2 miles = $2 million per year revenue

Yet another New Rome, OH.

I am not offended for this is a process used by the Iowa State Police and the city of Des Moines.
Every so often they will get together and set up a radar point and usually catch over 100 violators in a short time.
This is not a question of police over reach but the police keeping the citizens observing the law.
Do not speed and you swill not get a ticket

...not whether or not to continue the radar trap. It appears different jurisdictions want a piece (or maybe all) of the pie so to speak.

As a matter of fact, I did get a ticket. It was from aircraft. When the patrolman pulled me over, I protested that I was not speeding. He said his own radar did not show me speeding either,but his job was to cite me. He suggested I go to court. The judge dismissed the ticket just before my trial was to begin. His Honor said he did not like aircraft tickets.

I was wondering what the judgement would be, and I found this.

http://progress-index.com/news/hopewell-judge-rules-in-city-...

Personally, I don't like speeding tickets. I got one for 155 in a 55 when I was young, and just 3 years ago, 52 in a 25. The former I got some serious consequences, the latter I was let off easily. What I don't get is this resistance to being caught breaking the law. I like to think that as an adult, getting caught equates to learning one's lesson. If you cheated at work, committed a foul on a stranger, and you got caught by surveillance or a police officer, I think you would weigh the risk v. reward. If you knew there were zero chance of getting caught, human nature is what it is. The only people who need to fear "the man" is the person who is doing something wrong.

Looks like we're having competition here with what troop can write more tickets.

I am not against enforcement of the law. What I am against is the creation of laws simply for the purpose of raising revenue and/or tripping up honest people. When speed limits are set honestly and realistically, they make sense. When they are set artificially low so as to trip people up, that is where I get angry. Around the area where I live and commute, there has over the last several years been a ratcheting down of speed limits by anywhere from five to fifteen MPH. Note that the roads have not changed nor have more houses been built. They were just dropped. Then the RADAR units come out to enforce the "new" speed limit. There has also been some talk of wanting to install New York State's first speed cameras on the Long Island Expressway. The limit is set artificially low at 55MPH when in reality it is more like 70MPH, when it is not normally a parking lot. Now if the government decided to enforce zero tolerance and set such cameras (assuming they are installed) at 56MPH, they will make a fortune. If they get realistic and set them at either 66MPH or 71MPH to catch blatant offenders, then perhaps I might regain some respect for the bureaucracy. My guess is they will go for 56MPH.

The one and only speeding ticket I ever got was back in 1988 for driving 60MPH in 40MPH zone on an Interstate where the speed was dropped for no other reason than to catch people and raise revenue. I got the ticket dismissed and a few years later the limit in that area was raised, perhaps because it was a blatant trap. I did receive a warning back in 1991 in Massachusetts while driving on US-20 in the Berkshires. A particular nasty stretch where the speed limit rose and fell several times over the course of about four miles. In one long stretch you could even see the various speed limit signs ahead of you, all different. In that case, I was five MPH over the limit having just adjusted my speed from another sigh about 1/4 mile back. My guess is it was setup that way on purpose. The trooper gave me the benefit of the doubt.

I don't like speeding tickets either, but after 50+ years of driving I've learned a few things.

Taking your ire out on the officer or venting on here (or elsewhere) only jacks up your blood pressure. If you were speeding and you got caught, so be it.

Be courteous to the officer. This pays off, believe it or not. I have gotten out of tickets, or the officer reduced the speed on the ticket, by just being respectful and honest. Example: We were coming back from the Preakness one year and on the D.C. beltway I got pulled over by a State Trooper for doing 84 mph in a 55. I was courteous and answered his questions truthfully. When he asked me why I was going so fast, I told him that cars kept passing me and I kept bumping up the cruise control when they did. He walked back to his cruiser and a few minutes later came back with the summons. What a shock when he explained that the ticket was for 64 in a 55. He explained that in Maryland, 9 mph over was a "No Points" ticket. Because of this, MD would not notify VA of the ticket (and my insurance co. would not see it). This also meant that the fine was $65 instead of over $200.

It doesn't always work, but ranting will only get the officer ticked off causing them to look for other violations. I have had other tickets reduced by just being respectful. They're doing their job and I'm doing mine. BTW, I haven't had a ticket in over 11 years (knock on wood) and I do speed, but with moderation!

I posted the link because I thought that having 11 deputies for a 2 mile stretch was obviously a speed trap. I can guaranree that none of those officers will cut you any slack because they've been ordered to show no mercy.

In VA it is very unusual to see a city or county police car on the Interstate writing tickets (Hopewell is an exception), but I have seen it in the Hampton Roads area.

I'm assuming that having Hopewell on the AAA list has caused some concern at the state level, as there is a lot of traffic on I-95, and there are a lot of tourists that are upset and swear that they won't spend another dime in VA, if they can help it. The city is getting a lot of money, but how much is the rest of the state losing? The article quoted a city official as saying that they don't write tickets for less than 81 mph. If you believe that, then let me talk to you about a bridge I have for sale. Even in the rural area I live in, people rarely exceed 80 in a 70 zone on I-64.

I think VA has tried to curtail this operation thru political channels and failed. They probably saw how Illinois shut one speed trap down by diverting the fines to the state.

Enforcing the law for safety reasons is one thing, enforcing it for revenue is just plain wrong.