America's Worst Speed Traps

Very interesting reading

Just ran into the article before visiting this forum today. I thought the Chicago area was bad. The home rule in Texas makes it worse. I thought states and municipalities would abide by well established traffic engineering rules. I guess not.

in west Tennessee, smaller numbers but just as effective

Saw a speed trap yesterday with 3 motorcycle cops. Glad I was not speeding!

Chicago was just as bad back in the late 50s early 60s, it just wasn't publicized as much. That was our place to go on the weekends, and the stories I could tell about the Chicago cops.

The cops can't enforce it if the politicians don't pass it.

If enough people get fed up with the speed traps then it might translate to votes. But everyone thinks it'll happen to someone else, or the issue gets lost under other issues.

when I was stationed at Scott AFB, one of the small town near by had a goo one, they had a 65mph sign just in front of a 35 mile s,peed sign, if you were doing 65 at that sign there was no way you could get to 35 at the 35 sign, police had a field day, till some one checked about the interval between signs.

I live in the Orlando area and it irks me that the police are spending more time trying to make money by issuing tickets rather than fighting serious crime; which Orlando has seems to have an abundance of. Doksea must live in the area too. South of Orlando the speed limit changes form one mile to the next. I have noticed that the police seem to congregate at these locations. I wonder why?

These units rove around the state in large groups of cars, motorcycles, SUVs and unmarked cars. Literately there may be 20 units at one speed trap. The wait until a large group of cars traveling above speed limit pass and then all units pull over one motorist. It looks like a military exercise when you see one in action.

FlYcoho

In NJ on the Garden State Parkway from exit 100 to 80 north or south the speed limit is reduced from 65 to 55 due to excessive amounts of vehicle accidents. In the first 2 weeks troopers were out in full force handing tickets. I recently took a trip traveling south and stayed in the right lane at speeds of 55 to 60 the gps kept going at speed traps but for the 20 miles no troopers everyone going at least 75 and I get an occasional hi with the middle finger, I would probably get pulled over for impeding traffic.

do they still put the radar vans on the overpasses??

Where the next complaint after an accident is "If they didn't spend all their time at the donut shop and would just enforce the traffic laws..."

Figures Texas made the list 3 times for the entire country. They are right about those school zones though.

It's all about the $$$. We didn't know that already?

interesting article, but I'm not buying it. I've lived in houston for 25 years. Speed traps, well maybe only in the race car sense. Everyday going to work with a speed limit of 60 on an interstate in the early morning (before it becomes a parking lot), it is very common to be passed by many, many vehicles which are doing 80mph. One has to be very careful too, since these same vehicles are ultra-aggressive. I've only rarely seen a police car, and then even more rarely, seen a police car pull someone over.

Driving home on the Staten Island Expressway. A cop hiding behind a bridge abutment waiting for a sucker to come by and give revenue. Meanwhile, a couple of hundred yards down the road, a stranded vehicle obviously there for a while with occupants leaning against the car and trunk open. No police or any other assistance in sight. Well, the cop was in sight but didn't care. No revenue to be made from someone with a flat tire and a flat spare.

Solving serious crimes does not pay for the police's salary. It usually costs more to solve a crime than the damage caused by the crime. They just have to issue more tickets to offset the deficit so police officers don't get layoff. This is their way to protect their job security.

I've said it before, but Needles, California, near the Nevada border, has a "conveyor belt" arrangement of exits on the highways that the coppers are exploiting for ticket-writing.

The po-po lay in wait for someone going fast enough to merit the effort of writing a ticket, they chase down the infringer, write a ticket and then get off at the next exit so they can go back to their original location to lay in wait for the next unfortunate soul.

I doubt anyone would actually stop in Needles for any other reason, so the government exploits the area for the easy tickets. To add insult to injury, the speed limit drops down to 45 mph, I think, on roads that should be a minimum of 65 mph.

No, I remember they did that in the old days.

Thanks for the interesting article

It seems to me that the worst speed trap is the one you get caught at. Other than that what the heck.

On Highway 101, in and around King City, California. I don't think I have ever NOT seen a CHiP there.

I didn't realize Orlando had that many. It makes sense with the tourists though, alot of them from out of the country.

Revenue generation. I can imagine RoboCop having a laser printer strapped to his leg now.

Citizen.. you have broken the law. Here is your ticket kinda thing.

Well, now that you've got Rahm Emanuel as Mayor, I can't help but think he'll take the high road & stop "taxing" the citizens thru speed & redlight cameras.

The people have spoken about what they want.

Fred

--Just in case there are folks out there who still think that all parts of the system are really designed more for safety than money-grubbing!

The worst I've found is the last 15 miles of I-95 near the Virginia/North Carolina border. Really, from Sussex county and south.

Let's not forget the entire state of South Carolina. The only state that has a speed camera on I-95! (within city limits of Ridgeland, SC).

I agree I live out side of Houston I don't know of any speed traps inside the city limits but there sure are speed traps in the outer areas like Patton Village and Splendora.

…to see such an article of worst speed traps that was based on a per capita basis. I'm sure some small towns catch a higher percentage of drivers based population.

It's for the children!! (sarcasm off)

Well, In Chicago there is a new mayor. Ask him to change/fix things. Worth a try.

Where is DC metro area?
There are lots of speed/red light cams around here.

America's Worst Speed Traps is the one you get caught in it.

Beware on Rte 15-29 from Culpepper, Va to Charlottesville, Va. The road areas that are hilly are perfect for the cops down there. They have posted a 60 mph Speed limit on the lower approach side of a hill then have a 55 mph Speed limit sign just after cresting the hill. Several areas like this with cops lurking behind trees in median crossover areas. I got two speeding tickets like this with my cruise control on. Turkeys got lucky twice, I switched over to ah um a better interstate without these local yokels.

I was heading down to Charlottesville on these roads, going quite a few more than 60 though. Didn't see any cops, nor did the radar detector go off. Guess I was lucky that night!

What the article didn't mention was the effect of out of state plates on the speed traps. In both Georgia and Texas, you are almost guaranteed to be pulled over if you have out of state plates. Texas is so bad about this habit that we refuse to take the RV there unless we don't have a choice.

If you're getting stopped for speeding towing the RV in your picture, either the Texas cops are unconscionable or you are one reckless driver!

We are planning to be driving around West Texas in the fall. We may have to rethink this....

That surprizes me, never thought Texas would be like that?

Poorly written; no research. If there was any research done, it's not apparent. Reads like a book report written without reading the book.

Not once have I actually gotten a ticket for speeding with the RV -- randomly stopped for "safety check", registrations, etc., etc. Last year I got stopped in the panhandle of Texas to see if I had a CDL & Log, which isn't required to pull an RV in any state.

How did that turn out for you? Were you able to convince the officer that you weren't in violation of any law?

Nope, didn't convince him. The local judge -- I think he was referred to as "County Judge", but don't remember -- dismissed the ticket and it's 8 charges. Apparently, the state trooper missed the "RV's exmempted" statement in the section on truck & trailer weight combinations. He swore that our size and weight classified us as a commercial vehicle. Unfortunately, I spent an unplanned night there...

I'm glad for you that justice prevailed. I'm also glad (and more than a little surprised) that you didn't have to wait three months to show up in court to fight it. I've always suspected they pull that stunt knowing that the probability of out-of-area drivers returning to contest a citation decreases with the length of time between the citation and the court date.

Having been there on several occasions, I can say that an extra night in the Texas panhandle seems almost a sentence unto itself.

This is the area in Maryalnd and Virginia surrounding the District of Columbia. In Maryland especially, they never met a tax, traffic camera or fee (the new 'tax' in Maryland) they didn't like.

I live in the DC Metro area too. I am most familiar with Montgomery County. They spend SO much money on a variety of services, they have NO hope of even getting close to balancing the budget. This year property assessments were reduced since house values fell. They, of course, partially compensated for that by raising taxes an additional 4.2 %.

Would you expect them to give up revenue from red light or speed cameras??? If you do, you need to stop your drinking!

Fred