota study that found that men are ticketed 50% more often than women, and people 16 to 25 had a third of the speeding tickets overall.
In both men and women, speeding violations are most likely to happen when you’re 19 and drop off precipitously from there.
Some cars just tempt people to speed, it seems.
Data from Insurify shows that while 11.3% of U.S. drivers have a speeding ticket on their record, owners of certain vehicle models were way more likely than that to have been caught speeding.
At the top of the list was the Subaru WRX, which had an astounding 20.1% of owners with a speeding violation. The Scion FR-S (the same car as the Subaru BRZ, and now called the Toyota 86) had 19.1% of owners with a ticket. Next on the list were the VW GTI with 16.9%, the Hyundai Genesis Coupe with 15.8%, and the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited at 15.4%.
Data from another source suggests that certain cars are more likely to fly under the radar compared to the average. The Chevy Suburban was 84% less likely than the average car to get a ticket, and the Buick Park Avenue was 89% less likely.
Even a single ticket can cause significant damage between fines, assessments, points and insurance increases. If you drive for a living or are insured by your employer as part of your job, convictions could easily jeopardize your employment.
Clearly it’s in your financial, professional, and personal interest to do anything you reasonably can to avoid the consequences of a speeding ticket. Hiring a New York speeding ticket lawyer will potentially help you get your ticket reduced or dropped entirely.
If you’ve been pulled over for speeding in New York, contact us today for a free case evaluation where we can discuss your best options. Regardless of your particular case circumstances, know that you have the right to fight your ticket with the help of a New York speeding ticket lawyer.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at (888) 842-5384 (TicketHELP) or contact us at tickethelp.com for a free, no-obligation consultation with a New York traffic ticket lawyer today.
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We recommend fighting almost all tickets. Even if the current NY traffic tickets aren’t particularly harmful, you have an incentive to keep your record clean for the future. Convictions quickly lead to surcharges, insurance increases and other complications. You should strongly consider any decision to pay a ticket without fighting.
Our lawyers are experienced, prepared attorneys who understand the nuances of fighting traffic tickets. Experience, preparation and good decision making help us to help our clients avoid points, surcharges, insurance increases and the other negatives that can easily result from a traffic ticket.
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