EASTVILLE, Va. — It's no secret that drivers on the Eastern Shore need to be cautious about speeding.
The small town of Eastville is known for issuing a high number of tickets. The WTKR Investigative Team has been looking into this issue for years.
Now, there has been a change in the town's leadership.
Previous coverage: Ousted Eastville Police Chief says he was pressured to write speeding tickets
The Town Administrator for Eastville, Kevin Doughty, confirmed that Acting Chief of Police David Eder and Mayor James Sturgis both announced their retirements, effective June 30.
Doughty stated that Eder had previously retired but came back temporarily, and the mayor is in his 70s and wants to spend more time with his family.
He adamantly denied that the change in leadership has anything to do with the ongoing investigation into the high number of speeding tickets being written in Eastville.
Doughty went onto say the retirement announcements had nothing to do with recent accusations made by the former police chief, Linwood Christian, who claimed the town is "policing for profit."
"It's always about money, tickets, tickets, tickets,” said Christian.
Previous coverage: Don't speed on the Eastern Shore — especially in Eastville
Christian said the highly-traveled section of Route 13 brings many tourists from up north to the Outer Banks, calling the road a “cash cow” for ticket-writing.
Doughty defended the police department's actions, stating that the tickets issued in Eastville are for people going well above the posted 55 mph speed limit, and that officers can't keep up with the number of speeders. He said officers don't write tickets for people going less than 71 miles an hour.
Our investigation previously revealed that many of the people receiving tickets are from out of town, and that law enforcement fines made up $1.4 million of the town's $1.6 million total income, according to the adopted budget from 2023/2024.
Previous coverage: Exmore Chief takes News 3 Investigative Team on ride-along to show speeding problem
Christian claimed he was pressured to write tickets and believes he was terminated unfairly. He said he would typically write between 400 to 500 speeding tickets per month during the busy summer season when he was working as a police officer, with a personal record of between 48 to 50 tickets in a single day.
"I did feel bad a lot, but it's constant pressure for writing tickets. You really didn't let anybody go unless it was another police officer," said Christian during a previous interview.
Exmore Police Chief Angelo DiMartino previously took WTKR on a ride-along to give us a first-hand view of the intense speeding problem on Route 13.
The Eastville Town Administrator says the Virginia Department of Transportation is responsible for posting speed limit signs, and the town is currently in the process of hiring a new police chief and going through the legal process of getting a new mayor in place.
While everyone seems to agree there is a speeding problem on the Eastern Shore, some would like to see less emphasis on ticket-writing and more focus on other methods to get drivers to slow down.
