Don't ya just hate speed traps?

zzyzzogeton said:
22, yes, the town you are thinking about is Selma.

SOME of the notorious speed traps of a few years ago have backed off, Selma included.

Part of it has been due to bad publicity but a big part was a state law that was passed that restricted how much money a small town could "make" via traffic fines. I don't remember the specifics but the limit is some per centage of overall town income. Anything over X% has to be turned over to the state. With no incentive to write more tickets, the ticket totals went way down in some places.

The smalll town near me is claimed to be a speed trap because of the number of tickets they write, but that is simply a result of human nature.

Unlike most true speed traps with rapidly changing speeds and a cop waiting just inside the lower speed sign, our town has these 5/10 mph incremental drops at decent areas. In the "downtown district", the limit is 35. The cop is always (when actually on duty - we're one step above Barney) sitting at the 35 to 40 transition heading north, watching the folks headed north through town.

The Chief told me they usually only stop the ones going 50 or more through the 35. He said somedays they write so many tickets of 60 or more, that they don't have time to stop the slow speeders.

The 35 (coincides with a 30 mph school zone during high kid transit time) is centered on the intersection of the state highway through town and a major FM road. The zone also includes the high traffic businesses - bank, feed store, post office, 2 convenience stores, donut shop, nursing home, 3 vehicle repair shops and a restaraunt), so it's not like a hidden slow spot. It's also the prime east-west transit corridor between the city park, all the schools and where most of the students/kids live.

There is absolutely no reason anyone should still be going 50+ 3/4 of a mile passed the 50 sign with 45, 40 and 35 signs every 1/4 of a mile, but they do and those folks get 95% of all tickets written in the town.

Marcus says when he's at the end of 1/8 mile 35 and someone has had 1-1/2 miles to slow from 65 to 35 and they're still doing 55 to 70, he doesn't have to work hard at traffic court. :D
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I thought it was Selma TX. Years ago I had just purchased a new car in I believe Grand Saline TX and was heading back to Dallas on US 80. You pass through a number of small towns and most of them do the incremental drops in the speed limit. (But closely spaced drops that coasting would still result in speeding.) I wasn't paying attention to the signs and was pulled over in one of those towns going 50 mph. I really wasn't trying to speed at all; just not paying attention. Think I was probably looking at the new car manual while driving. :D

When I am actually intent on speeding on the open highway, I have never been pulled over by a LEO. It is almost always when I am not paying attention or just following traffic.

What I REALLY hate.... photo speed enforcement.
 
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Years ago my wife was in labor and about to deliver in the car. I was going 60 or 70 in a 30 through a small town that adjoined the city I was going to. The city police stopped me and I jumped out of the car and shouted "my wife is having a baby and I'm going to the hospital". He took one look at my wife in the back seat and told me to be careful and not run any red lights. We got to the hospital safely and and my daughter was born 15 minutes later.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 
There's a spot in my daily drive through Delaware where the speed drops from either 45 or 50 to 25 and the 25 sign is on the other side of a bridge at the bottom of a hill and you can't see it until you've passed it. There's always a cop sitting there and there's no reason for the speed drop, it's in the middle of a marsh. But that's Delaware, they need to make up for their lack of sales tax somewhere, you can pick toll booth country, stoplight land, or the valley of the speed traps. There's an intersection where 5 roads meet and only two of them have stop signs. There's the MC Escher turn where a solid white line appears in the middle of the road and no matter which side you choose, you end up on the shoulder. The jump, my favorite on Rt9, the speed limit increases to 45 right before a bridge with a nearly vertical 2ft drop. There's a major road that goes under a bridge that only has one lane with no signs or light to direct traffic. There are several spots where you can actually end up riding into oncoming traffic. Then there's Wilmington. Ah, New Castle county, remember your BP Medication because you will have a stroke.
 
I got caught in a out of towner trap a week after I got my first drivers license. I pulled out of a gas station via an exit close to an intersection. I couldn't even get my car turned parallel to the traffic lanes before stopping for a red light. Since I was partially in two lanes I was motivated to execute a classic "California Stop" where you turn right after stopping for a red light. This signal was about two blocks from the city limits. That is the only reason I figure for the unnecessary 'no right turn on red light' sign at that corner. There was a motorcycle cop waiting by the side of the road to pull me over before I could make it out of town.

How do I know it was a trap? His motorcycle engine was not running. He was not sitting on his motorcycle. He was standing next to it and waved me down on foot. My license was suspended for about a month for my reckless behavior.
 
Yes sometimes it's hard to win, I know they can have difficult times too, but you have to wonder how they can sleep at night for these speed trap things.

All this reminds me of an old joke;

fellow slowed down at the stop sign and rolled on through, cop pulled him over and gave him a ticket.

The guy said, hey, I slowed down, what's the difference?

the cop says, tell you what, I'll start hitting you with my night stick and you tell me if you want me to Slow Down or Stop ;)

G2
 
Back in 1987 my wife got a Z28 as her daily driver, two nights in a row she was pulled over by the same NJ State Trooper for speeding, in the same spot! He told her the third time would result in a ticket, one of the good guys!
 
I was pulled over a couple months ago for not having my seat belt on. (No other reason.) I wear seat belts usually, but I often snap them on after I get on the road. Anyway, a state trooper pulled me over. I was surprised he even noticed. Anyway, he wrote me a ticket and I asked if they would mail me anything as far as payment goes. He said yes. Never got anything in the mail. A friend said.. you better pay it... it will come back to haunt you. When they send me something, I'll pay it.
 
Gary W. Graley said:
Yes sometimes it's hard to win, I know they can have difficult times too, but you have to wonder how they can sleep at night for these speed trap things.
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I live in one of the least populated counties east of the Mississippi. This place (and it's neighboring counties) is just one big speed trap, so I know where you're coming from, but... I honestly don't see the problem here. It might suck, sure, but if you are legally speeding (whether or not you consider yourself to be actually speeding) you can expect to get a ticket for it. If I was a cop and needed to reach my quota I'd gladly give someone a ticket who was going over the limit.
 
"The Florida House of Representatives will discuss a bill Wednesday that would ban red-light cameras statewide.

Florida’s nearly 700 active red-light cameras help to generate more than one million tickets each year, earning the state almost $62 million in general revenue annually, officials said. Several lawmakers seek to change that..."

-http://www.wftv.com/news/local/florida-house-considers-banning-red-light-cameras-statewide
 
Not to worry, I understand wrong is wrong, in this case it was an oversight on my part by a few miles an hour just before the 55 mph sign.
And he was sitting across the road waiting at that sign, the better place to catch folks that could do damage would be further up in the area that really is necessary to be at the 30 mph limit, houses, kids stuff like that, but as you drop out of there down a hill towards the 55 mph sign, that seems a bit cheeky to me and the trooper could not repress his smile, one thing being pleasant, but almost smirking is another, so yes, I was irk ;)
G2
 
Noswad0208 said:
I live in one of the least populated counties east of the Mississippi. This place (and it's neighboring counties) is just one big speed trap, so I know where you're coming from, but... I honestly don't see the problem here. It might suck, sure, but if you are legally speeding (whether or not you consider yourself to be actually speeding) you can expect to get a ticket for it. If I was a cop and needed to reach my quota I'd gladly give someone a ticket who was going over the limit.
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I understand the sentiment and can't disagree. I would say that given an either/or, I would prefer that they spend their efforts catching the really, really BAD drivers: those who enter on the exit and exit on the the entrance to the freeway; those who drive on the wrong side of the street/road/highway (into traffic), those who pass by crossing the double yellow line, those who make a turn INTO the intersection BACK END FIRST. Those who drive in reverse on the exit ramp to correct the fact that they got off at the wrong exit. Yes, these are not rare occurrences.

Continuing: those who turn right from the left lane, left from the right lane, without any signal or with the WRONG directional. Those who drive without a license, auto insurance or both. Those DUI, texting, etc. Those changing lanes multiple times in under 0.2 miles at speeds above 80 MPH. The guy with the broken window who tapes BLACK plastic in the window to seal the opening...

There are some really scary bad drivers and unsafe vehicles out there, and I guess they are more difficult to ticket (ubiquitous though they may seem) than the speeder in a speed trap.
 
Noswad0208 said:
If I was a cop and needed to reach my quota I'd gladly give someone a ticket who was going over the limit.
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I know a couple of LEOs. They say that there is no quota for traffic tickets, BUT, if they are not writing tickets or warnings, they are not doing their job. I am not a trained law enforcement officer, but I can't drive two blocks in my town without seeing some idiot doing something that's worth a ticket. At night it's even worse. I can't believe how many cars are out there with one or more lights out. Headlights, tail lights, brake lights and license plate lights. All are violations.
 
While they are at it, I think they could really boost revenue ticketing some of the school bus drivers. I live in a residential neighborhood--no one drives on this street who does not have a destination of one of these homes. Top speed should be 20-25 MPH. I see those big, yellow school busses doing easily 35 MPH zipping up and down and around. Then they stop on a corner to block traffic in all 4 directions while they have a chin wag with the kid's mother--for 5-10" while actual drivers are trying to get places like work.

Back when I remember taking the bus, we had these things called bus stops where all the students would congregate for the bus to collect us as a group. Now it is door to door service with these massive busses going up and down the residential streets early in the morning making racket, polluting, and sometimes even honking the horn.

Sorry to derail the thread Gary. I'm just imagining that you are a pretty decent guy/driver who doesn't drive a complete death trap or inconvenience and annoy people on their way to and from work by your driving or stopping to have a confab with whomever you may encounter--holding up traffic without a care in the world. You just were very unlucky...and won't do it again.

The closest thing to what you described happened to a friend of mine going east-west on the MA turnpike before 7 AM. At the west end of the pike, there had been construction signs (usually an indication that you will have to slow down). However, there were no men working, nor was it clear where the work was or if it was still ongoing or ongoing that day.

Well, as my friend drives by at 65 MPH, he gets pulled over because the "work zone" speed is 30-40 MPH. Anyway, this translated into a $150 ticket (15 years ago) that he would have had to drive 3+ hours to contest. Ouch. Clearly, a great speed trap for them: the old construction zone without any construction gimmick.

ETA: I checked with my friend and he DID slow down for 2–3 miles at the work zone. After seeing no construction or other cars he figured maybe the lower speed limit wasn't in effect. That's when they nailed him!
 
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annr said:
...Well, as my friend drives by at 65 MPH, he gets pulled over because the "work zone" speed is 30-40 MPH. Anyway, this translated into a $150 ticket (15 years ago) that he would have had to drive 3+ hours to contest. Ouch. Clearly, a great speed trap for them: the old construction zone without any construction gimmick.

ETA: I checked with my friend and he DID slow down for 2–3 miles at the work zone. After seeing no construction or other cars he figured maybe the lower speed limit wasn't in effect. That's when they nailed him!
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I got pulled over in an inactive work zone once in the middle of the night. The policeman and I talked and he gave me a warning.
 
22-rimfire said:
I got pulled over in an inactive work zone once in the middle of the night. The policeman and I talked and he gave me a warning.
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I'm curious what the officer said and why he was staking out an inactive work zone. IIRC, on the MA pike, there was NO indication that work was ongoing, e.g., heavy equipment, barricades, cones, etc.
 
He really didn't say. The cones/barrels were still there but work was proceeding very slowly in that area. There was no work going on and the equipment had been idle for days. He pretty much said that didn't matter (legally). He understood my position, but pretty much disagreed with me. This was a local cop.
 
So I was coming home from work, running Beltway 8 westbound around the south side of Houston, and as usual there was a cluster of cars running slow in both lanes. I chugged along behind them until we got to the part where it opens out into 4 lanes each way, and then I jammed it over into the far right lane and got on it a little. I ran it up to what I considered a reasonable cruising speed and set sail for home.

There was a guy in a red Camaro that was also stuck behind the clump of slow movers that saw me go by and obviously wanted to do the same. He took a little time to get out of the cluster of traffic, but once he got into the right lane he really stepped on it and came after me. I mean really.

I don’t know if he wanted to race me or objected to a Dodge Challenger being in front of his Chevy or what, but he was moving at a high rate of speed.

As it happened, by this time I was coming into an area where the constables are pretty diligent about running speed traps, and I know for a fact that at least one of them has a laser unit. My radar detectors (yes, plural, 2 of them) will pick up laser but not in time to do anything about it. My usual MO in this area is to let off the gas as I come to an overpass, allowing the car to cruise over the top at 68 mph or so, not enough to get a ticket (65 mph zone), and giving me a chance to visually eyeball the area for the next mile or so.
I did that in this case, no brakes, just getting off the gas and letting gravity slow the car, and I wish I had filmed the next few seconds. I am truly kicking myself for not doing so. The timing was perfect.

I crested the overpass and looked at my speedometer, 68 mph just as I intended. Then I looked up and spotted the cop. Then I saw the red Camaro blow by me – SERIOUSLY blow by me, not like 78 or 88, but more like 108 mph. You know the rest. Blue lights, the guy in the Camaro pulling over because he knew he was busted, me waving to him as I went by, and laughing the rest of the way home.

If he’d been in a Mopar I’d have hit the brakes and waved him down, tried to get him to slow down. In a Chevy, no, sorry. I didn’t sucker him into the speed trap, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to try to help him avoid it.
 
Hah one of those priceless moments right there TimberWolf ;)

My son in law recently was stopped for speeding on I86 in NY and he usually does float around the 75mph mark on the highway, just to keep up with traffic, but that day a state trooper reeled him in, which he understood, but when the trooper asked if he knew how fast he was going he said about 65/70 the trooper said no, you were going a bit over that.

My son in law said, AH, I know what's wrong, it's my tires on this truck, they're oversized and must have caused the speedometer to read wrong! The trooper stood back and looked at his truck/tires and shook his head and said, no, it's not your tires.

My son in law, thinking the trooper did not understand the mechanics of the problem said, what do you mean it's not my tires?

And the trooper said...."No, it's not your tires, it's your Foot" ;) which made my son in law laugh, well later laughed, but he thought it was funny. The trooper was decent to him and while he could have taken him and his truck back to the barracks for the excessive speed, he did find that his registration was out of date and ended up ticketing him for that and said keep the speed down, if I wrote you up for the speeding, you would be spending the night in jail.

So he felt somewhat relieved to take a lesser ticket and able to continue on his way.
G2
 
In addition to a good radar detector, I also highly recommend a phone app called WAZE. It's mostly useful in high traffic areas, where drivers report cops & road hazards as they encounter them.
 
+1000! Waze is awesome, cuts my commute by 30-40% using alternative routes on high traffic days. One day Google's route estimated 1:30, Waze's route was 45 minutes:D...the heads up about police is nice too ;)

~Chip
 
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