Pantego, Dalworthington Gardens mayors wish you’d stop calling their towns ‘speed traps’

From KERA News:

For both new transplants and first-time drivers in North Texas, one piece of advice has lingered for decades: don’t speed in Pantego or Dalworthington Gardens.

The warning was one of the first Jill Weaver received when she moved to Texas 17 years ago. Weaver, who lives near Dalworthington Gardens, sets her cruise control to 39 miles per hour when she drives Bowen Road – a mile under the speed limit, with some room in case her speedometer reading is incorrect.

“People will get frustrated behind me, I can see in my rearview mirror, and they’ll go around me,” Weaver said. “Just a few blocks down the road, they’re pulled over.”

As her child learns how to drive, she’s imparting the same lesson on him.

“I’m not paying that ticket, and I definitely don’t want my insurance to go up any more than it did with having a teenage boy driving,” she said.

The two towns, nestled next to each other within Arlington city limits, have earned the label “speed trap” by people wary of increased traffic enforcement from both towns. City leaders have refuted the characterization as far back as 1959, in a front-page story in the now-defunct newspaper Arlington Citizen.

City officials to this day continue to denounce the label. Mayors of both towns say their communities are simply safer thanks to increased law enforcement.

Dalworthington Gardens police issued 4,249 moving and non-moving traffic citations between Jan. 1, 2023, and Aug. 1, 2024, according to town public safety department data. During the same timeframe, police recorded 1,746 speeding violations.

Mayor Laurie Bianco said the city supports its police and law enforcement efforts, especially along Bowen Road, Pleasant Ridge Road and Pioneer Parkway.

“People don’t come to our city to commit crimes because they know better,” she said. “We are law enforcers, and the minute you start fudging or minimizing laws is the minute that you’re starting to invite riff raff that you don’t want in your city to come in.”

The town of Pantego issued 3,208 traffic citations between Jan. 1, 2023 and Aug. 13, 2024, according to statistics obtained via records request.

Mayor Russ Brewster said the town has a couple of spots where people could get in trouble: a long school zone across Bowen Road, as well as the hill in Arlington that leads into Pantego.

“I’d like to say they don’t really think about it when they’re going down a hill, they pick up speed,” Brewster said. “They don’t think, ‘Oh, I need to hit those breaks and slow down a little bit because I see the speed limit sign,’ but they just seem to coast right through that.”

State law prohibits law enforcement agencies from observing ticket quotas — that is, requirements for officers to issue a certain number of citations in order to generate revenue. However, Texas law neither defines nor outlaws increased enforcement practices broadly associated with speed traps, according to Drive Safe Online.

When he arrives at the hill along Park Row Drive, Rob Arndt slows down to 30 miles per hour, sets his car on cruise control and stays vigilant through the area. The drive can cause anxiety, though he said the area is not monitored as much as it once was.

“I do love the fact that they don’t just not care at all, but when you’re worried about going 1 mile an hour over the speed limit because you’re going to get pulled over, you get a ticket for it? To me, that’s a little excessive,” he said.

Forrest Nelson travels through Pantego nearly every day. While he’s been ticketed before for speeding, he said police are doing what they can to enforce the law.

“I think it’s urban legend and, quite frankly, not a bad urban legend to have if it keeps the crime out of your town,” he said.

Towns want to move past label

Brewster said he doesn’t feel like his town is a speed trap and would like to see the reputation disappear.

“We’ve had that reputation and we’re trying to send that to the wayside. I don’t know if we ever will, but that’s what we’re looking at,” he said.

Instead, Brewster said the town would like to be known for its unique restaurants and shopping areas. City officials and business owners have focused recently on pedestrian walkability, especially along the main drag on Park Row Drive.

“A lot of the landowners and property owners are fixing up their locations – redoing this, redoing that – so we can be more of a walkable space … we’re not a destination town, but we’d like to be a unique little town for folks to visit and have a good time,” he said.

Bianco said Dalworthington Gardens has prioritized its economic development and prioritized attracting retail and restaurants, especially along Bowen Road.

“We’re trying to establish ourselves as a destination city,” she said. “For many years, we were looked at as a bedroom community, but we are moving forward.”

Bianco said the city is looking to set itself apart – but not through stringent traffic enforcement.

“We’re simply protecting our citizens, and we have laws for a reason. If people don’t follow them, then our society becomes chaotic. And that’s not something that’s going to happen under my watch,” Bianco said.

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