Your glove box won't close because of all those speeding tickets?
If you sport North Dakota plates on your ride, chances are good that you've been pulled over at least once for topping the speed limit.
According to the website driverside.com, North Dakota ranked fourth among the 50 states and District of Columbia last year in the number of speeding tickets issued per capita.
The nation's capital ranked first, followed by Wyoming, Vermont and North Dakota.
Minnesota didn't make the top 10, which may come as a surprise to frequent travelers on area Minnesota highways.
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"Things must have really picked up since the high plains drifter made his way through these parts," driverside.com said. "North Dakota boasts a population of around 634,366, and the state's law enforcement has been happy to hand out 45,510 tickets" in 2009. "That number marks 7.2 percent of the state's population, or just shy of the capital of Bismarck's population."
(Well, Bismarck actually claimed a population of 55,532 in 2000, and a 2008 estimate of the metro population of Bismarck and its environs reached almost to 105,000.)
U.S. News & World Report reproduced the list of the top 10 speeding states and offered some analysis:
"Because they count speeders by the number of speeding tickets issued, we think it's more like the 10 states with the busiest traffic police. ... Maybe these are just the top 10 states where speeders are likely to get caught."
Sgt. Aaron Hummel of the North Dakota State Patrol said one factor in the state's high ranking could be that "it's easier to write a ticket here. The enforcement end of it is a little easier, in a rural area where you're picking a car out of three or four and not a hundred."
State-by-state numbers -- and a look at each state's highway patrol cruiser (Maryland's is by far the scariest!) -- can be found at http://tinyurl.com/2dgcqsf .
Reach Haga at (701) 780-1102; (800) 477-6572, ext. 102; or send e-mail to chaga@gfherald.com .
Reach Haga at (701) 780-1102; (800) 477-6572, ext. 102; or send e-mail to chaga@gfherald.com .
