Rod Kloeckner Clinton County law enforcement radar guns were locked and loaded in 2025.
Clinton County Circuit Clerk Rod Kloeckner reports his office filed 1,824 traffic tickets last year, the most in six years. Of those tickets, just over half (919) were of the speeding variety.
“Speeding tickets are perennially the most common traffic ticket officers write,” Kloeckner said. “Last year, however, the speeding charge dominated the traffic docket.”
Law enforcement issued 619 more traffic tickets in 2025 than it did in 2024, when 1,245 were issued. It was the most since 2019, when 2,159 tickets were written.
Traffic tickets emanate from the 10 local municipalities that have police departments in Clinton County — Carlyle, Breese, Trenton, Aviston, Germantown, New Baden, Albers, Beckemeyer, Centralia and Wamac — along with the Clinton County Sheriff’s Department, Illinois Department of Conservation and the Illinois State Police (ISP).
The Sheriff’s Department wrote the most speeding tickets with 248 followed by Trenton (211), Illinois State Police (195), Breese (128), Aviston (33), Centralia (27), New Baden (21), Carlyle (20), Germantown (18), Albers (16), Wamac (two).
One particular stretch of road was ripe for speeders. New U.S. Highway 50 — which bisects the county starting just outside Trenton and ending north of Carlyle where it intersects with Illinois Route 127 — was a point of emphasis for both the Sheriff’s Department and ISP.
“We received a ton of traffic tickets from drivers on new 50,” said Kloeckner, noting that recent fatalities and serious accidents on that highway may have prompted the additional attention from law enforcement. “Both the county and ISP stepped up their patrols there. Drivers who choose to speed there are doing so at their risk, not to mention risking the lives of others.”
The police departments in Trenton, Aviston, Breese and Carlyle also regularly patrol new U.S. 50.
Driving 15-20 miles per hour over the speed limit was the most cited speeding charge with 440 tickets written. There were 271 tickets written for driving 21-25 mph over the limit, 64 for 26-34 mph over, 54 for driving 11-14 mph over, 47 for driving 1-10 mph over and 23 for driving 35+ mph over the limit.
There were five tickets issued for individuals speeding 100 mph or faster. The fastest speed in Clinton County was 111 mph. CCSD deputy Josh Black clocked Kieran McCord of Carlyle going that speed on New U.S. 50 at Frogtown Road on May 7 at 8:37 p.m. McCord, who received six other citations, pleaded guilty to reckless driving and was fined $500 plus assessments as part of a negotiated plea.
The four minor speeding charges — driving 1-10 mph over, 11-14 mph over, 15-20 mph over and 21-25 mph over — do not require a court appearance. Drivers can simply pay the $164 fine online or over the counter at the Circuit Clerk’s office.
The two major speeding charges — driving 26-34 mph over and 35 mph over — require a court appearance, where the fine amount is determined by the state’s attorney’s office and the driver is subjected to court assessments. Any speeder requesting court supervision must also appear in court and pay a fine plus court assessments. Drivers who don’t want a conviction on their driving record often request court supervision.
“The bottom line is this: people need to slow down and adhere to the speed limit,” Kloeckner said, “or suffer the consequences.”
Kloeckner said the most cited charge in the county after speeding 15-20 over was operating an uninsured motor vehicle. Officers wrote 364 tickets for that offense.
Since 2000, the most traffic tickets written in a single year was 2002, when 5,093 were issued.
In addition to speeding, driving while intoxicated arrests rose for the first time in several years. Law enforcement issued 71 DUIs in 2025, 35 more than in 2024. The trend of more males driving dunk than females continued. Of the 71 DUIs last year, 57 were given to men while 14 women were ticketed. DUIs ranged in age from 16 to 75 years old. The month of July saw the most DUIs written with nine.
Kloeckner said his office processed 3,674 filings in all the case categories last year, 807 more than in 2024. He said 21 of the 32 criminal and civil case categories had an increase in the number of cases filed.
Cases filed on the civil side included 17 adoptions (AD), six chancery (CH), 50 dissolutions with children (DC), 47 dissolutions without children (DN), 39 family (FA), 45 foreclosures (FC), 35 evictions (EV), 315 small claims (SC), one juvenile (JV), 17 juvenile neglect and abuse (JA), eight juvenile delinquent (JD), 42 law (LA), 83 law magistrate (LM), 32 miscellaneous remedy (MR), 52 probate (PR), 110 orders of protection (OP), one mental health (MH), 19 guardianship (GR) and 35 tax cases (TX).
Of note: There were 31 more divorces filed in 2025 over the previous year.
On the criminal side, there were 252 felonies, 204 misdemeanors and 100 conservation cases filed.
