Many American cultural touchstones have deep roots in Tennessee: Elvis, Jack Daniels, barbecue, Dollywood. If you want a truly American experience, take a trip through Tennessee. Just watch out for another uniquely American cultural artifact: the small town speed trap.
This information comes from the NMA’s National Speed Trap Exchange (http://www.speedtrap.org/), a unique website that gives drivers an opportunity to report on and exchange comments about predatory speed traps they have encountered on their travels.
Five Highest Activity Speed Trap Locations
1. McKenzie: North Highland and Paris drive on 79
2420 Reports 99% Acknowledgement Rate*
“They must have a new way to collect a tax on us. A mobile speed unit is used there. Well, I used to go through there each weekend going to the lake and bought quite a bit of gas there (100 gal at a time) and shopped at Rural King. NO MORE. Well it is just as easy to go another way, to the lake, which I will from now on.”
2. Union City: Roving
762 Reports 99% Acknowledgement Rate
“Three White SUVs with camera operated radars. Speeders are photographed, and citations sent. These SUVs are located anywhere they wish to put them.”
3. Dyer: Highway 45 Bypass just north of Thompson Lane.
343 Reports 100% Acknowledgement Rate
“Dyer police sit in the median just north of Thompson Lane on the Highway 45 bypass in a spot difficult to see until you are upon them and prey upon unsuspecting north and south bound travelers. Seems like there is enough crime in Dyer that the police would have their hands full without harvesting money from travelers in a location on the bypass nowhere near the city.”
4. Milan: Leaving town on Hwy 45 N towards Martin
331 Reports 99% Acknowledgement Rate
“Posted speed limit is different on one side of the road than the other. Leaving town it goes up to 45 mph from 30 mph while the drop to 30 mph on the south bound side is a mile north of this sign. They set up in between catching people who pass thru north on their return south that think the 30-45 change is the same coming back thru.”
5. Bradford: Hwy 45
271 Reports 98% Acknowledgement Rate
“The city of Bradford now has a speed camera that can be moved around. It is on a white trailer so watch out.”
Ten Tennessee Cities with Most Reported Speed Traps (for the Last Five Years)
Rank | City | Number of Speed Traps | Acknowledgement Rate |
1 | 29 | 91% | |
2 | 16 | 89% | |
3 | 15 | 90% | |
4 | 13 | 88% | |
5 | 13 | 83% | |
6 | 12 | 96% | |
7 | 11 | 99% | |
8 | 10 | 93% | |
9 | 10 | 79% | |
10 | 9 | 55% |
* Acknowledgement rate is the percentage of yes votes to total votes by motorists indicating whether the reported locations, in their opinions, are actually speed traps. Data are available at the links provided.
About The National Speed Trap Exchange
With the development of The National Speed Trap Exchange (http://www.speedtrap.org/) more than 10 years ago, the National Motorists Association pioneered the use of interactive media to alert motorists to potential speed trap activity in their communities. Since then the site has reported on nearly 80,000 speed traps throughout the United States and Canada.
