Ghost Busted

Traffic Enforcement officers posing as construction workers were trying to curb speeding through construction zones this week in an operation known as 'Ghosting'.

Friday, April 10th 2009, 9:56 am

By: News On 6

Chris Howell, NewsOn6.com

BROKEN ARROW, OK -- Broken Arrow Traffic Enforcement officers posing as construction workers were trying to curb speeding through construction zones this week in an operation known as 'Ghosting'.

This is National Work Zone Awareness Week and Broken Arrow police sat in construction equipment with radars to nab speeders.

"Last year 21 people were killed in Oklahoma in work zone related crashes," said Sgt. Ed Ferguson of the Broken Arrow Traffic Enforcement Unit. "These are very fluid enviornments, there's a lot of activity, and we have workers that are within inches of passing vehicles."

Officers dressed as flagmen directed speeders to an area where uniformed officers were writing about 30 tickets an hour.

In school zones or work zone fines double raising the usual $104-ticket to the attention-getting cost of $208.

"It was a guy dressed as a construction worker that I'm guessing was a policeman," said James Ivy. "He pulled out a stop sign instead of a slow sign and told me to pull in here. I guess I deserved it if I was going ten over."