The number of speeding tickets issued by the Wisconsin State Patrol has fallen significantly on highways where the speed limit was recently increased from 65 to 70 mph, data obtained by Isthmus shows.
In July, the first full month after the limit was raised on about 800 miles of state highways, the State Patrol issued 3,085 citations for violating the speed limit on roads posted 65 and 70 mph. This compares to 3,436 citations issued in July 2014 on roads posted 65 mph. That’s a 10% decline, and 351 fewer fines.
For August, the State Patrol issued 2,528 tickets on roads posted 65 and 70 mph, down from 3,576 tickets issued on roads posted 65 mph in August 2014. That’s a 29% decline, and 1,048 fewer fines.
The vast majority of July and August 2015 citations, 5,000 of the 5,643 total, were on roads with a 70 mph limit, reflecting that the speed limit has been raised on most state roads formerly posted at 65 mph.
Speed limits in Wisconsin are enforced by hundreds of county and municipal law enforcement agencies. But the State Patrol, with about 350 active troopers engaged primarily in traffic safety and enforcement, is by far the largest such agency.
Fewer tickets means less revenue, which could affect a range of entities. “The revenue generated by traffic citations is not kept by the Wisconsin State Patrol,” says a state Department of Transportation website. “Rather, the revenue is distributed to various state and county agencies.”
Assuming an average citation of $200, the two-month decline of 1,399 citations would translate into a revenue loss of $279,800. But time not spent issuing speeding tickets in 70 mph zones can go to writing up other violations, such as operating while intoxicated or driving an unregistered vehicle.
In fact, the overall number of citations issued by the State Patrol rose about 1% in July from the same month the year before, to 11,796 citations. For August, though, this comparative sum was down 20%, to 9,051 citations.
State Patrol Staff Sgt. David Harvey, who provided these numbers to Isthmus, cautions that other factors besides the incidence of speeding may affect variations in enforcement.
“There is some variability in our staffing,” Harvey says, as troopers are reassigned from traffic enforcement to other duties.
A reduction in the incidence of speeding was an anticipated result of raising the limit on many of the state’s major highways.
“A 5 mph increase will not automatically result in motorists traveling 5 mph faster,” state Sen. Devin LeMahieu (R-Sheboygan), the bill’s lead Senate sponsor, told a legislative committee in February. “Any increase will be far less than that.”
But the bill’s fiscal estimate, prepared by the state Department of Transportation, deals exclusively with signage costs, and not citation revenue. The estimate puts the one-time total cost of this new signage at $238,663, less than the actual decline in speeding revenues for just the first two months under the new limit.
DOT spokeswoman Peg Schmitt says the loss of revenues from traffic citations was not reflected in the fiscal estimate “because revenue generated from traffic citations issued by the Wisconsin State Patrol are not kept by the State Patrol.” LeMahieu did not respond to an interview request.
Nick Jarmusz, a spokesman for AAA Wisconsin, which opposed the speed limit increase, says that for his group, safety was a key concern.
“Any time you have cars moving faster, it makes it more difficult for them to stop and maneuver in emergency situations,” Jarmusz says. “And if you get into a crash, it’s going to be more severe.”
Jarmusz says it’s very difficult to correlate speed limits to data on crashes and fatalities, since so many factors are in play. In some states, he notes, crashes have declined after the speed limit was increased, but it would be wrong to conclude that driving faster is safer. Without the change, he says, “it could have been a larger decrease.”
Schmitt says “we do not have corridor-specific data,” meaning she cannot check for whether accidents and fatalities are going up or down on roads in which the speed limit has been increased to 70 mph.
In July, the state recorded 39 traffic fatalities, three fewer than in July 2014 and the lowest total for this month since 1943.
In August, Wisconsin had 61 traffic fatalities, more than any other month this year. But that was still seven fewer than in August 2014.
