A small town near me got in deep shit for being small town assholes recently. That and embezzlement. This town is on a major highway to Myrtle Beach. They also prided themselves on the “safety” and “smallness” of their town, while also preying on vacationers.
Their municipal police police would aggressively enforce the speed limits. Every time I had to go through there you’d see someone running speed at nearly every speed zone change. As little as one to two mph over would get you an interaction with them. They also would issue tickets for far more than was normal. Up to 10 over was easily a $400 ticket, when most places would only do $150. They were also kind and polite about it. They’d offer to take payment right then and eliminate the speeding points. Which was the issue.
If you paid there they wouldn’t report the ticket. Or the cash. The town kept the money; the town was making about a million a year. You were fined under a safety ordinance and not traffic law. They were also supposed to share portions with the county and state, but didn’t. They argued that it was not a traffic violation. This town of barely 700 people had fifteen police just running speed traps.
They eventually were found out, and the municipal police department was heavily curtailed. The county manages speed through there and is nowhere as aggressive about it.
always been the opposite for me. Cops in my small towns legit let teens drive without their licences and shit lol
Those are prolly local kids they know. You only ding out of towners.
Small town cops looking for 1% less white skinned people and even a hint of a foreign accent.
It’s never very clear in the US if the speed limit is locally a thing, a suggestion, or completely ignored. As a visitor, it’s always problematic. I wish they got that sorted out.
When I first went to the US, the unrealistically low speed limits were one of the first things I noticed when driving.
I kinda assumed that this is by design so that police can pull over anyone they feel like since virtually everyone drives over the speed limit in some areas as it is so ridiculously low.
Yeah, I live in small-town US where many residents have complained about speeding in areas with heavy pedestrian use. In response, the local PD was quoted on the front page of the paper saying they don’t have time to enforce speed limits. A few years later and they were again on the front page saying that they don’t have time or equipment to enforce parking regulations. So here they’re somewhere between suggestion and completely ignored, but the next town over is filled with speed cameras and highway patrol sitting in wait to meet their quota…both towns on the same road.
don’t have time
TF are they doing, then?!
Sucking up overtime while asleep at home.
Oh no! The police aren’t busy with more serious laws so they focus on the only laws people are breaking at the moment!
Why does this mean they suck, exactly? If you want to drive fast, drive on roads designed for fast driving.
My small town had two cops. had the “chief” was transferred to a bigger town with more minorities. So now my town only has one cop. I bet things are going to actually calm down a lot
There will be a brief moment of satisfaction when these types all lose their jobs to drones before things get even more dystopian
