POLICE REMIND DRIVERS TO WATCH THEIR SPEED ON 290
Brenham Police Chief Craig Goodman says Washington County residents and people traveling through Brenham need to continue watching their speed on US Highway 290.
Chief Goodman says the Brenham Police Department continues its patrol of certain segments of US 290, using off-duty officers who are paid through a grant from the Texas Department of Transportation. Goodman says the officers are writing tickets for speeding violations over the posted speed limit as drivers come into town. He says, “That’s a cause for concern along any stretch of a highway, but when you consider that many drivers are exiting off the highway into heavily trafficked areas at the US 290 and State Highway 36 intersections, it can be a recipe for disaster.”
Brenham police have been participating in TXDot’s Selective Traffic Enforcement Program since October 1st of last year. The grant period ends September 30th of this year, but Goodman is hopeful the Department’s application for additional grant funding will be approved. Goodman says, “We really believe this program allows us to help prevent accidents by ensuring motorists coming through our town are driving the speed limit. We want everyone to get where they’re going safely.”
My personal opinion is that TXDot should either raise the speed limit back up to 70 mph except near the cloverleaf…because that’s the speed or higher that the out of town people drive…or they need to really enforce it. I’m tired of people riding my bumper because I’m driving 65 on the loop. It always makes me smile when they miss their exit to Austin.
You must not drive for a living and you definitely don’t recognize a speed trap. These small towns are padding their pockets with money made from tickets. The officer sitting next to Walmart on the feeder road IS a speed trap.
When Brenham needs more revenue, the city council puts in a stop sign where none existed for 60 years or more. Then the BPD places a unit half a block away in tree shadows to collect more cash. No I did not get a ticket, I know a scam when I see it.
So we get the state to pay off duty officers to write tickets which are then paid to the city? What a great revenue stream for the city! I appreciate the chief discussing safety but most of the exits are far enough away from the intersection for traffic to slow down. This just further confirms my long held belief that most traffic tickets have very little to do with safety and are much more about the revenue they generate.
You got a ticket, didn’t you…..
Nope, I know where they hang out and watch my speed, but I have watched this racket go on for years. If you want an education, go find out just how much money the municipal court and JP courts make. It is a lot in some cases. There are some cities that pay for a huge part of their police dept. just based upon the fines they generate In a city near this area that has a major university (you can guess where, GIG EM!) it is well known that any time that city has a major capital project, the amount of tickets written goes up a lot. Remember when some cities went so far as to install red light cameras, accident rates never changed and behaviors did not change, but what did change were revenues coming into the city bank accounts. Government long ago learned that in additional to taxes, the court system can be a huge revenue source. It is time for citizens to stand up and call it out and demand something be done about it. If they really cared about safety, they would force all traffic offenders into defensive driving instead of giving fines.
Sorry for the late reply.
I don’t realy agree with your oppinion, nor do I understand your thought process. You are more or less saying that the police should not write tickets to speeders any more? Instead, they should advise them to take a defense driving course?
I feel that the city of Brenham should rais the price on there tickets. There are plenty of 65MPH signs on HWY290 and these people still decide to drive 75-80MPH. They deserve to be ticketed, they deserve the fine and they deserve to have it on there driving record.
My point is simple, the often touted reason for traffic tickets is that they are trying to make the roads safer for everyone. If that is the case why not invest in making drivers safer instead of simply creating additional revenue for the various governmental entities. However, to do this would mean giving up on a HUGE source of revenue for the city, county, and state. Lets face it, 290 through most of Brenham is designed for higher speeds than 65 regardless of how many signs they post, there long well marked exits & wide open roads. As another poster stated, the only area where slower speeds are needed is round the very poorly designed clover leaf. Also, as another poster stated, the officer sitting near Walmart (and Germania on the other side) are nothing more than classic speed traps. Speed traps really are all about the revenue.