Read this story about the notorious ticket trap (not just speeding) 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.
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.
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 is some of the relevant material (“Safe Streets versus Dangerous Streets”) from the book I mentioned earlier.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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?
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!
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.