Lead-foot drivers more likely to get cited in Edina

Edina has earned many a nickname over the years, but the newest might be speeding ticket capital of the metro area.

In an interesting analysis of 85 metro area police departments, reporter Liz Collin of WCCO-TV found that Edina handed out more speeding tickets per capita in 2011, making it No. 1 in the metro area. With a population of 46,000 and the 8,700 tickets written by police, that averages out to .1798 tickets per resident.

Of course, not all the tickets written were given to Edina residents.

When comparing the number of tickets written averaged with a city's population, here are the top 10 cities, according to Colin's report:

1. Edina

2. Spring Lake Park

3. Wayzata

5. Robbinsdale

6. Medina

7.Dayton

8. Champlin

9. Bayport

In terms of sheer numbers, the State Patrol in the east metro (Chisago, Washington, Ramsey and Dakota counties) wrote the most tickets, citing 10,128 motorists while state troopers in the west metro wrote (Anoka, Hennepin, Scott and Carver counties) 9,874

Speeding tickets are not cheap. On average, they cost $145 with higher fines for tickets written in work zones or going more than 20 miles per hour over the posted limit. And on average, more than 120,000 motorists are cited for speeding in the metro area each year.