Speed Traps...

[agentsteel53]

just drove a monster speed trap the other day ... in New Mexico, US-54 between Tularosa and Carrizozo.  A rural road signed at 55mph for no discernible reason (should be 65, like US-380 in the same area), and in that 45 mile stretch ... six cops!

[agentsteel53]

also, the entire town of Craig, Colorado.  Drove that at night a few days ago.  Came in to town on state highway 13, and immediately at the town boundaries, four or five police cars parked.  Downtown, another four.  I saw about 10 police cars and 1 civilian.

add to that how poorly CO-13 is signed; at one point southbound 13 joins up with US-40 for a few blocks and heads physically west.  Then the driver is directed to take a left to resume driving south on 13 - but in the distance half a block away, sits a CO-13 south reassurance marker.  I had to follow the grid to eventually get back to 13.

[leifvanderwall]

Interstate 94 in Michigan is a speed trap . The speed limit is 70; almost every day I drive to work I see someone getting pulled over by the state police. Oh, and many drug traffickers have been caught on that roadway also.

[DBrim]

Another state to add to this list: New Mexico.  I saw about 10 cops on my drive down 25 a few weeks ago.

I-93 in MA is pretty constantly patrolled, especially around the 95 interchange.  When I worked in that area I saw at least one speed trap every day, usually 2 or more.

There is a speed trap at the end of CA-62 WB as it hits I-10.  I'm pretty sure I've seen a speed trap both times I've been through there.

[Tom]

Here's a speed trap that's fictional.  I can't imagine anyone in law enforcement doing this.  It's from a 1974 TV movie with 1958 nostalgia to it (I did not download these scenes myself):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-h6lSVOyn4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D79Ln03ZoaY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QvKS68Zcac

[deathtopumpkins]

The Maryland state line crossing over from Delaware on US-13 or 113. Came through there on Sunday and saw a line of cops hidden at the border with at least a dozen more spread out over the next few miles. Good thing I noticed them.  I asked my mom about it (she used to make the drive regularly) and she got a ticket once for doing 59 mere yards across the state line.

[Brandon]

Interstate 94 in Michigan is a speed trap . The speed limit is 70; almost every day I drive to work I see someone getting pulled over by the state police. Oh, and many drug traffickers have been caught on that roadway also.

Since when did I-94 become a speed trap?   Every time I've been along it, I get my doors blown off while I'm doing 80.  I've been under the impression that the MSP aren't bothering with anyone under triple digits.

[thenetwork]

Interstate 94 in Michigan is a speed trap . The speed limit is 70; almost every day I drive to work I see someone getting pulled over by the state police. Oh, and many drug traffickers have been caught on that roadway also.

Since when did I-94 become a speed trap?   Every time I've been along it, I get my doors blown off while I'm doing 80.  I've been under the impression that the MSP aren't bothering with anyone under triple digits.

I remember the days when I drove a 1983 Nissan Sentra.  The speedometer only went up to 85 MPH, and I remember having that baby "pegged" for over a half hour while "going with the flow" down I-94.

[SSOWorld]

I remember the days when I drove a 1983 Nissan Sentra.  The speedometer only went up to 85 MPH, and I remember having that baby "pegged" for over a half hour while "going with the flow" down I-94.

Oh I remember those days - when the government required "55" to be highlighted and the spedometer to be limited as far as highest speed shown at the height of the "55 rule"

[Greybear]

Royce City, TX has always been a notorious speed trap along I-30. The speed limit along that stretch of the interstate is 65 MPH until you cross the Hunt County line. There is always at least one city cop sitting on each side of town going either direction on I-30.

Another speed trap area along I-30 is in and around Texarkana. You can almost be sure there is at least one cop sitting on either side of the interstate within a three mile distance of the Texas/Arkansas state line.

[mgk920]

Interstate 94 in Michigan is a speed trap . The speed limit is 70; almost every day I drive to work I see someone getting pulled over by the state police. Oh, and many drug traffickers have been caught on that roadway also.

Since when did I-94 become a speed trap?   Every time I've been along it, I get my doors blown off while I'm doing 80.  I've been under the impression that the MSP aren't bothering with anyone under triple digits.

Ditto - I've also been under the impression that the MSP has more important things to do than run radar traps.  Don't forget that they *ARE* the local cops in many parts of the state, especially in Da YuPee, too.

That said, the Kenosha and Racine County part of I-94 in Wisconsin has become a speed trap in recent years, too (I remember driving autobahn-fast on it a few years back).  The local sheriffs have a thing about people liking to drive FAST on that road - and I shudder to think of what they'll be doing once the current eight-laning project is complete.

Mike

[SSOWorld]

The whole state of Wisconsin is a speed trap.  If this were not the case, then why would the state patrol use completely unmarked cars for patrolling the highways?

[Brandon]

Ditto - I've also been under the impression that the MSP has more important things to do than run radar traps.  Don't forget that they *ARE* the local cops in many parts of the state, especially in Da YuPee, too.

That said, the Kenosha and Racine County part of I-94 in Wisconsin has become a speed trap in recent years, too (I remember driving autobahn-fast on it a few years back).  The local sheriffs have a thing about people liking to drive FAST on that road - and I shudder to think of what they'll be doing once the current eight-laning project is complete.

Mike

Geeze.  You see horror stories in the Chicago Tribune every so often about the speed trap in Kenosha and Racine Counties, especially Racine County.  The sheriff there likes to harass people with Illinois plates along I-94/US-41.   

[mgk920]

Yea, and every now and then they'll do (well publicized, at least) enforcement 'blitzes' on all of US 41 north of Milwaukee - and after it is over things generally return to normal.  In fact, a few years ago WisDOT released the results of a survey that said that the section of US 41 between Kaukauna and De Pere, WI has the fastest average actual speeds of any highway in the state (I believe it - you can be flying along at autobahn speeds on that section and it really doesn't seem like you're going fast at all).  OTOH, the cops here seldom enforce for less than '10 over', though, and I have never been nailed for speeding here in Wisconsin in all of my years of driving - and I very much keep up with everyone else.

Mike

[leifvanderwall]

I just recently returned to Michigan from my vacation to Maryland and we drove to a speed trap on I-68 right before exit 50. There were three cops and two of them pulled over one vehicle each and it was on a hill right before Cumberland.

[Brandon]

One of the worst speed traps I know of in Illinois is along I-290/355.  The ISP likes to patrol between the median break near Thorndale (Exit 5) and the median break just north of Army Trail Rd on I-355 (just north of the tollway).  I've seen several of them sit in the median break near Thorndale with one of them watching with a radar gun.  The one with the radar gun usually has his tail end in the northbound (westbound) left shoulder.  You see a few of them north of Thorndale, but that stretch is distinctly used as their personal speed trap.  South of Army Trail, it's a different ISP district.

[Bryant5493]

5-10 mph tolernace gone?


Be well,

Bryant

[Alps]

5-10 mph tolernace gone?


Be well,

Bryant

Bullshit.  All they have to do is enforce the existing tolerance but actually pull everyone over who goes above it.  And maybe fall for a few less sob stories.

[Revive 755]

in recent years that place was run by a small group of people who had a vested interest in hyper-speed law eforcement (even illegally changing US 40's speed limit from 45 to 35....ODOT kept saying the limit change was illegal, but they had no legal teeth to enforce that....every time ODOT put up 45s, the signs would magically change back to 35 within a day or so....)

Surely there had to be something more that could have been done if the signs were being tampered with, such as an ordinance for the speed limit to be valid under normal conditions (as it is in Missouri).  Otherwise it would be very nice to see some groups change the interstate speed limit signs to read 80.

At the least, someone should have posted a security camera near the signs to catch the perps if this was a repeated occurrence.

[juscuz410]

I used to live near one of the most notorious speed traps in America....

NEW ROME, OH

A small berg of less than 60 people, whose police force was far and above what such a small town really needed...they would enforce speed laws arbitrarily, esp if you were minority, black, so somehow piqued their interest in emptying your wallet...their mayor's court was little more than a kangaroo court (How do you plead, you guilty bastard?).....much money they raised through their over-aggressive traffic enforcement ended up going to pay lawsuits filed for excessive police force, or disappearing never to be found again....

in recent years that place was run by a small group of people who had a vested interest in hyper-speed law eforcement (even illegally changing US 40's speed limit from 45 to 35....ODOT kept saying the limit change was illegal, but they had no legal teeth to enforce that....every time ODOT put up 45s, the signs would magically change back to 35 within a day or so....)

Finally, the State put an end to this little dictatorship by placing a law on the books that was squarely aimed at New Rome...a village under 100 people had to supply so many services to stay in business, and New Rome failed badly....

There are two other dinky locales in the Columbus area where the cops are a bit more aggressive than the average bears...Valley View, and Minerva Park......elsewhere, Gahanna cops love to hang out on I-270 as do Hilliard cops....

so if you pass through Columbus, beware....and hang on to your wallets!

Don't forget Westerville, Genoa Twp., Granville, and anywhere slse in Delaware Co!

[burgess87]

The worst speed trap I've ever encountered is on SH 36 in Wallis, TX - just on the north-northwest side of Rosenberg.

SH 36 is a two-lane highway signed at 70 MPH for much of the distance between Rosenberg & Sealy.  However, in Wallis, the speed limit drops to 35.  Cops.  All.  Over.  The.  Place.

[hbelkins]

Bullshit.  All they have to do is enforce the existing tolerance but actually pull everyone over who goes above it.  And maybe fall for a few less sob stories.

Or maybe go bust drug dealers and patrol high-crime areas looking for burglars instead of trying to bring the nanny state to the highways.

[hbelkins]

in recent years that place was run by a small group of people who had a vested interest in hyper-speed law eforcement (even illegally changing US 40's speed limit from 45 to 35....ODOT kept saying the limit change was illegal, but they had no legal teeth to enforce that....every time ODOT put up 45s, the signs would magically change back to 35 within a day or so....)

Surely there had to be something more that could have been done if the signs were being tampered with, such as an ordinance for the speed limit to be valid under normal conditions (as it is in Missouri).  Otherwise it would be very nice to see some groups change the interstate speed limit signs to read 80.

At the least, someone should have posted a security camera near the signs to catch the perps if this was a repeated occurrence.

I'd think this would fall under some type of vandalism law or ordinance -- not much different than spraypainting a sign, which is illegal.

[agentsteel53]

Or maybe go bust drug dealers and patrol high-crime areas looking for burglars instead of trying to bring the nanny state to the highways.

trying to?  it's been here ever since 1973, when the feds got rid of the last no-speed-limit areas in Nevada, Montana, and several other states.  (Montana tried it again in the late 90s, but got bogged down in legislation.)

[Tarkus]

I'd think this would fall under some type of vandalism law or ordinance -- not much different than spraypainting a sign, which is illegal.

That's the one good thing we have here in Oregon.  While ODOT has basically been crushed under political duress with regard raising speed limits beyond the ridiculously arcane 65 on Interstates/55 everywhere else, they have a good Speed Zoning program that has some sharp legal teeth to go after cities that try to create speed traps.  They can actually go after cities under three different ordinances.  ORS 811.111 defines statutory speeds, ORS 810.180 defines the ability to override the previous ordinance with non-statutory "designated" speeds via a Speed Zone Order, which requires the city/county to cooperate with ODOT in a proper speed study to establish a proper limit.  ORS 810.230 deals with illegal signage, and in effect, any improper speed limit sign posting can be declared a "public nuisance", carrying with it the charge of a Class B Traffic Violation. 

ODOT also keeps a rather nice Speed Zone Order database online as well so you can see what's what. . . it's pretty easy to figure out whether or not something's been posted in violation as a result.  There's a firm legal basis in place.

-Tarkus