Some Consider US 11E In Bluff City, Tenn., A Speed Trap

BLUFF CITY, Tenn. – Brandon Nichols was driving home from an early lunch in Bluff City in November when he was pulled over for driving 60 mph in a 45 mph zone.

Nichols hired a lawyer and managed to work out a deal in which he avoided racking up any traffic violation points on his license. He had to take a driver education course and pay the $59.75 fine and court costs associated with the ticket.

But the process proved to be more difficult than Nichols thought because he had problems finding a lawyer willing to take his case.

"Most of them just laughed and acted like it was a regular thing," he said after pleading guilty to the ticket and paying the fine in traffic court on Tuesday. "One lawyer said [Bluff City] was known for being a speed trap."

Bluff City’s 3.6-mile section of U.S. Highway 11E is one of Sullivan County’s 14 speed traps, according to the National Motorists Association’s Speed Trap Exchange Web site, www.speedtrap.org.

The 12 people who have posted comments to the city’s entry on the Web site gripe about the constant police presence on this section of the highway, the sudden drop in the speed limit as the road enters the area of the Piney Flats crossroads, and the amount of money they claim the city earns from tickets each year.

City officials and police officers, however, adamantly refute the claims and say there is a reason for every ticket handed out.

A look at the number of tickets issued reveals that Bluff City’s department is writing more tickets per their stretch of the highway than the two other law enforcement agencies handling traffic patrol on 11E in Sullivan County.

TRAFFIC PATROL

Police Cpl. John Roberts was patrolling Bluff City’s section of 11E on Feb. 22 when he passed by Pardner’s Bar-B-Que and Steak Restaurant, where the speed limit drops from 55 mph to 45 mph.

"They passed me right here," Roberts said, telling the story of how he caught a driver doing 97 mph in that stretch. "Some girl in a Volkswagen said she was running out of gas. You know, going 97 isn’t the way to save on your gas mileage."

In 2000, Bluff City picked up Pardner’s and other commercial developments on 11E when it annexed a 100-foot-wide, 3.6-mile strip of the highway from a bridge over the South Fork of the Holston River to the crossroads.

Roberts and the city’s nine other officers work in two-officer, 12-hour shifts. One officer is responsible for 11E and the other covers the rest of the city.

They issued 306 speeding tickets on 11E between July 1, the start of the fiscal year, and Jan. 31. That’s more than a third of the total 848 tickets issued city-wide during the time period.

Bristol Tennessee’s 40 officers rotate through a schedule of eight-man shifts that also last 12 hours. They patrol a 10.9-mile section of 11E – almost three times the length of Bluff City’s stretch – that runs from State Street to the Holston bridge.

They issued a total of 1,390 speeding tickets between July 1 and Jan. 31. Roughly half of them – or 626 tickets – were to drivers on 11E, called the Volunteer Parkway.

Johnson City’s 149 sworn police officers – who work patrol shifts that vary in size each day – have issued just 17 speeding tickets on their 2.5 miles of 11E in Sullivan County, which runs south from the crossroads to the county line. The department issued a total of 7,663 speeding tickets between July 1 and Jan. 31.

On Feb. 22, Roberts continued watching his radar gun after he parked the patrol car in 11E’s median, just past the point where the speed limit drops. Two signs with orange flags signaling the change in speed limit are posted about 100 feet before the first 45 mph sign and make it almost as visible as Robert’s patrol car.

"Unless you’re hiding and have sudden signs it’s not a speed trap," Roberts said, denying allegations that he and his fellow officers are doing anything sneaky. "A lot of people say that because they don’t want to get a ticket."

SAFETY CONCERNS

Roberts moved his car to another position in a shopping center parking lot and clocked the driver of a red Mitsubishi Lancer who passed him doing 67 mph in a 55 zone.

Normally, city police don’t pull someone over unless they’re traveling 15 mph above the speed limit, he said. But Roberts decided to make an exception because the car was weaving through rush-hour traffic and tailgating a white van.

"If that van slowed down, he would have wrecked," Roberts said after giving the Lancer’s driver a verbal warning and asking him to slow down. "There’s so many cars that come through this little area."

In fact, the two ends of Bluff City’s portion of 11E rank among Sullivan County’s 10 busiest intersections, according to the Tennessee Department of Transportation. An average of 25,590 vehicles cross the Holston bridge each day while 22,660 cars and trucks make their way through the stoplight at 11E and Piney Flats Road.

Bluff City Police Chief David Nelson said a high number of wrecks comes with the heavy traffic, which is why he has at least one officer patrolling 11E 24/7.

The highway’s intersections with U.S. Highway 19E, Allison Road, Industrial Park Road and at the Tri-Cities Flea Market were the sites of 27 wrecks in 2007, compared to 21 crashes in 2006.

The intersections at Allison and Industrial Park roads – both of which are in the 45 mph zone – saw an increase from nine accidents in 2006 to 15 in 2007.

"Everybody speeds, but when you’re driving in a reckless manner, it’s time [for police to step in]," Nelson said. "I’d rather talk to you about a speeding ticket than talk to you about the death of a loved one."

The Bluff City Police Department received a $63,000 grant from the Governor’s Highway Safety Office last year because of the city’s high number of wrecks. Nelson said he used the money – which ran out Sept. 31 – to purchase equipment and increase overtime pay so his officers could increase their visibility on the highway.

"We’ve got someone on 11E visible most of the time," he said. "We have not had a fatality in almost a year-and-a-half, so we must be doing something right."

TICKET MONEY

Because a locality’s size determines how much it can charge for a speeding ticket, Bluff City earns more money when one of its officers catches someone fishing off the pier in Bluff City Park than when they catch someone speeding.

The total bill for a Bluff City speeding ticket is $59.75 for drivers doing up to 15 mph above the speed limit, $69.75 for 16 to 24 mph over the limit, and $79.75 for 25 mph or more over the limit.

Each of these ticket prices includes a $13.75 litigation tax that goes straight to the state and drops the city’s take.

Bluff City charges people caught fishing off the city’s boardwalk, bridges and railroad trestles a $75 fine and court costs, all of which goes to city coffers.

Bristol charges three times as much for its speeding tickets. A ticket for traveling up to 15 mph over the limit carries a price tag of $164.50 in fines and court costs, while a ticket for doing 25 mph or more over the limit costs drivers $204.50. The prices include a $30.50 litigation tax.

Bristol Finance Director Tara Musick said the city has used the large fines to collect $116,000 from its traffic citations so far this fiscal year. She estimated it was enough money to buy at least six new patrol cars.

Bluff City, however, has only brought in $39,294.94 from traffic citations so far this fiscal year. City Recorder Judy Dulaney said it would be enough to pay the salary and benefits for to a police corporal like Roberts.

Dulaney said she always thought speed traps were supposed to generate a phenomenal amount of revenue.

"I don’t see how you could call [the city] a speed trap," she said.

gmclean@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2518