7 Ways To Shut Down A Speed Trap
October 30th, 2007 Posted in Speed Limits, Speed Traps, Traffic TicketsSpeed traps are often used by municipalities as a method of generating revenue to run the government. "Safety" is given as the excuse for running a speed trap, but the real reason boils down to money.
- The police department wants more money for equipment and salaries.
- The City wants more money to avoid raising taxes.
- Local residents and businesses often go along with speed traps because they reduce local taxes, and besides, they’re usually not the drivers who get the tickets anyway.
A "win win" situation for everybody in town, but not for the poor saps that suffer fines, points and insurance surcharges in the name of "safety." However, any person, if persistent enough, can take meaningful action to eliminate the classic speed trap. There are multiple approaches to bringing public and private wrath down upon the perpetrators of speed traps.
1) Appeal To Local Business Owners
With sufficient prodding local businesses can be effective in lobbying for the end of community speed traps. One way to prompt this kind of lobbying is to convince business owners that the local speed trap is costing them money, or is about to cost them money.
This can be done by sending letters to local businesses and the chamber of commerce stating that you and anyone you can convince accordingly, will not be shopping in that community until the use of speed traps is discontinued.
2) Get The Attention Of The Local Media
Letters should be sent to the local newspapers, radio and TV stations, and to the mayor or any other head of the government that sponsors the speed trap.
The combination of economic sanctions (loss of business) and embarrassment of local officials may generate pressure to eliminate the speed trap, or at least reduce its most abusive characteristics.
3) Purchase Small Advertisements In The Paper
If the media ignores the story, you can still get the word out in other ways. To add a little momentum to your efforts you may want to purchase small ads in surrounding community newspapers that identify the speed trap and demand that things change.
4) Find Other Speed Trap Victims To Join The Cause
Ask around the area and find other speed trap victims. The trap has taken money out of their pockets so it won’t be hard to convince them to join the effort. If you generate some additional interest and help, the media and local officials will start to take you more seriously.
5) Request A Traffic Engineering Study
If a local village or city is using a state or county highway as a speed trap you may be able to provoke the state or county officials sufficiently to have them force the end of the speed trap. For example, if the speed limit is severely under-posted you can request a copy of the traffic engineering study that sanctioned such a low speed limit.
You can use a "public information request" or "freedom of information request" to force the release of this study, if the public agency won’t willingly release it. More often than not, no such study exists.
There are exceptions, but all states require a traffic engineering study to support an unusual or abnormally low speed limit. Even if a traffic engineering study exists, it may not support the speed limit posted by the local unit of government.
6) Talk To Your Elected Officials
All elected officials give lip service to the belief that underhanded and exploitative speed enforcement should not be used as a means to extort money from honest responsible citizens. It’s fair game to ask them to put substance behind their words. You have every right to ask your state legislators to pass a law that will reduce, if not eliminate the abuses common to speed traps.
Here are some approaches you can suggest to your state senator or representative:
- Require that any posted speed limit that differs from the standard speed limit for a given type of road or highway be supported by a legitimate traffic engineering study that determines the 85th percentile speed of free flowing unimpeded traffic.
- Establish a limit on the percent of local revenues that any community can generate through traffic fines. Any local unit of government that is generating more than 10% to 20% of its total revenue from fines is abusing traffic enforcement for revenue enhancement purposes.
- Require that a high percentage (75 %) of all traffic fines and related costs be transferred to an unrelated state fund, e.g. public education, emergency relief, or public library aids.
- Prohibit the use of electronic speed measurement devices to enforce speed limits that have not been determined through the use of an official traffic engineering study.
- Require specific and proper training for any person using electronic devices for speed enforcement purposes.
- Provide that any motorist charged with a traffic violation has the automatic right for a change of venue to a court of record (from a local administrative or municipal court).
- Prohibit the use of electronic speed measurement devices to clock vehicles within 100 yards of a speed limit sign that reduces the speed limit.
By giving your legislator concrete and realistic suggestions you will have made it difficult for he or she to just ignore your request. Getting a bill drafted and introduced is still a long way from getting it passed into law, but it sure is a good start in the right direction.
7) Challenge Your Speed Trap Ticket In Court
On a very personal and individual level there is yet another way to challenge and oppose speed traps.
If you’re caught in a speed trap, you need to challenge your speeding ticket in court. Just paying the ticket to avoid the hassle will only perpetuate the system by giving the municipality exactly what it wants and expects: your money. Challenge your ticket in court with the full knowledge that you may have to appeal your conviction to a higher, more legitimate court. This accomplishes a variety of objectives:
- You force the operators of the speed trap to take their time and money to prosecute you.
- If you are well prepared, a competent judge may decide to formally chastise the speed trap operators, especially if they have violated an existing state law.
- Finally, as a reward for your hard work, there’s a good chance the charges against you will be dismissed.
This article was adapted from information on the NMA’s speed trap registry website, www.speedtrap.org, a listing of speed traps submitted by drivers across the country.
Other Related Articles
417 Responses to “7 Ways To Shut Down A Speed Trap”
By Jeff on Nov 11, 2008
A lot of cops in my neck of the woods would get $1234 speeding tickets if that were enforced.
By Todd on Nov 11, 2008
Jon you said there would be the occasional speeder who would race through traffic at 90 to 100, and that they can be given a ticket for reckless driving. Jon I couldn’t agree more that a person recklessly speeding at 100 mph through 70 mph traffic should get a ticket. Wait I think they should have a big ticket($1,234), their liscense taken away and drivers ed is needed to get it back, and also 3 months in jail.
By Jeff on Nov 11, 2008
Traffic already flows at 70-90mph in urban areas where I live.
Fast drivers have a bad reputation because slow drivers would rather sleep behind the wheel instead of paying attention to other vehicles around them.
By Jon on Nov 11, 2008
Global warming is being used here the same way it is being used in the political world. It is a distraction from the real issues. The Earth goes through a pattern of temperature fluctuations over time. There are patterns on a short range, such as different seasons throughout the year, all the way up to the large scale patterns that cause ice ages and warming. Then you throw in El Nino’s and such and you have a lot to think about. Global warming is a natural phenomenon that is a combination of events including fluctuations in the atmosphere, Earth’s distance to the Sun, and seismic and volcanic activity. The fear that it is a man-made problem stems from environmentalists trying to put a stop to pollution.
Global warming has nothing to do with speed traps other than they are both a means to manipulate innocent people.
Jeff, although you are funny, I would prefer to not be on the road when you are driving. You sound like you may be the reason fast drivers have such a bad reputation.
Most driver training classes will teach you that it is safer to go with the speed of traffic, rather than obeying the speed limit when everybody else is speeding. Occasionally this will get you a ticket, but it is better than causing an accident. They could eliminate speed limits from most freeways in rural areas, and traffic would flow safely around 70 to 80 mph. There would be the occasional speedster who would race through at 90 to 100, but they could still be given a ticket for reckless driving.
By Mike on Oct 31, 2008
What does all this stuff about global warming or cooling or whatever have to do with speed traps?
By Todd on Oct 30, 2008
No, but what about when too much co2 enters into the sky. Doesn’t that cause the green house effect which might cause the ice to melt faster.
By Jeff on Oct 30, 2008
Humans release CO2 everytime we exhale. Do you feel that is a problem?
By Todd on Oct 29, 2008
Hi Jeff I found a web site in which you might like. (http://www.globalwarmingisnotreal.com/index.html) The name of the web site speaks for itself. Maybe you do have some truth in what you are saying. I think I might be caught up in the global warming BANDWAGON. Jeff I have to be honest with you that I did not do enough research on global warming so I am willing to be openminded. Maybe you right maybe your wrong. I don’t know. Just so you don’t missunderstand me I never said you were wrong I just ask you some questions.
By Todd on Oct 29, 2008
Jeff I understand what you are saying but what about the “green house effect.”
By Jeff on Oct 29, 2008
The ice WAS melting in the north because of something in nature called summer. Over the next 4 months, the ice in the north will be increasing in size due to something called winter.
By Todd on Oct 29, 2008
Jeff please tell me why the ice in the north and south is melting if globel warming is BS.
By Jeff on Oct 29, 2008
And what happened to the global cooling all the climate “experts” warned us about in the 1970s?
By Hubcap on Oct 29, 2008
Jeff, thou art a moron. Go post your right-wing Faux News talking points someplace else.
Global warming is as real as it gets; you need to learn the difference between weather and climate.
By Jeff on Oct 29, 2008
Global warming is a farce created by politicians so they can raise taxes on citizens to pay for “jobs prgrams”.
By your own data, 20 states do not lower speed limits around urban areas.
By Todd on Oct 29, 2008
We can’t have a nice life if the environment is damage. We must reduce our dependence of oil because its limited in supply and it pollutes the environment. Vehicles should run on USLD diesel, Biodiesel, E100, or Hydrogen since it is renewable and does not pollute as much as oil. Wind and solar is also good sources.
Lower speed limits will use less gas and reduce pollution but the gains are minimal. Instead the gov’t should turn its focus away from lower speed limits and focues more on helping automakers build vehicles that run on alternative fuels.
As far as speed traps they are ok if used appropriately in a fair reasonable manner.
Peace!!!
By Randy on Oct 28, 2008
Jeff global warming is being shown by hundreds of square miles of ice disapearing on the North and sounth poles. According to you a snow storm in the northern US in early winter offsets all of that?
Since there is no reasoning with you we will say there is no global warming and I can go ice skating tomorrow and snow skiing in the Midwest over the weekend.
There are some 30 states or so that have laws that limit speeds around urban areas to lower limits. Tomorrow they will all pass laws for you and say that you can go 90 mph anywhere you want to.
By Jeff on Oct 28, 2008
The Northeast just got hit with a big snowstorm in October. Tell me more about this “global warming” thing.
By Jeff on Oct 28, 2008
Even the speedtrap state of Ohio has the same freeway speed limit, 65, around urban areas such as Toledo and Cincinnati as it does on the rural freeways.
By Jeff on Oct 28, 2008
500 miles of 80mph speed limits - I’ll take it !!!
By Mike on Oct 27, 2008
The only places in Texas where 80 mph is permitted is a 400 mile stretch east of El Paso on I-10 and less than 100 miles on I-20 where it starts from I-10 in west Texas. It’s straight roads in flat land with little traffic. Normally, under Texas state law, the speed limit on highways in urban areas is 60 mph, and in rural areas, it’s 65 mph, unless otherwise posted.
Michigan has included most of its highways this year under the new 70 mph speed limit. Given the twists of I-75 through Detroit, it should be interesting since many of its drivers can’t stay on the road at any speed, but maybe the highways are less congested now that most of Michigan has shut down and died due to the layoffs.
By Todd on Oct 27, 2008
Jeff if globel warming is BS then why is some of the ice in the north and south starting to melt. I am not trying to say you are wrong because some people say globel warming is real while others say it is not.
By Jeff on Oct 27, 2008
Some state have 75mph speed limits. Texas allows 80. Montana and Nevada allow 70 on 2 lane roads. I think you have been brainwashed by the Illinois political machine which still threatens it’s citizens with 55mph speed limits.
The last time Al Gore ran for President, he lost in his home state of Tennessee.
By Randy on Oct 27, 2008
Jeff you are an idiot. It is still all about you. If it was 60 degrees where you are it must be 60 degrees everywhere. if the speed limit is 70 mph on the road you are on then it must be 70 mph on all roads throughout the country. Where do you come up with your ideas.
By Jeff on Oct 27, 2008
Global warming is a bunch of b.s spread by Al Gore. Northern Michigan had the coldest winter in at least 20 years last year.
By Randy on Oct 27, 2008
Jeff here is an article in Minessota about the speed differece amoung city and country speed limits and this happens around dozens of cities around the country. It also talks about global warming. You have blinders on.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/12/04/speedlimit/