State patrol: Illinoisans merit traffic tickets more often

[undeterred]

No one likes to see the red and blue lights flashing in their rearview mirror. While law enforcement officials acknowledge there's a certain amount of subjectivity to their ticketing, they insist they're not out to get anyone.

Many drivers, however, disagree. Elaine Graf of Aurora, Ill., said she was pulled over and ticketed on I-94 last August for driving 11 miles over the speed limit. While she admits she was speeding, Graf said all the other drivers around her were too. She thinks her Illinois plates might have made her stick out. "I wasn't going 11 miles over the speed limit all by myself," she said.

Price, with the State Patrol, said out-of-state drivers might have a higher proportion of tickets than warnings because they are used to driving a certain way in their own state and enforcement varies from state-to-state.

Public Investigator found that about 60% of Illinois drivers received tickets instead of warnings in 2008, compared with about 40% of Wisconsin drivers who were cited.As it turns out, Illinois drivers seem to be going faster than Wisconsin drivers. About 20% of Illinois drivers who were ticketed were driving at least 21 mph over the speed limit, compared with about 8% of Wisconsin drivers who were ticketed for driving those extreme speeds.

Wisconsin drivers also might be conditioned not to speed. Price said that Wisconsin has much higher fines than many other states, which out-of-towners might not expect. Wisconsinites, however, might already know fines are steep and slow down accordingly.

Erica Gunther, of Cullom, Ill., said she was stunned when she received a ticket last June for at least $250. Gunther said she was driving only about 8 mph over the speed limit, but a State Patrol trooper recorded her driving 12 mph over the limit in a 65-mph zone. Gunther said she wouldn't have gotten pulled over in Illinois for going that fast, but had she known Wisconsin troopers were so strict, she would have taken precautions. "I would have at least set the cruise control," she said.

Price said Wisconsinites might also be extra cautious about speeding because they don't want to rack up points against their license. Out-of-state drivers don't necessarily have to worry about losing points in their home state if they get a ticket in Wisconsin because the points don't transfer over.

He dismissed the idea that troopers would pull over an out-of-state driver just for being an outsider. "We don't know we are stopping an Illinois driver until we stop them or pull up behind them to stop them," he said.

And what about the ladies?

While it's true that more men are stopped overall - they have nearly double the amount of warnings and citations compared with women - the sexes both got off with just warnings 57% of the time.

Cassandra Amdahl, a 20-year-old student at UW-Milwaukee, said her friends who are guys wouldn't buy the statistics. Amdahl said she's been pulled over at least 15 times and has gotten only three tickets. "I don't know why they seem to let me go so much," she said.

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