It's another busy day on highway 166 in Maricopa and .the radar locks in on a driver and another possible speeder is pulled over. But are they really speeding?

Most are not say Taft residents Kathleen Johnson and Scott McDonnel. They believe they were both incorrectly issued 135 dollar tickets by the Maricopa Police Department within the last two months.

Kathleen Johnson says "I think they should put up a carnival or something positive give people a choice if they wanna spend their cash there not be trapped into it."

McDonnel says he never speeds because his sister was killed by a speeder. He told us, "9 times out of 10 I know I've done something wrong, if office gets behind me like running a red light. I had not a clue this time."

Eyewitness News did some research and found out the Maricopa Police Department issued 351 tickets during the month of October. In comparison, the city of Taft issued 72 that same month, Arvin only 7.

We also compared the number of tickets in relation to the number of cars that travel through the major highways in both Arvin and Taft in comparison to Maricopa. According to Caltrans on the busiest day of the peak month of the year 4,350 cars drive through highway 166 to 33 in Maricopa, 5,500 through Highway 119 and 33 in Taft and 5,400 through Arvin at Highway 223 and 99. So all 3 cities have comparable amounts of traffic but Maricopa issues about five times more tickets than the other cities.

Eyewitness News asked Maricopa Police Chief Michael Taylor if he thinks the numbers are excessive. He responded by saying "It might look like it if you're taking a biased view don't think anyone ever got a ticket they didn't want."

Taylor says there is no limit to the number of tickets his department can write. He says there is simply more speeders driving through his city.

Eyewitness News also asked him if his department was motivated to issue more tickets to bring in more money. He said absolutely not and says his department only gets 8-9% revenue from each $135 ticket. That amounts to $3,790 for the month of October.

The real problem, says Taylor, is most people who get a speeding ticket are driving through town on their way somewhere else. They're unfamiliar with how quickly the speed limits change through town. In less than a mile it goes from 55 mph, to 45mph, to 35 mph.

And residents who live near the highway agree. Belena MacCallum says "They don't respect the law here they think police department is a joke and you know there here to protect us, they want no fatalities."

Chief Taylor says each traffic stop is recorded for the benefit of the public and his officers. He played the recorded traffic stop of Scott McDonnel for us.

Maricopa Officer, "Sir the reason I stopped you is for speeding".

McDonnel, "I ain't gonna sign that ____ ticket, I'm gonna tell you that right now."

And according to the DMV, "A speed trap is a particular section of the highway with a speed limit that is not justified by an engineering and traffic survey conducted within five years prior to the date of the alleged violation."

Taylor showed me the latest traffic study which was conducted in 2005. So in terms of the California Vehicle Code it appears no speed trap exists in Maricopa.

Ultimately however the DMV says its up to local courts to investigate possible speed traps when someone goes in to fight their speeding ticket.

Chief Taylor says both Johnson and McDonnel were going 50 in a 35 miles per hour. He says everyone has a chance to contest their ticket in a court of law. Both Taylor and Johnson will be doing that next week.

They tell me they are prepared to fill a civil suit to prove their were not speeding.