Traffic citations from PSP increase by 267% in town so far this year

SHENANDOAH – Holy Saturday. Two sterling grey Ford Explorers sit outside the Shenandoah Historical Society, waiting to spot a traffic offense.

The sport utility vehicles, emblazoned with Pennsylvania State Police insignias, often weren’t waiting long.

As a Sentinel photographer watched from outside Vernalis Restaurant, troopers nabbed car after car — stopping two at the same time around 8:45pm — before returning, pulling a u-turn in the middle of South Main Street outside Mark’s Supply and returning to their parking spot at the Historical Society to do it all again.

The two state troopers were conducting traffic enforcement, as part of a statewide stepped up enforcement program for Easter Weekend, but, for Shenandoah, it continued an upward enforcement trend in this community.

As of April 15, troopers have filed citations for 147 traffic violations since the New Year, a 267% increase, or 107 more citations from this time last year. That is also 72 citations ahead of 2020, the earliest year data is available and the highest year-to-date total available for the borough.

Data for citations filed this year is from court records in local Magisterial District Courts, while data for 2020 through 2022 is from the State Police Community Access to Information Dashboard, which tracks citation, crash, offense, and coverage data for the State Police across the Commonwealth.

Shenandoah stands as one of the most cited non-Interstate municipality in the Sentinel‘s coverage area this year and has for every year since 2020.

Though, the vast majority of citations issued to drivers in Shenandoah are not moving violations, i.e. the citation has nothing to do with how the driver operated the vehicle.

Since 2020, 70 citations in town have been issued for operating a vehicle without a certificate of inspection, including 29 so far this year, the most common citation in Shenandoah.

Meanwhile, in the same timeframe, troopers have issued only four speeding tickets in town unrelated to weather. A full breakdown of traffic offenses cited by State Police between 2020 and 2022 is below.

Over the Easter weekend, troopers cited only one person for a moving violation — an illegal left turn — while issuing six citations for inspections.

Just this year, drivers in Shenandoah have been cited by state troopers more than drivers in Ashland, Girardville, Gilberton, Gordon, or Mount Carmel Borough have been since 2020.

Lieutenant Adam Reed, Director of the State Police Communications Office, told the Sentinel that one of the main missions of the department is to ensure the safety of the roadways.

“This is done through traffic enforcement via detection of moving violations and equipment violations. For various reasons, enforcement statistics across segments of the PSP vary on a monthly basis, let alone when taking a look at annual comparisons,” Reed said. “This can be due to personnel changes, focused enforcement efforts based on crime or crash data, or other factors.”

He said the data is looked at on a monthly basis using real-time data and “efforts can be re-focused as needed.”

However, enforcement in Shenandoah has been consistently high compared to Ashland, Girardville, and Mount Carmel for every year which data is available.

Troopers had only issued 22 citations in Mount Carmel between 2020 and 2022, while Ashland had 103 citations and Girardville had 64 in the same timeframe.

So far this year, Ashland and Girardville combine for only 12 citations, according to court records.

Asked last month about the uptick in enforcement and the disparities between similar boroughs, Master Trooper David Beohm, Public Information Officer for Troop L, which covers Schuylkill County, simply said “I’d say kudos to the Frackville patrol unit!”

Mount Carmel is under the jurisdiction of the Stonington barracks of Troop F, while most of our area is under the Frackville barracks of Troop L.

State Police have, however, made seven DUI arrests so far this year in Shenandoah, compared to eight last year and 26 since 2020. Borough Police have also made several DUI arrests this year in town.

Since 2022, Shenandoah has seen at least three pedestrians struck by vehicles, including one fatality, and, according to State Police data, 12 crashes have causes injury or death in town since 2020. The most common cause of vehicle accidents in town, they say, is “improper or careless turning.” Speed and careless passing are also common causes in town.

Citations By Municipality 2020-2022

Shenandoah Traffic Citations 2020-2022

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Kaylee Lindenmuth

Kaylee Lindenmuth is a Shenandoah native with a passion for journalism and the community she calls home.

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