Caution: the mayor is watching you

From : donquijote1954

Q: doug kanter wrote speed trap a specific location in which police wait in concealment hoping to catch unwary motorists speeding. for example a police car might wait behind a bridge or overpass out of sight of approaching motorists and then pull out once they pass. alternatively an officer hiding in a bush or behind a fence might radar passing motorists and radio their license numbers to a partner in a car further down the road. often this type of operation uses remote speed detection devices such as a radar gun to track cars speeds. i always thought a speed trap was a stretch of road where for various reasons most drivers sense of speed was distorted. vague but able to be determined by an inordinate number of speeders being observed. see several definitions at link below... well usually it takes some participation in politics to know how to make big business in a perfectly legal way but ill clue you in in the hope that you wont run for my local government. ; examples in the recently incorporated town of coopertown tennessee the mayor decided citation needed to lower the speed limit drastically in order to fill the towns coffers. the city limits includes a small stretch of interstate i-24 on both the east-bound and west-bound lanes of exit 24 just north of nashville tennessee. city police are now sitting in speed traps near the overpass of the exit and also in the bottom area near the cheatham county line. fines are outrageous but are fulfilling the mayors purpose. he says it makes his town safer but no one travelling i-24 even passes close to the two schools and one church that makes up the town. local residents are avoiding the traps but those who are just passing through have no warning. the citys policebudget has nearly tripled from $155880 during the last fiscal year to $451550 this year. coopertowns budget calls for $400000 in traffic court revenue 29% of the citys budget and a dollar amount higher than in many midstate cities with more people. in the village of new rome ohio a speed trap that has received national media attention a police force of 14 presided over a community of only 60 and collected around $400000 in tickets annually. this comprised nearly all of the villages budget and nearly all went back into funding the police. in the capital city of saint paul minnesota a stretch of interstate 35e slows abruptly from 60 to 45 miles per hour due to the freeway passing through a residential zone; a disproportionate number of tickets are given to less-than-aware drivers passing through this area even though the speed limit is posted on numerous signs entering the zone.citation needed a force of less than a dozen full-time and reserve officers in coburg oregon a city of fewer than 1000 people raised over $750000 in traffic fines in a year on a section of interstate 5 outside the city limits. when the oregon legislative assembly closed a legal loophole the city had been exploiting coburgs police force spent the last six months before the law took effect writing an average of 22 tickets/day. this resulted in bail amounts totalling more than $1 million. waldo florida and lawtey florida are the only known towns as of 2005 to be designated by aaa auto club as speed traps with aaa going so far as to post billboards along u.s. highway 301 warning drivers to watch their speed limits. both traps feature multiple variations in speed limit. anecdotal evidence produced from analyzing some large texas police departments and the texas dps suggests that at least half of all moving violation tickets written by any traffic enforcement agency are for speeding violations. this means that speed limits are enforced substantially more than any other moving violation. http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/speedtrap .