US-64 in Lawrence and Wayne counties TN speed trap?

[brianreynolds]

Late in the day today (the hour or so before sundown) I was westbound on US-64 from Lawrenceburg to Waynesboro.  This segment or road is almost entirely four-lane divided.  And almost entirely posted at 55 MPH max.  I could see no local conditions or design features that would justify such a low limit.

Enforcement was hyper-active and hyper-visible, with two pulled over to get their reward.  Maybe I misread the sign, but toward Waynesboro I saw a 65 MPH limit sign, and adjusted accordingly.  Then a mile or so later, it was back to 55 MPH limit.

Sure appeared to me to have all the trappings of a speed trap.  Did I interpret this correctly?  Is this common in Tennessee?

[FLRoads]

I received a ticket in the small town of Moscow (along TN 57 in Fayette County) once for driving 8 m.p.h. over the supposed speed limit early on a Sunday morning in 2011. At the time no signs were posted and I was outside the standard police jurisdictional area (two miles) when I was pulled over. Even though I was at least two miles from the small town center (one crossroad with no traffic signal) and not even at 55 m.p.h., I still got a $163 ticket in which I was either to appear at their town hall on a Tuesday at 7pm or pay the fine.

I looked on GSV a bit ago and see that there are now 40 m.p.h. speed limit signs posted along that stretch for about 2.5 miles either side of Moscow. Those were definitely not there in 2011, or else I wouldn't have gotten the ticket as I know better than to speed through any city, town or community, especially in the southern states. It just seems that towns in Tennessee and some of the other southern states are continuing to use this kind of tactic (speed trap) to help keep their local economies going.

[NE2]

It's hardly a trap if it's posted.

[hbelkins]

It's always been hard for me to figure out speed limits on Tennessee surface four-lanes. There are portions of US 11E in the northeastern part of the state that are signed for 65 mph (or there were a number of years ago when I drove the route), yet some of the flatter, straighter four-lanes in the western part of the state are signed only for 55.

[brianreynolds]

It's hardly a trap if it's posted.

Perhaps so.  That's probably how the trappers justify it.  But under-posting (for local conditions and design) long stretches of highway invites violations by people who do nothing unsafe.  Is that a trap?  Guess it depends on who is defining the term.  I think so.

How it is posted matters too.  Ever seen signage that looked suspiciously deceptive?  I have.  I'll bet you have too.

[codyg1985]

Is the US 64 bypass around Lawrenceburg finished?

[Avalanchez71]

We have a habit of also signing high speeds just before a big curve like SR 30 outside of Spencer.  We have a habit of signing a county road 45 MPH and then immediately having many low speed curves making it impossible to come close to the 45 MPH in the first place.

Tennessee also still has constables in 50 of the 95 counties with full law enforcement powers that are still on the fee system.  They get paid per every ticket they write.  Watch out for two of them on I-40 in Cocke County just prior to the North Carolina state line.  Back to your question there are laws in place that state there must be a rational basis for speed limits.