Truckers List Worst Speed Traps

Truckers know speed traps better than anybody and they have ranked Bella Vista as the worst one in Northwest Arkansas.

Using a web site at www.speedtrap.com, truckers report common speedtraps to other truckers over the Internet. Bella Vista has been reported five times.

“They are using airplanes, a Ford Ranger pickup with radar, a motor home with radar and unmarked cars,” one trucker wrote.

Johnson ranked a close second with four reports. Some truckers recommended that their cohorts drive under the speed limit.

“This town gets my vote for being the absolute worst speed trap in Arkansas,” one trucker wrote. “This cop makes more money for the town of Johnson than Tiger Woods makes for himself.”

Dean Melton, the police chief in Johnson, responded to the charges with an entry of his own on the web site.

“I have a different opinion of this city,” Melton wrote. “As the police chief of this city, I will give one hundred dollars to anyone that has received a speeding ticket in this city for less than ten miles per hour over the posted speed limit. To collect, merely bring in a copy of your citation for verification and I will PERSONALLY hand you a $100 bill, if the citation was received in the last three years under my watch.”

Melton says he heard about the web site and found it on the Internet. He calls the charges against his city unfair. His police department has three full-time officers who issued 130 tickets last month, a typical amount for a town the size of Johnson, he says.

“One of the things I’ve tried to change is that image,” Mieton says. “It’s absolutely impossible.”

Other cities mentioned more than once in the web site were Elm Springs, Lowell, Rogers and West Fork.