# What do you consider a "speed trap"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 19, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-speed-trap/547250 "2010-07-19T18:19:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-speed-trap/547250/21 "2010-07-20T05:06:49Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > I don’t understand the idea about “confusing” or “unnecessary” speed limit changes. I have seen some crazy scenarios in my time: > > A two way street where one side had a different limit than the other side. > A 6 lane street where the speed limit was 25 mph. > A freeway that suddenly isn’t a freeway anymore and the only marker is a sign that says the new speed limit is 35 instead of 50. > A two lane street with a speed limit of 45 that suddenly dropped to a 25 mph school zone for about 50 feet, then back up again > > Imho, there’s no excuse. As a driver, you look at the signs to see how fast you should go, and the start of the new zone is marked by the sign. [Read this story about the notorious ticket trap (not just speeding)](http://www.caranddriver.com/features/03q2/town_without_pity-feature) in New Rome, Ohio. There’s a difference between reasonably posted speed limits and stretches of road with artificially low speed limits purposely designed to rake in the revenue. Note also that that town’s police also ticket for _driving too slow._ You just can’t win there. Well, you _couldn’t_ win there. The Ohio DOT decided the speed limit drop was against state guidelines, the police force was suspended, and eventually the town itself was dissolved. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-speed-trap/547250/22 "2010-07-20T05:19:17Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Near me is a small town. A school, a hospital, shops, resteraunts, sidewalks, and even some houses right along side the highway. And a fair number of traffic lights along the way too. Near me is an actual small town. 🙂 The only buildings that are accessible directly from the highway is a gas station/bar combo and a post office; everything else (which pretty much consists of another bar and a couple houses) is way off the highway on some other road. No houses, no schools, no traffic lights (no controlled intersections at all, that’s how small this town is) nothing at all. The speed drops from 55 to 50 for no logical reason at all. Even worse than that, the same cop that wouldn’t bat an eye if you were going 60-65 in the 55mph zone will ticket you quicker than shit for going 51 once the speed limit drops. I’ve never had a speeding ticket (I never get pulled over, either; just once in more than a decade, no tickets) so I guess I’m just lucky there because I go through this stupid town all the time and don’t adjust my speed (63-64mph usually) at all, but I know a lot of people who have been pulled over in that quarter-mile stretch of road. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-speed-trap/547250/23 "2010-07-20T05:28:59Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > It the buildings aren’t built close, doesn’t that imply you’d have the ability to stop before any real damage happened? That is the reason why speeding is bad, right? Going off the road? Most accidents occur on the road, not off it. If vehicles do leave the roadway, my first concern is for pedestrians, not buildings. And even if accidents don’t occur, speeding through towns assaults the pedestrian environment–people _feel_ threatened and disturbed. Buildings which are substantially set back from the road encourage speeding because they make the driver’s visual corridor _feel_ wide open. Structures without setbacks (front doors opening onto the sidewalk, or small stoops or stairs from the sidewalk) make the visual corridor feel constrained. The same effect occurs with street trees (between sidewalk and curb) and parallel parking (between curb and travel lanes). All of these things can be incorporated into street design without actually narrowing the travel lanes, but they make the travel corridor _seem_ narrower and busier, and drivers instinctively slow down in these conditions. Parallel parking and street trees also provide some actual physical protection for pedestrians and structures, if some reckless asshole does careen off the road while speeding through town. [Here](http://books.google.com/books?id=UZ0-0X4aiwQC&pg=PA64&lpg=PA64#v=onepage&q&f=false) is some of the relevant material (“Safe Streets versus Dangerous Streets”) from the book I mentioned earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-speed-trap/547250/24 "2010-07-20T14:42:36Z")
> [@palindromemordnilap](#): > > What makes it a trap is when the cops frequent a spot because they know people will naturally speed there, rather than for some public safety reason. That’s how they do it in my part of the world. Completely voluntary on the drivers’ behalf, as you know the chances of bush hiding are good. But since doing 90 in an 80 zone on a intersectionless, dual lane, dual carriageway is meaningless, they must get enough peple with their guard down to make it worthwhile. ---
**Author:** ![pope\_hentai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@pope\_hentai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pope_hentai)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-speed-trap/547250/25 "2010-07-20T22:25:02Z")
on the south side of Franklin TN there was a spot where the speed limit dropped from 45 to 35, as you crest a hill, on one side of the road for about a quarter mile at the most. Every sunday for a month and a half an officer would park on a side street at the bottom of the hill, get out of his car, point a radar gun up the road and catch people as they crested the hill into the 35mph zone. Then he would just wave them down into the side street and write tickets. He did this for entire 8 hour shifts. Apparently the right people complained though, because , although that speed limit had been that way for as long as i can remember, after 6 weeks of this they raised the speed limit there. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-speed-trap/547250/26 "2010-07-21T05:27:32Z")
I consider speed traps sudden changes in speed limits for no good reason, and overly strict enforcement. Multiple LEOs are efficient for them - one spotter and several cars to stop the speeders. If they are stopping those going significantly over the limit, fine with me. I lived in a town that had what some people considered a speed trap - but the 25 mph limit was reasonable given that the road went through the center of town and right past an elementary school. People tended to speed on it because it was on the way to the interstate. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-speed-trap/547250/27 "2010-07-21T12:53:00Z")
I think the poll is somewhat flawed. I would call anything designed to catch speeders a “trap”, like say hiding. But would I call it a “trap” in the sense that it is unfair for cops to hide to catch them? Not at all. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-speed-trap/547250/28 "2010-07-21T17:56:49Z")
Unecessary speed limit changes. We have a famous (notorious) trap in a nearby town: Colfax, Washington, south of Spokane. Should you ever find yourself driving through this dreary little hamlet, pay CLOSE attention to the speed limit signs as you approach town, especially from the south, no matter how absurdly and arbitrarily slow they tell you to go. These yahoos aren’t kidding. . ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-speed-trap/547250/29 "2010-07-21T18:21:37Z")
Thee are 2 places in my area that have high bridges over expressways. Even if you coast down the hill, you can exceed the speed limit without touching the accelerator. Cops wait on either side of the overpasses and nail people who don’t know enough to brake as they come down the hill. It is crummy. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-speed-trap/547250/30 "2010-07-21T21:12:50Z")
> [@Absolute](#): > > No. Driving too fast for the road is a public safety issue. But the speed limit does not necessarily correspond to the fastest safe speed for the road. > > There is a road near me that does not have a marked speed limit. It is wide, newly paved, with gentle corners and good visibility. Everyone does around 40 or 50 there because driving any slower is just stupid, and this road is like any other 40 or 50 mph (marked) road in the country. > > A few months ago, some police agency (I guess it was the sheriff) parked a bunch of squad cars there for a week and gave everyone tickets for going 50 in a 25. Because, of course, on every road crossing the county line (about 10 miles away from here), there is a sign that says “The speed limit on all county roads is 25 mph if not posted”. > > Pure bullshit. > > Another example. As you leave Los Alamos National Laboratory, heading to Santa Fe, you spend about 20 minutes driving on a highway through the desert, on an Indian reservation. This is a two-lane divided highway with no hills, no houses, no animals, no nothing. Just pavement, sand, and scenery. The speed limit is 55. The speed limit on a similar stretch of state highway would be 75. Driving 55 is mind-numbing and a waste of time. > > The tribal police have designated it a “Safety Corridor”, allowing them to double the amounts of all the tickets they issue. They regularly drive the road and issue exorbitant tickets to everyone going over 60. I’m of the belief that there should be a national agency where all fines are paid. Whoever issues the ticket sends it to this agency and whoever gets the ticket pays this agency These fines than can be used for…whatever…charity or something. The local community gets…nothing. Not a percent. Not any 'fee. Nada. Zip. This way if they feel spending a million dollars is important for setting up red light cameras (for example) then they can pay for it…but they will collect no revenue. Not even for the equipment. If that camera/police officer time etc is important then russle up the taxes to pay for it. I hate frickin stealth taxation. 2 years ago I would see someone pulled over for speeding maybe once every 2 weeks. During the last year I’ve seen at least one pulled over every commute TO work and then every commute FROM work. You can’t tell me that ‘safety’ is so much more important now than it was before. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-speed-trap/547250/31 "2010-07-21T21:55:30Z")
When driving one pays attention to road signs and such. If you exceed the posted limit you may possibly get ticketed for it. I don’t see any trap here at all. Oh, and all jurisdictions (States, Provinces, etc.) have rules for maximum speeds where otherwise un-posted. Yes, it’s up to you, the driver, to be familiar with these limits. For example this is what Ontario has to say about it: > [@](#): > > In cities, towns, villages and built-up areas where there are no posted speed limit signs, the maximum speed is 50 km/h. Elsewhere the maximum speed limit is 80 km/h. ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-speed-trap/547250/32 "2010-07-22T20:13:28Z")
I picked other because they are all speed traps. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-speed-trap/547250/33 "2010-07-24T01:51:25Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > I’m of the belief that there should be a national agency where all fines are paid. Whoever issues the ticket sends it to this agency and whoever gets the ticket pays this agency These fines than can be used for…whatever…charity or something. > > The local community gets…nothing. Not a percent. Not any 'fee. Nada. Zip. > > This way if they feel spending a million dollars is important for setting up red light cameras (for example) then they can pay for it…but they will collect no revenue. Not even for the equipment. If that camera/police officer time etc is important then russle up the taxes to pay for it. > > I hate frickin stealth taxation. 2 years ago I would see someone pulled over for speeding maybe once every 2 weeks. During the last year I’ve seen at least one pulled over every commute TO work and then every commute FROM work. > > You can’t tell me that ‘safety’ is so much more important now than it was before. I agree with this wholeheartedly. If it really is about safety of the citizens, then prove that by not making it a revenue source. Florida made no bones about this last year during the budget shortfall. They increased traffic fines, beefed up patrols, and issued edicts that no warning tickets would be issued. Is this about public safety or the state budget? ---
**Author:** ![Ms.Hazel\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Ms.Hazel\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms.Hazel_Ice)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-speed-trap/547250/34 "2010-07-24T03:35:04Z")
I picked the first one. I guess I live in an area that’s more liberal about speed. In many Bay State towns, we seem to expect to get away with a minimum of 5 over the limit. The speed traps that I see are on long, straight stretches of road that are heavily traveled. It’s easy to speed without thinking about it, and the people bagged for speeding on them are usually 15-20 over the limit. In reality, they shouldn’t be going that fast, especially for the safety of pedestrians and others in the area. Granted, there are some towns in Massachusetts where you should probably drive 5 under the limit or else be ticketed–Ashby and Townsend come to mind. I guess I don’t think of those as a speed trap, per se. Maybe it’s because I expect it, but a speed trap is more so like: SURPRISE! You were caught speeding! ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-speed-trap/547250/35 "2010-07-25T04:04:11Z")
[quote=“BlinkingDuck, post:30, topic:547250”] > [@Absolute](#): > > …I hate frickin stealth taxation… In the UK,we have the GATSO. [http://www.speedcamerasuk.com/gatso.htm](http://www.speedcamerasuk.com/gatso.htm) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-a-speed-trap/547250.md?page=1)