I was traveling north through Mt. Enterprise. I was in a vehicle with out of state plates, ‘stuff’ in the back, luggage ect. and looked like the perfect patsy, someone who would just pay up rather than fight. It was April 28, 2010. However, I have a GPS which gives me the speed limits whereever I am and alerts me if I’m going too fast. I obey the speed laws to the letter. I have only had one ticket in 39 years of driving experience and one fender bender accident. This officer fell in behind me and followed me to the four way stop, the only one in town. This stop has both a flashing red light and a stop sign. When I pulled up to the intersection, there was a semi in front of me. The officer, David Collins turned on his lights while I was at the intersection, sandwitched between him and the semi truck. When I saw the lights, I proceeded through the intersection and pulled over into a gas station parking lot. He then proceeded to tell me that I had ran the ‘red light’ and wrote me a ticket, the fine of which was $165. He already had the ticket filled out and was gone in less than five minutes.
This little city is the second most lucrative traffic trap in the State of Texas. If I had been speeding, I would pay the fine and move on, but I did nothing wrong. He turned his lights on me before the ‘offense’ occurred. This is one dishonest operation. If you don’t speed through their town, they will pull you over anyway and give you a ticket for running their only red light/four way stop. I’m a 57 year old grandma….only one ticket in my entire life, only one minor accident 20 years ago.