Speeding in Brandon: Fact or fiction?

One of the first pieces of advice offered to new residents or visitors to the city is, “Don’t speed in Brandon.”

Fact is, there’s truth behind the advice.

“Having the reputation of ‘Don’t speed in Brandon’ is not a bad reputation to have,” Police Chief Dave Kull said. “It’s a reputation that was established long before I came here, and when I hear it, I kind of like it. We still take it seriously and have fewer accidents because of it, I believe, and we have people that are abiding by the traffic regulations.” 

With SD Highway 11 running through the city, Kull said traffic could be monitored here more than in other communities. Along Splitrock Boulevard (Hwy. 11), Kull said most residents are good about maintaining their speed. “Where we do run into issues is people from out of town, out of state,” he said. “I think the signs that we put out on the edge of town kind of send a glaring, concise message that we really want you to drive the speed limit.”

Kull encourages officers to make contact if drivers are exceeding the speed limit. 

“It’s not a deal where people are being stopped for one, two or three miles over the speed limit, but they may be stopped at speeds less over the speed limit here than what they would be stopped if they were traveling in another community,” he said. 

There are no set guidelines, he adds. Weather and traffic conditions, pedestrian traffic and time of day can all factor into whether the officer issues a citation or a warning.

“If you’re driving down Minnesota Avenue (in Sioux Falls), how much of that traffic is going 30 mph? If you’re going down Holly (Boulevard in Brandon), how much of that traffic is going 30 mph? A large percentage of it, and that’s kind of what we like; that becomes the norm,” he said.

Kull said a citation isn’t always necessary. Warning tickets, he added, can sometimes be enough to remind the driver of their responsibility to adhere to the speed limit.

Visibility is one avenue Brandon Police use to squelch speeding. Kull said officers patrolling the streets, monitoring traffic and signage at various entry points into the city are all part of that visibility. 

“We’ve got a new sign out on Holly as you’re going westbound, just before you get to the apartments, and it says, ‘Be prepared to stop.’ Because of the accidents that we’ve had at Sandstone (Avenue) when traffic backs up, we put up a sign out there with flashing lights on it built into the sign,” he said.

Kull said the signage has helped to decrease speed-related traffic accidents in that area.

“Most of the accidents we have out there are road conditions and over-driving road conditions that aren’t related to Sandstone or Heritage,” he said.

Unless otherwise posted, Kull said the standard speed limit on city streets is 25 mph.

“Even our side streets are marked with 25 mph, that’s the standard speed limit unless otherwise marked in most communities. You can almost say the blanket speed in Brandon is 25 mph unless otherwise posted,” he said.

As perceived by the public, Kull said Brandon Police do not have monthly quotas for citations. 

“They can write as many tickets at they want,” he said. “We monitor it to some degree because we want them to be out there, be visible, respond to calls, do their traffic enforcement work, but I have never, nor will I ever say in order to be a good police officer you have to write this many tickets. Some departments will have that, other departments they might say, ‘Well, here’s our averages,’ and as long as you fall within this zone, you’re OK. Quite frankly, I’d be happy to send these guys out with radars and say, ‘Go out there and write as many tickets as you can’ and for them to say, ‘We didn’t catch anybody because everybody was going the speed limit.’”

Kull said citations are being written for good reason or for public safety reasons.

“If you can achieve that public safety goal with a warning ticket in some cases, then you’ve done what you’re supposed to be doing. I don’t monitor the revenue from citations, I could care less about the revenue aspect of what tickets bring in or don’t bring in,” he said.

The cost of a speeding ticket ranges from $85 up to $220. The ticket price varies on number of miles over the speed limit, time of day, traffic and road conditions, Kull said.

“If you’re driving down Holly Boulevard (posted 30-mph road) and going 56 mph, it could cost you $220 or if you were going 60 to 70 mph, just for speeding, it would be $220,” Kull said. A speeding ticket can also be bumped up to reckless driving, a court-appearance Class 1 misdemeanor offense. Reckless driving, he added, falls under the same charges and penalties as a DUI.

“We don’t have many of these,” Kull said. 

“If you’re stopped going 60 mph on Holly Boulevard at 3 in the morning and the only vehicle on there, I might write a speeding ticket. But at 5 o’clock in the afternoon when people are out, then I might look at it as reckless driving,” he said.

Not all of the money generated from traffic fines is directed to the city coffers. It is dispersed to law enforcement training, the court system, the city and the school district.