# Linndale speed trap **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 12, 2013, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linndale-speed-trap/666040 "2013-08-12T14:46:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linndale-speed-trap/666040/1 "2013-08-12T14:46:00Z")
> **[Linndale, Ohio](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linndale,_Ohio)** > > Linndale is the smallest village in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It is landlocked, surrounded by the city of Cleveland and the suburb of Brooklyn. According to the 2020 census, the population was 108. > Linndale is located at 41°26′39″N 81°46′3″W / 41.44417°N 81.76750°W / 41.44417; -81.76750 (41.444050, -81.767476). > According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 0.08 square miles (0.21 km2), all land. The southeast border is along the municipal limits ... Speed trap history; Linndale, often called a speed trap,[7][9] has been the site of the busiest, on a per-capita basis, Mayor’s Court in the State of Ohio.[10][11] The village in the past has successfully defended its legal right to enforce the 60 mph speed limit on the 422 yards of Interstate 71 within its jurisdiction under the “Home Rule” provisions of the state constitution.[9][12] The combination of traffic enforcement and Mayor’s Court has provided 80% of Linndale’s one million dollar annual budget, and underwritten its four full-time and ten part-time police officers.[13] On December 20, 2012, Governor John Kasich signed a bill[14] into law effective March 22, 2013, which dissolved Linndale’s Mayor’s Court.[15] A sergeant in the Linndale police department stated that traffic cases would subsequently be handled by nearby Parma. Personally I never agreed with the concept of a “Mayor’s Court”. > [@](#): > > Linndale has a population somewhere under two hundred. In 1993, > according to the state, Linndale police officers **issued five thousand traffic > citations** along the less than half-mile stretch of I-71 that runs through the > municipality. [http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/docs/pdf/0/1999/1999-Ohio-434.pdf](http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/docs/pdf/0/1999/1999-Ohio-434.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linndale-speed-trap/666040/2 "2013-08-12T15:04:33Z")
Gotta wonder how many more of those are out there. At least Ohio has a mechanism to keep them under control, as they used in dissolving [New Rome](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Rome,_Ohio), which was nothing but a speedtrap too. ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linndale-speed-trap/666040/3 "2013-08-12T15:09:10Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Gotta wonder how many more of those are out there. At least Ohio has a mechanism to keep them under control, as they used in dissolving [New Rome](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Rome,_Ohio), which was nothing but a speedtrap too. Interesting, I can’t remember ever hearing about that one? ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linndale-speed-trap/666040/4 "2013-08-12T15:15:57Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Gotta wonder how many more of those are out there. At least Ohio has a mechanism to keep them under control, as they used in dissolving [New Rome](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Rome,_Ohio), which was nothing but a speedtrap too. > [@](#): > > In his decision, Cain held that as a result of town officials’ malfeasance and nonfeasance, New Rome had effectively dissolved itself. “When the electorate allows key offices to go vacant for unreasonable amounts of time and allows other conditions…to cause ruin and decay,” Cain wrote, “it can easily be inferred that this small group of local citizens has abandoned any right it had to operate a local government unit. The corporate powers have already been surrendered. The body is already dead. The statute merely provides for a decent burial.” Hehe I love judge’s decisions that bitch slap a bunch of power-hungry assholes like whiny children. ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linndale-speed-trap/666040/5 "2013-08-12T15:20:41Z")
This is a true story, at least as being told it. When I took criminal law, I think he worked in another state though (?) about the story, a teacher said a group of lawmakers were pulled over by police, and the driver given a ticket. The fact pattern was the same basically as in Linndale/New Rome. In a session of the New Legislature, they passed a Bill to abolish the town!! Ha!! ---
**Author:** ![NotDeadYet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NotDeadYet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotDeadYet)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linndale-speed-trap/666040/6 "2013-08-12T17:08:47Z")
In Florida it was the town (city?) of Waldo on SR301. AAA posted billboards outside of town and the state got involved passing a law limiting he % of revenues a municipality could get for traffic violations. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linndale-speed-trap/666040/7 "2013-08-12T17:10:33Z")
No need to bother with mayor’s courts and costly traffic patrols anymore, just install cameras at key intersections and watch the money roll in. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linndale-speed-trap/666040/8 "2013-08-12T19:29:52Z")
> [@NotDeadYet](#): > > In Florida it was the town (city?) of Waldo on SR301. AAA posted billboards outside of town and the state got involved passing a law limiting he % of revenues a municipality could get for traffic violations. I go up that corridor every time I leave Florida and there’s a string of little speedtraps that one needs to know about. Starke, Waldo, Lawtey, Baldwin, and Callahan are all little towns where the limit drops from 60 to 35 for a few blocks. But at least they all drop the limit in 5 MPH increments instead of all in one go. ---
**Author:** ![NotDeadYet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NotDeadYet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotDeadYet)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linndale-speed-trap/666040/9 "2013-08-12T20:44:06Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > I go up that corridor every time I leave Florida and there’s a string of little speedtraps that one needs to know about. Starke, Waldo, Lawtey, Baldwin, and Callahan are all little towns where the limit drops from 60 to 35 for a few blocks. But at least they all drop the limit in 5 MPH increments instead of all in one go. I know this particular corridor all to well. Drove it at least once a month for years. Never did get pinched, but saw lots who did. Even with the speed traps it is still the fastest, easiest way to get across the state going southwest to northeast. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linndale-speed-trap/666040/10 "2013-08-12T22:40:32Z")
Linndale could have lost its mayor’s court in 2011 had the 2010 Census not come in so conveniently high for the village. > **[Greetings From Linndale](https://clevelandmagazine.com/in-the-cle/the-read/articles/greetings-from-linndale)** > > Linndale, Cuyahoga County's tiniest town and most infamous speed trap, has survived being torn in half, the wrath of the state legislature, and the scorn of several state Supreme Court justices. By last year, Linndale faced only one more challenge:... > [@](#): > > Linndale’s 53 percent population spike is pretty strange, especially when you look at the results more closely. One block officially doubled in population but seemed quiet and sparse this spring. Nine residents supposedly moved into an industrial zone but can’t be found. The census counts one block as part of Linndale when it’s really in Cleveland. The village should have reported the error when the census asked it for boundary corrections, but it didn’t because, a village official says, the town isn’t sure where its boundary is. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linndale-speed-trap/666040/11 "2013-08-12T23:50:25Z")
Ah, yes, Linndale…I have been fortunate in remembering to slow to exactly 60 (or less) through that stretch, though you can usually see the police car sitting there from quite a distance away. But my son forgot one night, and got a ticket. Took us forever to actually FIND the building with the Mayor’s Court in it to go pay the fine, because the actual town is so small and hard to get to without, you know, an exit off the highway. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linndale-speed-trap/666040/12 "2013-08-12T23:51:13Z")
> [@NotDeadYet](#): > > I know this particular corridor all to well. Drove it at least once a month for years. Never did get pinched, but saw lots who did. Even with the speed traps it is still the fastest, easiest way to get across the state going southwest to northeast. Even with the slower speed, it’s better than taking I-75 up to I-10 to I-95. More direct and more interesting. When going from Ft Myers to Raleigh, The FLA border is the halfway mark. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linndale-speed-trap/666040/13 "2013-08-13T00:34:43Z")
IIRC many years back, there was a story where a congresscritter or some such got a ticket on a stretch of highway that fell under a jurisdiction of a town that didn’t actually have an access onto the highway within it’s borders. When he got back to session, he pushed through a ruling where a town had to have physical access inside their borders to be able to do traffic enforcement. And as a warning, if you’re in Arkansas, watch your speed in [Grannis](http://www.speedtrap.org/city/383/Grannis). Avoid it like the plague if at all possible. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linndale-speed-trap/666040/14 "2013-08-18T04:29:28Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > And as a warning, if you’re in Arkansas, watch your speed in [Grannis](http://www.speedtrap.org/city/383/Grannis). Avoid it like the plague if at all possible. Also [Jericho](http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?s=11024771&clienttype=printable). (I’ve looked a few times, but I have found no information about how all that was resolved. I believe the fire chief was charged with something a few weeks later, but I can’t find any articles from after that.)