Skip to content

Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024

Fact brief: Are ‘speed traps’ defined in Texas law?

Drew Shaw, Fort Worth Report
no

Texas law doesn’t define or outlaw “speed traps,” a term generally describing a part of road, often near a change in speed limit, regularly policed by officers or devices trying to catch speeders.

However, Texas bans citations based on images captured by cameras installed at traffic signals. Cities are also prohibited from maintaining informal or formal quotas that encourage officers to issue a target number of citations.

Cities with populations fewer than 5,000 can have up to 30% of their annual tax revenue come from traffic citations. Any funds exceeding the limit are sent to the Texas comptroller.

See a full discussion of this at Fort Worth Report

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

About fact briefs

Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.

See all fact briefs

The Fort Worth Report is a 501(c)(3) organization that launched April 12, 2021. This new media outlet is built on a foundation of local leadership and local investment. It provides community-sourced journalism that exclusively supports and reports on the Fort Worth community with fact-based, thoughtful and contextual coverage without bias or predetermined agendas. The enterprise is governed by a mission statement, bylaws, and an organizational structure that ensures it remains faithful to these foundational principles.

Learn More

Latest Fact Briefs

Be a Friend of facts

Help us fund more great fact briefs like this one.