By Joyce LeeThe Daily Northwestern
They wait beside deserted highways, at shadowy intersections and in the tree-lined streets of suburbia. They catch unsuspecting drivers at any time of day. They are speed traps, and they may have met their foe.
Visitors to The Speed Trap Exchange, speedtrap.org, can check where and when speed traps are located. Anyone can anonymously post their own experiences getting nabbed by police on the free site.
“Basically, it’s a way for drivers to protect themselves from overzealous enforcement or traps,” said Aaron Quinn, communications director for the National Motorists Association, which runs the site. “We think that if police are going to enforce the speed laws, they should be out in the open rather than tricking people into speeding and then issuing them tickets.”
The site, which Quinn said receives 15,000-20,000 visitors each month, contains listings for towns across North America, from Evanston to Tijuana to Toronto. It also displays information on state speed trap laws and suggestions on fighting speeding tickets.
“I think it’s a good thing, especially in Evanston because the police here are always trying to get money from you,” said Weinberg senior Karina Shah, who has a car at school. “There are so many different ways to get a ticket here, so if there’s a site to help people avoid them, that’s great.”
There are only five speed traps listed for Evanston, including one at Chicago Avenue and Howard Street, where “cops will nail you on a yellow light,” according to one poster. The other listed traps are located at the intersections of Oakton and Asbury streets, Sheridan Road and Oakton Street, Ridge Avenue and Grove Street, and at the entrance of a retirement home on Golf Road.
“Generally, I have bad driving experiences in Evanston,” said Janelle Ezell, a 23-year-old cashier at Whole Foods Market, 1640 Chicago Ave. “I once made a wrong left turn at that confusing intersection by Burger King, and (the police) tried to lock me up for reckless driving.”
While Shah and Ezell agreed driving in Evanston can be a headache, no town in Illinois made a 2006 list of the 10 worst cities in the U.S. for low speed limits and heavy enforcement. Among the top of the citation-heavy cities identified by the association were Detroit, Washington, D.C., Orlando and Colorado Springs.
“I think that police departments believe that it increases safety to give out more tickets, but our position is that a lot of speed limits are underposted and the majority of traffic goes at a reasonable speed,” Quinn said. “If the city decides to set a speed limit 20 miles per hour under what people think is reasonable, then they’re definitely going to speed.”
Danielle Goldman, a Weinberg sophomore and self-professed “speeder,” said she’s learned how to drive with caution in Evanston.
“I’ve been stopped twice for speeding on Lake Shore Drive, once when I was 16 and once when I was 18,” said Goldman, who was issued tickets in both instances. “They’re always in the exact same places, so now I know were all the speed traps are.”
But police officials are not perturbed by speed traps becoming public knowledge.
“I’ve heard of such Web sites, but it doesn’t matter,” said University Police Assistant Chief Dan McAleer. “All I care about is if people slow down.”
Reach Joyce Lee at [email protected].
