Laws about speed traps

[bad_luck_chuck]

Speed traps are illegal in my state of residence. However, there are numerous localities that skirt this ordinance.

How do you (officers) feel about situations like this?

[NyPd Sgt ALU]

depends on what your definition of a speed trap is. please explain what you think it is

[Creeker]

depends on what your definition of a speed trap is. please explain what you think it is

...and include a link to your state law specifying what Legislators think one is, please.

[Piggy]

Also, clarify if it's a state law or ordinance. When did you get a ticket?


(the line is cast.....the bobber went down.....I got a nibble! Reel it in creeker)

[Whitebear]

smells bad here....... I dont feel bad about it.. if someone if getting caught ina speedtrap, this might save his life or someone else's life.... I would never feel bad about it, respect the speed limit or pay the fine...

[cruzmisl]

bad luck chuck probably got a big *** ticket

I make tons of money and got a few free toasters from speed traps.

[phantasm]

a cop sitting at the bottom of a hill, or behind a curve in the road is not a speed trap.

[Johninaustin]

Every time I hear some clueless turkey whine about speed traps I get this mental image of a big hole in the road covered with leaves.

I can't help it. I grew up watching Bugs Bunny. :D

[Legoate]

I had a woman go on for about 30 minutes in court about how I had illegally cited her because I had caught her in an unlawful speed trap on a road that didn't have a current speed survey and how I was using radar illegally.

My argument was this: Speed traps only apply to radar usage in CA. I wasn't using radar, I paced behind her for about 1/2 a mile until she drove through a school zone filled with kids at 25 over the speed limit. And, lastly, there actually was a current speed survey for the area she was cited (although she never checked, just read verbatim off of her internet beat a ticket site).

Apparently most of society thinks that anywhere they get a ticket is a 'speed trap'.

[DCF]

"Speed traps only apply to radar usage in CA."

Purely out of curiosity, could you explain when radar usage, in CA is a trap. The verified section in General Topics is fine. I'm just curious.

Thanks

DFrost

[Lawson]

Out in these parts, a speed trap is more on the city/county/state's part, more-so than just the police department. It would be something like, you have a 55mph stretch of road curving down a hill, then as you're going around the curve, a 25mph sign is posted in a manner where you probably aren't going to have reasonable time to slow down. Having that done in the mere interest of writing tickets, is a speed trap.

An officer parking along the highway at night with his headlights off, running radar, is not.

[Legoate]

"Speed traps only apply to radar usage in CA."

Purely out of curiosity, could you explain when radar usage, in CA is a trap. The verified section in General Topics is fine. I'm just curious.

Thanks

DFrost

I'd post the code, but it's pretty long and hard to read...basically in CA speed traps only apply to radar use or using timed devices to measure speed. In CA it is considered a speed trap to use radar outside of a Prima Facie speed zone when there is no current speed survey for the roadway. Basically, engineers must have done a speed survey on the roadway and listed the 85th percentile speed for that area, then list the recommended speed.

I've only ever seen this be a problem in one area in my town- there is a 4 laned roadway with a speed limit of 25 mph. The limit was set that way by the city because of the number of collisions involving pedestrians. There is a large transient population in that area that kept getting run over. It is also a major overcrossing for both freight trains, and the rail transit in town. The blocks there are also very short leading to tons of merging traffic from the residential sidestreets. However, the 85% score was around 40 mph because everyone speeds through there. The speed survey for that roadway also expired and wasn't reaccomplished due to the large amount of road construction underway. Basically, we just stopped shooting radar there and started bumper pacing people.

[mcsap]

If an animal walks through a trap, they get snared. PERIOD.

If a speeder does something close to the limit through a " speed" trap, they probably never even know they were being checked. If they are speeding , they get a cite.

So the problem with speed enforcement is ...........?

It isn't whether or not we are there , it's whether or not you get a ticket. People don't howl, moan or complain because we do speed enforcement until they get a ticket. Otherwise , they don't care.

[txinvestigator1]

What do they use for bait in a "speed trap"?

[Ispbear]

What do they use for bait in a "speed trap"?

A green flag, followed by a checkerd flag one mile down the road.:D