Houston: Worst Speed-Trap City in America?

By Richard Connelly Tue., Feb. 22 2011 at 6:00 AM

Categories: Courts, Crime

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Speed traps can be thwarted

A new compilation of online complaints seems to show that Houston, believe it or not, is either a) the worst American city for speed traps, or b) home to the drivers who complain most about speed traps.

CNBC looked at all the reader-submitted listings at speedtrap.org and declared Houston the worst.

Aaron Quinn of the National Motorists Association, which puts together the speedtrap site, tells Hair Balls CNBC used this database for their study. since the site does not rank the cities but just lists complaints.

"Speedtrap.org is a user-driven Web site, so all the speed traps listed are contributed by drivers," he says," so it's not claiming to be scientific.

But Houston has 373 complaints on the site; no other city in the U.S. has more than 200. Texas cities do dominate the top ten list, though, with Austin coming in second and Dallas eighth.

The NMA gathers the info, it says, because it "opposes the use of enforcement tactics that are intended to generate revenue from technical violations of underposted speed limits."

Some of the Houston locations listed:

-- Loop 610 near Reliant Stadium: "Two cops run the trap. One is running radar and the other is waiting to pull out and get you. Look for this trap the last week of any month on both sides of the 601 Loop near the Astrodome."

-- Shepherd/Durham and I-10: "There is a bridge going over the bayou and business parks. Cops sit at the foot of the bridge (southbound for Durham, northbound for Shepherd). They use radar and hide behind bushes or the taqueria stand. On Durham they also look for inspection stickers/seat belts at the stop light for I-10 overpass."

-- Beltway 8 between 59 and I-10: "Harris County Constables have this entire section staked out. Cars, motorcycle cops, all with laser, always during rush hour and sometimes other times as well. Have very sneaky hiding spots all along the toll road. Always have at least two patrol units with laser, sometimes up to four or five."

And on and on and on....

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