Fewer drivers were ticketed last year for speeding on local highways than the year before, but there was a dramatic increase in those cited for texting while driving and for violating car-pool lane hours, according to Sonoma County traffic court records.

For speeding, 5,975 drivers were ticketed last year on the county’s highways, such as 101 and 12, compared to 6,406 the year before.

For texting, 236 drivers were ticketed in 2010, sharply up from 58 in 2009. But citations for not going hands-free on cell phones held pretty steady at 9,648 in 2010 vs. 9,543 in 2009. The number for both this year should be significantly higher with police throughout the county having conducted several crackdowns targeting texting and cellphone use.

More car-pool lane tickets were issued: 2,229 in 2010 compared to 1,743 in 2009, perhaps because car-pool lanes were added between Santa Rosa and Windsor.

For those who ran stop signs, 4,319 got tickets in 2010 compared to 4,179 in 2009. And for those who ignored red lights, 1,378 were cited compared to 1,441 in 2009.

The tickets for these violations were part of a total of 80,395 tickets filed last year by all local and state police agencies with the court for processing.