8 Jan 2013
The numbers for 2012 are in, and they show a disturbing rise in traffic fatalities in Austin. The Austin Police Department reports that 80 people died in accidents last year, up from 54 in 2011. The increase, almost 50%, included three deaths in the final few days of 2012, two of them on New Year’s Eve. There were no indications in the report we read of how many of the fatalities involved allegedly intoxicated drivers.
At the same time, it appears that the issuance of traffic citations in the city was way down in fiscal 2012. To give you an idea of the significant drop in tickets, the number last year was about 133,000; compare that to just a few years earlier in 2009, when close to 265,000 traffic tickets were issued. This is a reduction of almost 50% during that period. Austin is not alone in this category. Indeed, all but one of the largest cities in Texas have experienced similar results in traffic cases.
A number of possible causes are believed to have contributed to the overall reduction in citations. Probably the most cited is the fact that officers have little time to issue traffic summonses since they must concentrate on more serious offenses. Others point to a decrease in available funds, although a United States DOT grant of $850,000 which began in 2008 and which was not received in 2010, was reinstated the following year and is specifically earmarked for overtime for traffic enforcement by police officers. Still others say that the expansion of the city’s boundaries have stretched the traffic enforcement capabilities of the Department. Finally, the Austin Police Association says that officers are sometimes reluctant to issue citations for fear that their conduct may result in complaints and increased scrutiny by their superiors.
Whatever the reason for the decline, APD Chief Art Acevedo reportedly sent an email to the entire APD in December specifically instructing officers to issue more traffic tickets. For those of us who deal with these issues on a daily basis, this is reminiscent of quota systems which require officers to issue at least a certain number of tickets over a particular period of time. In these cases, the question always arises whether the ticket you received was justly issued, or was the result of an officer being placed between a rock and a hard place – did you violate the traffic laws, or was your ticket prompted by the officer’s fear of reprisal within the Department if his numbers are deemed insufficient? Time will tell how the officers respond to the recent directive.
Law Office of David D. White, PLLC
1205 Rio Grande Street
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 369-3737