Jax #1....in speed traps

[coredumped]

The National Motorists Association has ranked Jacksonville #1 in speed traps for all of Florida:

http://www.motorists.org/press/worst-speed-trap-cities-september-2010

Personally I don't agree. The list also put Boca as #1 for speed traps in cities under 100,000. I would have though Lawtey!

[Dog Walker]

Speed trap?  Jacksonville???  Ridiculous.

Enforcement of speed limits in this town is a joke and seldom occurs.

[RockStar]

Speeding : the only crime JSO's not afraid to tackle.

[Bativac]

Yeah I don't see Jacksonville at #1 in the state. Waldo and Lawtey have us beat.

Did they have any actual statistics other than "some stupid hick cop pulled me over in Jacksonville!" "Me, too!"

[Dog Walker]

AAA talks about Lawtey and Waldo being speed traps, but not Jacksonville.  Who the heck is the National Motorist's Association?

[simms3]

Is this why everyone in Jax drives so slowly??   

[jandar]

Waldo and Lawtey have a single cop working a speed trap. So yes, while they always run it, it only catches one car at a time.

Jacksonville on the other hand:
I have seen 6+ motorcycle cops on the Soutside to 95 ramp. One runs a radar against traffic coming south on 95 from Baymeadows, the other 5 get the speeders.

I have seen them setup on I10, or I295 at night with lights off.
The base of the buckman (either side) is another spot they like to hide.

[newzgrrl]

I grew up in Lawtey, and I find the speed trap claim to be ridiculous, for a number of reasons.

First, AAA has done a great job of publicizing the so-called trap. Between the black billboards outside of town and the road signs as you enter town -- signs that say SPEED STRICTLY ENFORCED and include blinking lights -- folks are well aware that Lawtey is a town of Enforcement.

Second, make note of the town layout. As you drive through Lawtey, which is less than two miles long on 301, you go through the heart of town. There is a school on the west side of 301 and railroad tracks on the east. You're driving through a commercial district, and the one stoplight is at the intersection with CR 125, which leads to Camp Blanding -- often, convoys will leave Blanding and drive through Lawtey to their destination.

Third, the lowest speed limit in Lawtey is 45 mph. This was changed when I was middle school, after a lot of pressure was placed on the town. It used to be 35 mph -- remember, you're driving past a school that includes kindergarten through eighth grades, and has a large recreational field along the highway. Contrast that with Starke's lowest speed, which is now 30 mph in its highest-density stretch of commercial, on the south end of town where there are numerous restaurants and offices.

Fourth, there's always a lot of fuss made over Lawtey's budget and the amount of revenue the city receives from speeding tickets -- I've seen it cited between 30 and 60 percent, but most often is noted at 50 percent. People like to cite this percentage with the statement that the town is living high on the speeding ticket hog. Consider how small the town is: it has less than five full-time employees and a handful of part-time employees. The fire department is all volunteer. In recent years, a new city hall was built that is maybe 3,000 square feet; the old city hall would fit inside the St. Nicholas Train Depot.

Fifth, crime is low there, mostly robberies, burglaries, etc. There is almost no violent crime. So, police have the time to enforce the speed limit in their little, low-crime town. Why is it so wrong to enforce the law, in a place where fair warning is given of the strict enforcement?

We want the law enforced on red-light runners and violent perpetrators. Do people decry Lawtey because it is too much of a personal inconvenience for a town to enforce a speed limit designed for safety? If the speed wasn't reduced, imagine how many people would blow through the single red light, possibly hitting school children and military convoys. Slowing down is not that difficult, particularly when you are approaching a light that may turn red anyway.

[coredumped]

I guess if you want to say speed traps aren't speed traps if you get fair warning then I'll take my statement of Lawtey being a speed trap back. However, if a speed trap is a place where the cops have nothing to do but run radar & pull you over for 6mph over the speed limit, the Lawtey is most certainly a speed trap.
That being said, I've never been pulled over. There is AMPLE warning from the road signs to the billboards. If you do get pulled over in that town you deserve it:)

[danno]

If you are prepared to speed then be prepared to pay the ticket.

[simms3]

Rural towns are the worst!

No kidding, I just got a ticket for going 73 in a 70 in the city of Sparks near mile marker 41 on I-75.  There was another car ahead of me that got pulled over for going 75 (we were the only 2 cars on the road at the time).  This was mid-August.  July 2 I got a ticket in Tifton (literally 20 miles north of there) for going around 78 with traffic.

I almost never come home and the last 2 times I have come home I have gotten a speeding ticket on 75 in GA both within practically a month.  75 in GA is the worst stretch of highway I have seen for speed traps (have been driving that stretch now for 5 years and have seen speed traps bigger than I have ever seen anywhere else...like 15 cop cars and bikes in between 2 hills on the highway near Perry near mile 130).  Bottom line, if you have a nack for tickets like I do, don't drive 75 to Atlanta, just fly.  I have barely ever noticed cops on I-10 (have seen them maybe twice hidden where the trees are in the median in the Olustee Forest and at the rest stop).  Unfortunately I-10 is a great highway to get stuck behind 2 slowpokes driving THE speed limit or below in both lanes side by side.

[Dog Walker]

Simms, You are driving dumb.  Keep your wits going.  When the big trucks slow down, you do to.  Stay out of the left lane.  Stop driving that red Mustang.

And remember, if you are going to do the crime, you have to do the fine!  

[Dog Walker]

There is no problem at all with Lawtey or Waldo if you JUST OBEY THE FLIPPING SPEED LIMIT!  There is NOTHING secret about their enforcement and they do not pull you over for 1 MPH over the limit and their traffic signals are not set to short yellows.

[CS Foltz]

simms3 you are driving with your head up your pantyhose! You can't go faster than the big rigs and if you do, without a CB telling you what is ahead.............you will be busted! Certain sections of 10 or 75 is target city by either the local yokels or the big boys! Keep right except to pass and hold it to speed limit plus 5 in the boondocks and in Poduck Junction what ever is out....no faster than what is posted!