By Emma Jade, Local News 8 Reporter

SOUTHEASTERN ID. - It's just the right thing to ruin your day - getting pulled over for speeding. In our small communities, it seems like we're constantly asked to show our driver's license and registration. But is it true? Are we constantly driving through speed traps?

Which police officers get stereotyped the most? Shelley.

Chief Alan Dial's response to folks saying Shelley is a speed trap: "They do, I know, I hear that all the time!"

But on average, Shelley Police only hand out 32 speeding tickets a month, which is about one a day.

"I would say that we give out more warning than citations," said Shelley Sergeant, Stan Peterson.

Dial added, "They don't stop everybody that is going two miles over the speed limit, it has to be higher than that all those are falsies, none of it is true."

What about our larger towns, such as Idaho Falls?

"We average about 1300, just over 1300 tickets a month," said Sergeant David Frei of the Idaho Falls Police Department.

Idaho Falls has a set number of officers each day who focus entirely on traffic violations, which is why they hand out so many tickets.

Pocatello is at around 180 per month, Rexburg 60, and Bingham County and Blackfoot combined hand out around 300 speeding tickets a month.

In talking to officers across our community, their idea of what speeding is varies. Some will pull folks over for going six miles over the speed limit. In other areas, you can get away with ten.

"We don't like to write tickets," said Frei. "It's sort of the last thing we do when we feel like people aren't understanding what we're trying to do."

Then, there are the speeding myths.  

"Normally you can't cry your way out of a ticket," said Frei.  

"We do not have quotas," said Dial.

"I don't believe there's any truth about those myths about [car] color," added Frei.

But officers did say the more distracted you appear, the more likely you'll see those flashing lights.

"They're weaving in their lanes, or they'll forget to signal because they're distracted by their telephone," said Frei. "So I would say there is a good chance that someone on their phone is more likely to be pulled over."

So although it may seem we hear those sirens all too often...  

"Because I do the same thing, I mean I catch myself, 'oh geez, I'm speeding I better slow down I might get a ticket and that won't be good!'" said Dial.

Officers assure drivers it's all for the good of the town.

"Speed causes damage and injury so if people understand that injury and death are associated with speed, maybe they'll understand why it's so important," said Frei.