A place to avoid passing through?

Seems like there are still places where minor infractions and misdemeanors are seen as a major revenue source.

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Wow. This is eye opening. This confirms why we drive very slow in small towns. Still, I’m sure I would do something wrong.

There used to be a town, maybe in Georgia (?) that was like this, so bad that AAA would route people around the town when putting together TripTiks for folks driving from the northeast to Florida.

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You may be thinking Lawtey or Starke, FL.

Both widely known speed traps.

Whenever we’d need to drive through it we’d definitely go speed limit. It was crazy. Like ridiculously crazy.

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There are speed traps in eastern Colorado. Granada, Colorado to be precise. When we got to a motel in La Junta, further west down the road, everyone in the motel lobby was talking about getting nabbed.

Tappahannock, VA is that way. FIL would read the newspaper to us at times and it would have the police report with tickets being given for as little as 1 mile over the limit. During Covid I haven’t seen as many pulled over as before, but it had been common to see the local welcoming committee.

Reading that story makes me go wow. Tappahannock isn’t anything like what they’re doing in Brookside. I hope a class action lawsuit gets filed.

They’re making Boss Hogg and company from the Dukes of Hazzard look like amateurs.

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I would add: a place to avoid parking and being a minute late. San Francisco, CA. Worse in December. We would always tell people visiting (we don’t live there anymore) to make sure their cars were properly moved every few hours unless they wanted to contribute in a significant way to the Christmas bonus fund.

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Waldo FL. Got written up nationally in AAA as speed trap and they eventually got in trouble. Starke was bad too. In Waldo there was a curve in the road where one side was 45 mph and as you hit the other side (;lots of trees and totally obstructed) the speed sign said 35 mph. Probably 30 feet.
Only time I was ever nailed for speeding. All they wanted was a check. No points, no class, no nothing–it all went away by writing the check.

North Port FL had speed traps at one point years ago on I-75. They had it so the highway speed limit of 70 went down to 55mph–you wouldn’t even know as you cruised along . They got busted for that too.

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Interesting what you’re saying about Tappahannock. We’ve been through there dozens of times over the years and have never had a problem. Maybe we’re just lucky! :slight_smile:

Be careful parking in Philadelphia!

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If you were following local traffic, they automatically slowed you down in Tappahannock. It’s happened to us a lot.

$610,000 in fines from a town of 1,253? Linndale, OH says “hold my beer”.

already this year, Linndale has collected $2.3 million from traffic camera fines.

All of that just from people passing through this 25 mph zone in a village of 160 people.


only 160 people live there, but the police force has 10 officers.

The state has been fighting it for decades. Car & Driver had a story on them back in 2003.

Did you read the article? Traffic cameras are one thing and can catch every mile over, no doubt, but the things happening in Brookside are far more than that.

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If you drive through an area where posted speed limit is far below what it should be, you know someone is probably waiting for you


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And it’s usually a good idea to slow down when you see decreasing speed limits. That’s what we do when we start coming into a town like Tappahannock. We know to slow down. We like to go through smaller towns so try to pay attention to decreasing speed limits (which can come up quickly). @Creekland , When I think of Tappahannock, I always think of the Marlyn Cafe. It’s long gone but was quite interesting, with great food.

My ONLY speeding ticket in almost 50 yrs driving: Lake Sunapee, NH. They have a very steep hill that is 45 at the top and abruptly 30 mph at the bottom. We got pulled over and there were 6 other cars, also pulled over, all with out of state plates.

Maybe 20 yrs late we passed through the same area on the same road and reminisced about that ticket. We hit the brakes so we were going under 30 at the bottom of the hill.

The speed trap was still there! Could not believe it. Almost wanted to wave at Barney Fife as we rolled by!

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Can’t say I’ve heard of it and just asked H. He’s been going to Tappahannock since he was in diapers, but apparently his family didn’t go there because he’s not familiar with it either. They loved Lowery’s for seafood when they would go out. They just closed during Covid, back in 2020 I believe.

It was rare for us to go out anywhere though. They have a riverfront cottage near there, so we tended to eat in with a great view - or if we went out, it meant the picnic table in front of the cottage.

It’s always funny how two different people can be in the same place and have totally different experiences - even in small towns!

If people are traveling in upstate NY (the North Country area, not near Albany or Syracuse), beware of both Redwood and Brier Hill. They like to ensure speeding doesn’t happen in their towns. I don’t think they’re after the money like Brookside is. I think they just don’t want people speeding through town.

Only a really small percentage of the population will ever see those places though.

The Marlyn Cafe opened in 1949, was a small place, loved by locals, with excellent seafood. Lots of character. I only went to Lowery’s once, many years ago. We went by it last month and did notice it t was closed. In Tappahannock, you do need to slow down and pay attention to speed limits. Never had a problem there but husband did get a speeding ticket passing through Gloucester County( south of Tappahannock) many years ago. Gotta be careful everywhere!

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I wish we could have experienced Marlyn’s! It sounds exactly like what H and I enjoy. Such is life sometimes
 His folks had/have their places and rarely try anything different.

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