I understand that the Waldo police write a whole lot of tickets. I don't like seeing a cop car sitting just past a speed limit sign either. Whether it is or isn't a speed trap depends on your definition of a speed trap. I don't care one way or another. My point is that the frequent limit speed changes, which according to Waldo Police Chief Michael Szabo are set by the state, are very well marked. To avoid a ticket all you have to do is pay attention. The police chief further states that they usually only write tickets for speeds more than 10 mph over the speed limit. In my experience that's way more lenient than most local police departments.

Am I alone in believing that demanding quotas creates a conflict of interest or at least the appearance of one? Have you ever been given a ticket for going over just 2 miles above the speed limit. Well I have and hired an attorney who made several contacts and came back with "it doesn't matter you were over the 55mph limit"and they won't budge.

Have you heard that one manner of setting speed limits is to ascertain the majority of drivers speed. so if the traffic movement natural inclination is 60 than 60 mph is posted.

Did you know that for years New York refused to raise the speed limit above 55mph on the Thruway because it saved lives except when they did raise it fatalities dropped.

Did you know that with just one change the need for red light cameras and the obvious money-sharing abuses would be unnecessary. It is just a slight change in extending the caution light.

did you know that the reverse of this remedy decreasing the length of time that the caution light appears is used to rig the system?

This issue is far from cut and dry. And if as suggested in a previous post some thing Waldo's tactics ought to be applied here then remember that we have far too many residents traveling in passing lanes substantial under the speed limit and some with the expression clearly signaling that all drivers should follow suit.

I am a law abiding citizen also but sometimes even in law enforcement a bad apple is found

If you click on the link I provided you will read this statement:
"Hampton, Lawtey and Waldo were the three most notorious speed traps along U.S. 301 in Florida."

These three towns are all close in proximity. Waldo becomes the 2nd of the three to be accused of criminal behavior involving their speed traps.

Speed trap indeed: Waldo cops say they've been under ticket quotas (w/video) | Tampa Bay Times
Here's a video...

How convenient for some to say good job Waldo when in fact it is illegal. Which laws do you want enforced? Everyone wants to be a cow pasture cop!

Setting the quotas may be illegal, but dishing out the tickets is not.

I have read that in Waldo people have been given Speed tickets for going 1 or 2 mph over the posted limit.

Waldo Speed Trap
 

This is why we do not travel route 301 when we come to The Villages.



Infamous speed trap town investigated over tickets | Boston Herald

I simply use the cruise control through that stretch of 301. I've not been ticketed, but can't recall the last time through there that a car was not pulled over for some reason, presumably "speeding". So it takes a couple of minutes longer overall. To make me feel better about the situation I make sure I don't stop for fuel or food going through the little "trap towns". If their city management believes ticket writing is the way to improve their budget, the loss of retail sales tax should be felt also. It's not hard to simply plan ahead and avoid stopping for supplies along 301.

In the past (when TV was still 98% hay fields and watermelon patches) .... Lawtey and Waldo were both big time, major league "speed traps". The speed limit would go from 55/60 mph to 30mph, with no warning, only a single, small and not very visible 30mph sign. Both cities wrote thousands and thousands of speeding tickets per month.

Then AAA and bad national pub but pressure on Fla DOT to force them to put up the "warning" signs of a speed reduction ahead. Frankly, if you get a ticket now ... it is pretty much your fault.

It was only AFTER the warning signs in Waldo and Lawtey were put up that Hamton tried to get in on the easy money, as they did not have them.

True. Tickets should be a way of punishing people for breaking the law NOT a way of raising revenues.

Also placing speed limit signs with declining speed limits very close together for the sole purpose of "catching" people speeding is illegal. Speed limits and speed limit signs are in place to protect the public safety. Again, they are not meant to be revenue sources. People who are caught in these types of speed traps are not endangering the lives or safety of the public which is why they are illegal.

In this case, the town has been found to have been violating the law. Which laws would you like enforced?

There a couple of ways to handle "speed traps".
1. The state law would have to change to have the high majority of the revenue not go to the local jurisdiction but to the state. The state could then dispense the revenue how they see fit: safety, schools, etc.
This would eliminate the incentive to write tickets for revenue and only issue tickets for safety reasons.
2. Have a written policy that speeding tickets could only be written in areas that indicate a large number of vehicular crashes that have' speeding' as the primary or contributing factors as a cause. OR documented community complaints for speeding in that area.

For my part, I do not care how much revenue moving violation tickets generate. In fact, apparently, speeding and red light violation penalties are no where nearly as punitive as they should be. What so many conveniently forget when they complain tickets is that in order to get one, you have to break the law.

We passed thru there yesterday on our return from up north. They were ready and waiting. Only seen cops on two spots on 95 where they always are, mile markers 56 and 9 in Georgia.