I-45 Speed Trap Follow Up

My wife and I drove from Ennis to Dallas today. Again, I was embarrassed by the proliferation of cops manning their radar guns on I-45..

Speed traps are among the lowest forms of law enforcement (TABC would also challenge for that title). I saw cops hiding under bridges, cops hiding on the access road, and cops pulling over fellow drivers (to meet their quota).

I have two problems with this speed trap nonsense. First, the speed limit on I-45 is 60 miles per hour. This is a six lane interstate highway without heavy traffic. The speed limit should be at least 70. After all, motorists want to get through Wilmer as quickly as possible. The 60 mph speed limit has no connection with safety, or with reality (I was going around sixty and being passed by almost every car).

Second, these speed traps are literally highway robbery. Instead of taxing their own citizens to fill the coffers cities like Wilmer spread the misery to out of town motorists. This is not criminal justice, it is traffic taxation.

It’s time to raise the speed limit of I-45 and let these cops do something useful with their time.

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2 responses to “I-45 Speed Trap Follow Up”

  1. Speed traps are a random tax on travel. Actually, they may not be so random, as we know, depending on the officer’s motive. Is it pretextual, targeting ethnicity or socioeconomic status, or is it just trying to fill the daily unspoken unwritten quota?

  2. leek says:

    Wilmer and Shenandoah are the worst cops along I-45.

    If you’re going south on I-45 from Dallas, slow down to 60 MPH at Belt Line. Don’t speed up until you’re past Palmer.

    If you’re going north on I-45 towards Dallas, look for an Old Brickyard golf net on your left, just past a hill-climb, just past Ferris. That’s the start of the Wilmer speed trap. Don’t speed up until you see Wintergreen and have past the Wilmer water tower to the West 🙂

    If you’re traveling south on I-45 towards Houston, slow down near FM 1488, just past Conroe. If you’re traveling north on I-45 away from Houston, slow down near FM 2920 / Hardy Toll Rd.

    Trust me, I’ve traveled from Galveston to Richardson (i.e. the entire extent of I-45).

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