Youngstown cops out 2 days this week on speeding citation duty

By David Skolnick | October 10, 2015 at 12:03a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

City officers on vehicular-speeding duty were out only two days this week, and the number of citations reflects that.

Only 166 citations were issued with officers out on speed duty Tuesday and Friday, said Lt. William Ross.

Ross is head of the city police department’s traffic unit, which operates the speed-gun program.

The week prior, officers were out for three days and issued 384 speeding citations. Before that, Sept. 19 to 25, 518 citations were issued, and 570 were handed out between Sept. 12 and 18.

Optotraffic is the Maryland company that processes and mails the citations for a 35 percent fee.

Enforcement with handheld speed guns began Aug. 18.

As of Friday, there were 3,172 citations issued, though 158 were warnings given between July 15 and Aug. 17 before enforcement began.

That is much more than the 960 speeding tickets issued by city officers last year, and the 1,050 given in 2013.

Using the speed guns, officers point them at vehicles, and civil fee-citations are given rather than police stopping speeders and giving moving-violation tickets with a fine and points on their driving records.

Speeders face the following civil penalties: $100 for those driving up to 13 mph over the speed limit, $125 for 14 to 19 mph over the limit, and $150 for at least 20 mph over the limit.

Hearings from those appealing citations will start next month, Ross said.