Benton County Eyes New Traffic Law

BENTONVILLE -- The Benton County Sheriff's Office is asking for a county ordinance that will allow deputies to write tickets for a list of traffic offenses that are now regulated by state law.

Chief Deputy Rob Holly briefed the county's justices of the peace about the proposed ordinance at an Aug. 11 meeting of the county's Legislative Committee. The committee voted to send the proposal on for discussion at the Sept. 9 meeting of the Committee of the Whole.

At A Glance

Possible Ordinance

The traffic offenses in the draft Benton County ordinance listed include: making improper or dangerous lane changes; cutting across private property to avoid an intersection, stop signs or stop lights; skidding, spinning or sliding tires or sliding of the vehicle; failure to keep the vehicle under control; failure to property and adequately signal for a turn, stop or lane change; driving across freshly painted road marking when they are marked by flags or cones or driving through barricades placed by the county or a public utility; speeding; allowing a person or animal to occupy the driver’s seating area with the driver while the vehicle is in motion so as to obscure the driver’s vision or interfere with the safe operation of the vehicle; failure to keep a proper lookout for other vehicles or pedestrians; and operating a vehicle in excess of the posted speed limit in school zones when yellow flashing lights are present and operational.

Source: Benton County

"There are two reasons for this," Holly said. "First, is to give the deputies working patrol another tool in the tool bag. With this local ordinance they will have the discretion to write a violation under the county ordinance that doesn't go on their (driver's) records. Second, if they do write tickets under this ordinance it's something the county can get the revenue from."

Susan Anglin, justice of the peace for District 9, voiced concerns about the idea of a local ordinance at the meeting. Anglin said she doesn't want deputies spending time looking for opportunities to write traffic tickets.

"I am totally opposed to this,"she said. "The time for our deputes could be better used out in the county. These small cities and towns, they're sometimes just looking for people to stop and give them a ticket. That is the intent that I feel about this."

George Spence, county attorney, has drafted an ordinance based on one adopted by Rogers. The ordinance includes 10 separate offenses under the category of careless and prohibited driving. The draft ordinance sets fines of up to $250 for each offense of the ordinance. State law carries a fine of up to $100 for each violation.

The Sheriff's Office is researching similar ordinances to try to estimate how much difference the ordinance could make in bringing money to the county, Holly said.

Ben Lipscomb, Rogers city attorney, said the city's use of a similar ordinance hasn't resulted in any significant revenue. He said money from court fines is divided among a variety of different state and local agencies and programs, depending on the violation. The local ordinance does have other uses, though, Lipscomb said.

"They use it extensively," Lipscomb said of the Rogers Police Department. "I also use it when I feel like it's merited. It can be a useful tool in plea bargaining. I can tell people if you'll plead guilty I'll amend the charge to a violation of the local ordinance. That can save the defendant a little money and if they plead guilty it speeds up the process."

The local ordinance provides police and prosecutors with some extra flexibility, Lipscomb said.

"Every case is a little bit different and every defendant is a little bit different," he said. "If you've got someone whose record is clean, if it's a first offense, you're more likely to give them a break and write them a ticket under the local ordinance. It's not a revenue thing for the city. The revenue from district court isn't a drop in the bucket for the city budget, but it may be a way to get people's attention, maybe get them to obey the traffic laws, which is what we want."

The Sheriff's Office doesn't have a "traffic division" as such, and deputies won't be told the write more tickets if the local ordinance is adopted, Holly said.

"We're not going to do anything to promote the writing of tickets," Holly said. "We don't have a quota for our officers, they're illegal anyway. This allows our deputies to give people a break. To give them a slap on the wrist rather than write them up under the state statute."

If the ordinance is adopted, the Sheriff's Office will monitor its use, Holly said. Holly doesn't expect to see any real difference in the number of tickets issued.

"When we do that comparison there will be no significant increase or decrease in the number of tickets we write," he said.

The question of having the county or the state receive the money from the fines was a small consideration, but it is something the Sheriff's Office looked at, Holly said.

"The state, for at least the last 15 years, has not increased the money they pay the county for holding state prisoners from $28 a day," Holly said. "So if we write a citation why shouldn't some of the money stay here?"

NW News on 08/18/2014

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