EASTVILLE, Va. — It’s no secret that if you speed out on the Eastern Shore, there’s a good chance you may get a ticket.
Investigative Reporter Margaret Kavanagh got a ticket for speeding on State Route 13 and started asking questions about how many tickets are written and how much money is being generated.
The News 3 Investigative Team uncovered that the town of Eastville is writing a lot more tickets than many other cities.
Jen Henley is originally from Pennsylvania and moved to Virginia for college more than two decades ago. She has made many trips through the Eastern Shore over the years.
“I have definitely done that trip well over 100 times, easy,” Henley said.
Henley said she learned her lesson after getting pulled over once.
“Now I know where the police sit everywhere on Route 13 and I set my cruise control accordingly,” Henley said.
That’s good advice, because there are a lot of tickets being written on the Eastern Shore.
Norfolk resident Nicole Sanders is originally from New Jersey and has made the trip from Virginia to New Jersey countless times and said she received several tickets on the Eastern Shore.
“I’m tired of giving Virginia money for speeding tickets," Sanders said.
Sanders said dealing with the speed traps is part of the reason she limits her trips back to New Jersey.
Jay Beeber is the National Motorist Association Director of Policy and Research.
According to the association's website, the group opposes the use of enforcement tactics that are intended to generate revenue from technical violations of under-posted speed limits.
When asked about the Eastern Shore, he said, “Absolutely, this is policing for profit. There’s no question about it.”
But law enforcement on the Eastern Shore adamantly denies that.
Eastville Police Chief Rob Stubbs is also the Town Administrator. He did not want to be interviewed on camera but provided a lot of information to the News 3 Investigative Team.
“The critics that say ‘policing for profit,’ do not have any understanding of the Virginia Law or how Virginia has decided to help fund Law Enforcement," Stubbs said in a statement to News 3. "Many large departments fund positions with local safety enforcement fines just like small towns do."
"That is following the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Town of Eastville Police Department only stops vehicles that are breaking the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, as a matter of fact we are only stopping vehicles that are breaking those laws by a wide margin.”
You can view the full statement by clicking the link below:
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Eastville Police Chief & Town Administrator Rob Stubbs statement on tickets
Exmore Police Chief Angelo Dimartino said traffic enforcement is needed due to excessive speed on Route 13. He said his department is trying to make the community safer and prevent deaths.
“When we have officers out enforcing safety enforcement for traffic, our crash numbers go down,” Dimartino said.
He said his agency has no interest in the fines and outlined how there are plenty of other tax revenues coming into the town with businesses and hotels.
“The police officers are paid a fixed salary and it does not change based on the amount of tickets they write," he said. "Pay increases are based on yearly cost of living increases set by the town council and the increases apply to all Town of Exmore employees.”
In Exmore, there are sections of the road where the speed limit drops from 55 miles per hour to 45 miles per hour, but Dimartino said there are very large signs posted that indicate the change.
The Community Policing Act Data Collection, a state government website that tracks stops made by law enforcement and if a citation was given out, does not track the total number of citations handed out by law enforcement. It does track if a citation was written during a stop, but does not indicate how many citations might have been issued at one time.
The News 3 Investigative Team looked at data gathered from July 1, 2022, until Nov. 22, 2023.
With a population of about half a million, the Virginia Beach Police had 33,829 traffic violation stops during this time. In 29,134 of those cases, at least one citation was written, and 15,582 warnings were given out, according to the website.
Meanwhile, in the town of Eastville with a population of about 350 people, the Eastville Police Department had 20,104 traffic stops, 19,928 citations given out, and 161 warnings issued.
According to the state data, some agencies give out far more warnings to drivers, like Chesapeake with 15,188 and just 4,159 citations.
State data shows on the Eastern Shore, there is a high percentage of people getting speeding citations who live out of state.
“Certainly, this sounds incredibly unethical, in terms of creating an entire industry around writing traffic tickets to people that are just traveling past your city,” Beeber said.
Stubbs said his department only stops drivers going 70 miles per hour or more when the speed limit in his town is 55 miles an hour.
He says the need for speed enforcement is strong, as many drivers passing through are traveling at extremely high rates. He said this puts citizens, drivers, and the entire public in danger.
“To be fair, there is a problem with speeding on Route 13 and there does need to be something done on it,” Stuart Oliver, an Eastville resident, said.
Oliver agrees there’s a speeding problem but says he doesn’t agree with how the town is run. He said the constant enforcement is excessive, and he has concerns with the amount of money generated through tickets.
“They sit out there and harvest the tourists,” Oliver said.
The town of Eastville reported in 2022 that the revenue from uniform traffic summons generated $1.3 million.
They reported in 2021 that the revenue from uniform traffic summons generated $1.2 million.
And so far, between Jan. and Sept. 2023, the town of Eastville generated $1.1 million.
The Eastville Police Chief provided the salaries along with overtime for his department, which is made up of six full-time officers and two part-time.
“They sit on Route 13 at high peak times and harvest southbound traffic going to the beaches and returning," Oliver said. "They do it for revenue enhancement."
He continued, "It’s for money. I don’t understand how that contributes to the safety or welfare of a community. It’s just a money-making gig."
Stubbs said the money generated from tickets helps keep taxes lower for Eastville residents.
“The town of Eastville uses the safety enforcement fines that are collected to pay for its Police Department and associated costs to the Town," Stubbs said in a statement to News 3. "The Citizens of the Town of Eastville benefit by having its own Police Department to serve its citizens without the cost of higher taxes.”
The statement later went on to say, “The Commonwealth of Virginia provides State funding to the Northampton County Sheriff’s Office and the Virginia State Police to provide coverage and the Town of Eastville provides coverage without any State funds only local Town of Eastville funding.”
You can read another full statement provided by Stubbs on traffic enforcement by clicking the link below:
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Eastville Police Chief & Town Administrator Rob Stubbs statement
Beeber said he has concerns about the high number of out-of-state drivers getting tickets and said it’s unfair to the people.
“Unfortunately, the laws, especially in Virginia, I think are a little too loose to prevent cities from taking advantage of, primarily, out-of-towners who travel through their town on a major highway,” Beeber said.
But experts say speed kills.
According to the DMV, on State Route 13, alone, in Northampton County, there were 531 crashes and nine people killed since 2020.
Virginia Attorney Sharri Mapp-Jones grew up on the Eastern Shore and practices law throughout the region.
“Growing up on the Eastern Shore, I’ve seen a lot of very serious accidents," Mapp-Jones said. "I can name multiple people that have passed away because of an accident at an intersection."
She said she sends out about 600 letters per week to mostly out-of-state drivers who get speeding tickets, and at times, she’ll represent them in court.
“I hear it all the time," she said. "Virginia has some of the strictest laws for reckless driving in the country."
Dimartino said the main goal is to keep fatalities and serious crashes to a minimum.
He said high speeds are a constant problem throughout his city. He showed us recent recordings of a car going 99 miles an hour at 3:30 p.m. on a Sunday.
Mapp-Jones said she too has represented several drivers who were going in the 90s, or even over 100 miles an hour.
“If you look to your left and there’s a vehicle coming, and you think it’s doing 45 and you pull out and it’s running 100 miles an hour, it’s a serious crash,” Dimartino said.
“Definitely pay attention to what the speed limit is because if you’re coming up to a small town, the speed limit is going to decrease,” Mapp-Jones said.
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The Eastville Chief suggested that “if citizens are angered by the Police doing the job of enforcing the Laws of the Commonwealth they take it up with the legislature that sets these laws. The town of Eastville is doing our part for our citizens and the citizens of the Commonwealth in enforcing the laws in a reasonable manner to ensure the highways are safe as possible.”
“The first and last impression of anyone leaving this town is that they got a ticket in Eastville," Oliver said. "That’s their first and last impression, is that they’ve been preyed upon by speed traps."
With permission from a judge, drivers may be eligible to take a driver improvement program to get the case dismissed. To be eligible for the program, you can't have a commercial license and you can't have taken the program within the last three years.
A reckless driving ticket is given when you are going 20 miles an hour over the speed limit. It's a Class 1 misdemeanor with a maximum fine of $2,500.
