Speed Traps...

[burgess87]

The Thruway. That is all.

I'd expand it to the entire state of New York.  In fact, the reconstruction of the Thruway between exits 39 and 40 had widened areas where a state police vehicle could sit in the median.  State trooper presence and reasonableness of the speed limit are inversely related.

Yup.  The vehicle I was riding in almost got busted in that exact situation.  Plus, they'd hide slicktops in there, where only their antennae were visible (barely!) over the barrier along the left shoulder.

[vdeane]

Definitely not I-84.  I used to go the entire length of I-84 all the time back when I lived in NH; I passed State Troopers sitting in the median, in excess of 75, many times.  This was back when most of it was still 55, too.  I was told by several locals that on I-84 they won't come after you unless you're doing 80+.  I believe that was largely true.  Not sure about now, it's been a few years since I've been that way.

I've only been that far south once so I can't say for sure but I'm pretty sure it's way different now.  Back then, NY actually had money.  They don't now.

Yup.  The vehicle I was riding in almost got busted in that exact situation.  Plus, they'd hide slicktops in there, where only their antennae were visible (barely!) over the barrier along the left shoulder.

They're pretty easy to spot if you know what those areas are for.  It's pretty hard to disguise a trooper if both lanes of traffic are suddenly move to the right.  You can tell where they were even when the work zone traffic patterns aren't in effect because of the extra-wide shoulder.

I've even known the Thruway to set up work zones where nobody is working just to do speed enforcement.  One time crossing the Castleton-on-Hudson Bridge the right lane was closed with a work zone set up; nobody was working, in fact the only reason the right lane couldn't be used was because a state police officer was standing in it with his radar gun.  I suspect something similar might be going on with I-81 near Bartell Rd over Oneida Lake and occurred on NY 590 just south of Sea Breeze Dr.

[citrus]

Last summer, I was driving on NY 17 just west of Binghamton and there was a cop with a radar gun SITTING on the concrete median barrier, feet from the left traffic lane. With the requisite line of police cars waiting to give chase soon afterward.

When I used to be in the area often, I would see a speed trap at least half the time driving on NY 96 in Candor (speed limit 30, I believe), and maybe 25% of the time on NY 96 in Romulus (speed limit 35).

[Michael in Philly]

I have been stopped (or speed-camera'd) three times in 30 years of driving, and ticketed once.  Always in residential areas with unreasonably low speeds.  (Is 25 ever reasonable?)

1)  Morse Avenue in Scotch Plains, N.J., weekend before high-school graduation.  Doing 42.25 in a 25.  Cop took pity on me.
2)  Connecticut Avenue at Newland St., Chevy Chase, Md., Inauguration Day 2009, trying to get into Washington in time to be able to stand two miles from the Capitol in 25-degree weather and watch on a big screen; passed a line of cars that - unlike me - knew there was a speed camera there.  That's the one ticket in my life - doing something in the 40s in a 30 zone.  I now drive by the book through there and have noticed the locals do likewise.
3)  Md. 24 westbound, coming into downtown Bel Air, Md., from the east, on a Sunday evening a few months ago.  Absent-mindedly failed to notice the limit had dropped to 30, was doing 43.  Cop pulls up behind me, flashes his lights....  I think he was looking for something (drunk drivers?) - he was asking questions like "why, when I flashed my lights, did you make that right?"  Answer, apparently satisfactory, "well, I couldn't see a safe place to pull over in the block ahead and I knew there were parking spaces here."  While I was talking to the cop, a pair of pedestrians passed on the far side of the street and one of them remarked to the other "that's the Xth car I've seen pulled over tonight."  Cop asked how my driving record was - I said (truthfully - my memory blanked on the high-school stop) "I can't remember the last time I was pulled over."  He let me go with a warning.

The one place I've noticed enough cops for it to be worth warning people about here is on 95 southbound just south of Philadelphia airport.  There are overpasses that are bulky enough for the cops to sit on the southbound side.  I see them there once a month or so and I'm only there on weekends (and not every weekend).  I think it's Philadelphia, rather than state, police, so it'd be in the city limits, but not by much.

Now a related question:  a couple of months ago, I was driving up Connecticut Avenue in D.C.  Two traffic lanes, no dedicated left-turn lane, so if anyone's turning left you could get stuck.  As a light turned red - I was maybe the third car behind someone who'd been unable to turn left on that green - I noticed the right lane was clear (behind me as well) so I pulled into it.  As I stopped, I saw a flash out of the corner of my eye and said to myself "uh-oh, red-light camera."  I've been anticipating getting something from D.C., but nothing yet.  Maybe it's because I had not in fact run the light so there was nothing for the camera to photograph, but I have been wondering if it was in fact legal to change lanes in that way while the light was red.

[njroadhorse]

Gloucester County, NJ seems to be one giant speed trap for me, particularly near Glassboro.

[Dr Frankenstein]

The only ticket I've got was for doing 124 km/h / 77 mph on A-30 (speed limit is 100 km/h / 62 mph). On that highway, that's a very usual speed. Cop was obviously in a hurry and/or pissed off, perhaps because he didn't want to be sent there, or he was trying to finish his month's quota.

I've got pulled over many more times for license checks, apparently because my car has been driven by someone without a license before.

Once I passed a speed trap in Ontario, doing 130 km/h / 80 mph; he did flash his lights at me but didn't actually go after me... since it was the middle of the night, I wonder if he was just too lazy.

[NE2]

I have been stopped (or speed-camera'd) three times in 30 years of driving, and ticketed once.  Always in residential areas with unreasonably low speeds.  (Is 25 ever reasonable?)

Yes, it's reasonable in a residential area. I find myself going about 20 while scanning the road and roadside and being prepared to stop at any time.

[corco]

I've been pulled over 4 times, only getting a ticket once. Incredibly, it was in New York State (only time I've ever been to New York)

I was on the Thruway just west of Albany and sped up to pass a truck going under the speed limit. I was headed down hill and got up to 80 in the 65, where a cop was sitting by a tree at the bottom of the hill. I got nailed- he didn't even offer a chance to explain. He took my license and registration and after that he said "You're being pulled over because of your speed," walked back, handed me the ticket, and said "Have a nice day" as he walked away.

I got pulled over the day after I got my driver's license for running a yield sign. Nobody ever explained what that meant- I guess I wasn't yielding to traffic headed in the opposite direction or something and that was somehow illegal. I think it was just a small town and it was right outside my high school and the cops wanted to see who the new driver was.

I got pulled over in McCall again a couple years ago, going 57 in a 35 over a stretch of road that had just had the speed limit dropped from 45 to 35 (damn tourists kept going 45 in the winter and ended up in the ditch...ruined it for all of us). The cop knew my parents and he said "I'm not giving you a ticket and I'm not going to tell your parents. The ticket would have been $180 dollars plus the harm to your insurance. Just don't do it. Please." This is a cool cop- I was at a party in high school and somebody accidentally set off the security system and he came out, and while all but our underage friend whose house it was was hiding in the attic, all our cars were in the driveway and there was beer everywhere and it was really obvious what was going on. I guess he asked my friend what all the cars were doing here, my friend said "we just have some people here to say bye to our friend who is going to college." (which  actually was the intent of the party), and then he said "OK, have a good night." and left. I suspect he appreciated that we decided to stay and hide instead of all of us drunkenly getting in our cars and fleeing the area, knowing the cops were coming (which was the other option).

I got pulled over in Laramie for running a red light (I was out in the intersection and couldn't make the left turn because of jaywalkers, and then the light turned red and there were still people illegally crossing the street). I pointed out what happened to the officer and he agreed and let me go.

[Michael in Philly]

I have been stopped (or speed-camera'd) three times in 30 years of driving, and ticketed once.  Always in residential areas with unreasonably low speeds.  (Is 25 ever reasonable?)

Yes, it's reasonable in a residential area. I find myself going about 20 while scanning the road and roadside and being prepared to stop at any time.

Feh.

Connecticut Avenue in Chevy Chase is a six-lane state highway and a major route from downtown Washington to the Beltway.  Parents shouldn't be letting their kids play on that particular street, although I assume the fact that the first mile or two outside the Maryland-D.C. line is - unlike the rest of it - lined by houses is the excuse for the speed trap.  I'm sure, though, that it's not a coincidence that that stretch is in a fairly small incorporated town.

Md. 24 is also a heavily traveled state highway, mostly commercial.  The limit drops abruptly (and commercialization disappears, briefly) at the town line.

The stretch in Scotch Plains where I was stopped 30 years ago was vacant land at the time.  Plenty of more-residential streets in that town (where I grew up) have 35s or 40s.

[corco]

six-lane state highway

Yeah, there's no excuse for a six-lane state highway to have a 25 MPH speed limit, houses or no. If you're talking about a back neighborhood street, 25 or even 20 is a totally reasonable speed, but in that instance a 25 MPH speed zone is just extortion

[Tarkus]

I've never been pulled over or gotten a ticket.  This despite driving past state cops (in both Oregon and Washington) going 10mph over the speed limit on a couple occasions.  I have had a couple close calls with traffic signals in Sherwood, Oregon, though, mainly as they're so horribly timed (signals that are green when you enter often turn red before you get out of the intersection).  That city recently entered into a contract with Redflex to turn the craptastic engineering into a cash cow, too.     Needless to say, they're making money hand over fist with it. 

Yeah, there's no excuse for a six-lane state highway to have a 25 MPH speed limit, houses or no. If you're talking about a back neighborhood street, 25 or even 20 is a totally reasonable speed, but in that instance a 25 MPH speed zone is just extortion.

I'd fully concur there. 

[Duke87]

Never been pulled over, but I have been stopped by cops while not behind the wheel of a car.

[rickmastfan67]

(Dis)honorable mention: Gold Beach.  Sometimes the cop cars on the side of the road are empty but don't count on it...LOL!

Or here in QC: sleeping!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKhWlyoNYig

ROTFL, those cops got OWNED!

[vdeane]

I once managed to slip by somehow on NY 12 near Chippewa Bay doing 65-70 in a 55mph zone.  The cop must have realized that the only reason I was going that fast was to pass another car in a reasonable amount of time.

I've never been pulled over or gotten a ticket.  This despite driving past state cops (in both Oregon and Washington) going 10mph over the speed limit on a couple occasions.  I have had a couple close calls with traffic signals in Sherwood, Oregon, though, mainly as they're so horribly timed (signals that are green when you enter often turn red before you get out of the intersection).  That city recently entered into a contract with Redflex to turn the craptastic engineering into a cash cow, too.    Needless to say, they're making money hand over fist with it.  

Luckily that can't happen in NY.  Here it's legal to be in an intersection when a light is red as long as you entered before it turned red and exit at the earliest opportunity.

If a road actually warrants a speed limit below 30 there's probably no reason to sign it.  For example, I'd never drive faster than 25 on my neighborhood streets.  The narrow streets, cars parked on the side, potholes, and curves make it unsafe.

[agentsteel53]

If a road actually warrants a speed limit below 30 there's probably no reason to sign it.  For example, I'd never drive faster than 25 on my neighborhood streets.  The narrow streets, cars parked on the side, potholes, and curves make it unsafe.

a lot of the local 25-signed side streets, I think of as being quite safe at 32-33... and a lot of people, at 40.  It seems that there is very little distinction between what the City of San Diego deems to be 25 and what it deems to be 35.

[vdeane]

Most don't.  Most of my neighborhood does though, once you factor in the parked cars and potholes, at least on the sections I typically drive.  As I said... no need for a sign.

[rickmastfan67]

If a road actually warrants a speed limit below 30 there's probably no reason to sign it.  For example, I'd never drive faster than 25 on my neighborhood streets.  The narrow streets, cars parked on the side, potholes, and curves make it unsafe.

a lot of the local 25-signed side streets, I think of as being quite safe at 32-33... and a lot of people, at 40.  It seems that there is very little distinction between what the City of San Diego deems to be 25 and what it deems to be 35.

My dad's done 50 going downhill on our home road before.  Of course there's a clean line of sight to do it.  But it's posted @ 25.

[vdeane]

That would do it.  My neighborhood has four streets; two go 1/5 mile before a 45 degree curve, 1/5 mile before another 45 degree curve, and then about 1/10 - 3/5 mile before essentially ending at each other.  Another is essentially a driveway that ends in a cul-de-sack, and the last one is two 1/10 mile segments joined at a 90 degree curve.

[WillWeaverRVA]

Got stopped and ticketed on a residential street that's commonly used as a cut-through to avoid traffic - I got caught going 38 in a 25mph zone, even though people regularly go over 40. I just so happened to get caught when no one else was using the road. A lot of county officers expect things like this and wait on pretty much every back road and cut-through for people like me to show up trying to dodge traffic on the way home from work, and I should've remembered this before I went that way.

State troopers tend to be frequent on VA 150, as well, especially at the beginning and end of the northern freeway segment (which carries a 45mph speed limit, but people regularly go 65-70 because...well, it's a freeway!).

[mightyace]

The only time I've ever been ticketed for speeding was in Spring Hill, TN.  I was coming home from my brother's apartment one July 4th @ 3am and forgot to slow down as the speed limit drops from 70 to 55 right before Saturn Parkway ends @ US 31.  The cops and I were the ONLY ones on the road at the time, so while I was going too fast, I was not a safety hazard.

Now, Spring Hill does have a reputation as a speed trap, though, IMHO, that reputation is undeserved, what the cops really are is aggressive in their enforcement.  I only occasionally see a Spring Hill cop on the cities thoroughfares, but when I do, they often have someone pulled over.

[roadman65]

South Plainfield, NJ and every street being 25 mph especially Park Avenue! Only Hamilton Boulevard, Hadley Road, and of course I-287 are higher!  Park Avenue should be 40 mph as it is a county highway!

[The Premier]

SR 8 in Cuyahoga Falls and Boston Heights is notorious for speed traps.

Yeah, there's no excuse for a six-lane state highway to have a 25 MPH speed limit, houses or no. If you're talking about a back neighborhood street, 25 or even 20 is a totally reasonable speed, but in that instance a 25 MPH speed zone is just extortion

No question. Whoever it is from a DOT that do not do a speed audit on any state owned roadway is derelict their duty and needs to be fired. You can't post 25 mph on a road that has more than 4 lanes.

[connroadgeek]

Worst highway for speed enforcement around here in my opinion is I-684 especially on a weekend when that nice six lane highway is free of traffic with plenty of spots for NYSP to hide. In my own state, the Connecticut State Police generally have a hands off approach on highways other than the very rural areas or during targeted campaigns regarding traffic enforcement. If you're traveling through a smaller town on a local road or rural state highway you may find stricter enforcement of traffic laws.

[ftballfan]

Four lane roads should be at least 40 MPH regardless of the density of homes and businesses.

[mightyace]

^^^

Here's the main street of my hometown, Bloomsburg, PA.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Bloomsburg,+PA&aq=0&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=31.28862,78.134766&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Bloomsburg,+Columbia,+Pennsylvania&ll=41.003257,-76.45632&spn=0.001818,0.004769&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=41.003304,-76.456216&panoid=eQm2FqAp3puCwu32K1j7-A&cbp=12,72.19,,0,16.1

It's four lanes, but IMHO it would be INSANE to have traffic moving at 40mph down it!

EDIT:
Add to that on street parking messing with the right hand lane and left turns from the left lane as there is no turning lane.