I live in Houston, and I agree with it being in the top ten list. The local sheriff is only concerned with making money, nothing else. Gotta love it!

“In the eyes of many libertarians, these schemes exist to raise revenue for municipalities.”

It’s one thing for them to be used to “raise money for municipalities.” It’s another thing altogether when that money-raising also raises your insurance premiums and can cause you to lose your license. In an area like Detroit, where absolutely everything is reached by car, these speed traps can cause more than just a $150 fine.

About two weeks ago, I was cruising down Telegraph north of Maple Road in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, when I spotted six police officers in the median, all pulling people over before a mile-long stretch of four-lane, 50-mph-limit road with no residences or offices for the entire stretch. Although I was going the limit (and had my seat belt on,) a ton of cars around me were pulled over in the middle of the morning rush hour.

I live in Orlando.

Damnit!

#2: The smell of bacon must have been overwhelming…

I think I saw a similar site to what #2 saw on Telegraph north of Maple, but I was in Telegraph very far south near I94. At least 6 officers on the median, preparing for an assault on the people who pay thier salaries.
The Detroit area is very spotty as far as speedtrap coverage goes, Telegraph, for instance, not a good place to speed. It’s very obnoxious when effort goes into this sort of thing, yet most of the really poor driving I see around (swerving around, really severe tailgating, etc) goes completely unenforced.

If you use law enforcement as a revenue enhancer, then I firmly believe that you should Die In a Fire.

That is all.

I just got pulled over for 6 MPH over the limit On the beltway in Houston!!! F*@#$ng cops!!!!!!!!!!

I can attest to Austin being overly trap-riden.

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I think citizens should protest this…I live in a county where ALL the police seem to do is run radar. I was in a car accident and it took them 35 MINUTES!! to get there, why? They were writing tickets (found out from someone we know at the local precint). It was rush hour so they were too busy giving out speeding tickets and not concerned with the wrecks and the traffic jam we were causing, though not intentionally. I recently got a ticket because the officer said it seemed (seemed mind you were his words) like I rolled through a stop sign at a 4 way. I had to stop, there was a car there across the way. I told him that I knew I stopped, he then told me it seemed like I rolled through it….the date was Sept 27, end of the month…every ticket I have ever gotten here has been end of the month…and for stupid crap like that…. Quota maybe????

I live in Nashville. The fact that we’re on this list doesn’t surprise me. We got a new Police Chief who has been doing a great job at reducing crime… although he has a fixation on traffic tickets.

I live in Colorado Springs, and as others have mentioned, the cops line up their cruisers and motorcycles behind an over-pass with an officer standing next to the guard rail holding an “instant on” speed gun, nailing people and sending the others after them. This is just the sort of thing that they use to collect money. I can understand nailing people for speeding in school zones, neighborhoods and areas like that, but for going 5mph over on the interstate? They need to focus on catching criminals, not commuters.
Anyone else read the article on the officer who wrote a book on why catching speeders is more important than catching criminals? What a loser!

That’s just wrong! Chasing speed freaks, hell yes, but in rush hour, a few miles over the limit ain’t much…I’d never ticket someone for crap like that.

Austin’s MoPac highway is a speedtrap nightmare. I honestly saw 13 motorcycle cops within 5 miles on the way to work on morning. (a group of 5, 6 and two people pulled over by one each)

Slade, that letter states it’s from the “Driver Improvement Bureau” Too funny. More like the bank account reduction committee.

Detroit Subuarbs especally the rich ones whrere there is no crime and just bored cops…
Cops are the enemy… they abuse there power and are high school jerks….. as far as i’m concered they should give out speeding tickets…. like in spain.. where they consider they time is better spent on other activities….

Interesting you mention that Josh. Whenever I’m in Spain, I regularly drive at anything between 150 and 200 kph, and I’ve never had a problem with the law. You’re right, of course, the Guardia Civil is far more concerned with serious problems, such as terrorism. Perhaps that is the reason that Spain has captured, prosecuted, and incarcerated more than forty Islamists in connection to both 9-11 and the Madrid bombings, while the U.S. has been busy prosecuting… well, the luckless moron they caught at JFK on his way back from doing pushups in Afghanistan, and that’s it.

RAS, that’s a horrible experience you went through. I hope nothing like it has happened since.

I live in Orlando, Florida. You can drive at a natural safe speed some of the time depending on the area (and I’m talking about highways or multi-lane roads, not school and residential areas), but most of the time you have to cool it. I live in a good area. I know the local law enforcement has to deal with crime problems out here, but they really do too many speed traps.

I’ve just visited Los Angeles and had the opportunity to drive on the 101, 405, 5, 10, and other roads, (never got around to driving Mulholland though). I find that there is little to no speed enforcement in an environment that is 10x more aggressive than Orlando.

Parking fees and parking violations seem to be de rigeur here.

Craig,

I appreciate your comment. Nothing like that happenned again. However, during a subsequent episode with a local sheriff in which I was actually speeding, the sheriff in question wasn’t happy with the fact that I wasn’t intimidated by his badge. I don’t know, I guess he expected something like: “Aw shucks Sheriff, was I really speeding? I am so, so, so very sorry, Sir. Can you find it in your heart to, please, give me the fine I so richly deserve? Gee, thanks for nailing me.” When he didn’t get that, he made a point to mention, in his words: “all you foreigners are the same, you got no respect for authority…” The sheriff’s last name was Lopez, and I’m the foreigner? Go figure. The best bit was the way he spoke, it was a cross between Cheech Marin and a wannabe Dirty Harry. Pissing hilarious.

By the way, LAPD doesn’t really patrol freeways that much in LA, and when they do, they seem to use unmarked cars, or at least take the turrets off their cruisers. It’s residential areas that you should be careful, especially high income areas where they have absolutely nothing else to do. Brentwood, PCH, Torrance, all of Redondo, Marina Del Rey, and areas in and around Bev Hills are, in my experience, heavily patrolled. As explained to me by a former cop, they stick to high income areas because they know that the chances of people in those areas fighting a ticket in court are slim or nil. And whatever you do, don’t speed in Mulholland or Sunset, they’re speedtrap hell. If you want to have a go, do it in any of the many canyon roads north of Malibu, during lunch hours… cops will be busy hitting on beach blondes at the local Starbucks, trust me.

Then again, after that Enzo saga…