This wasn’t a speed trap.
This was a section of the highway where there had been recent construction work. There were at least two 40mph speed limit signs, according to what the officer told the driver, during the video.
There was a sign stating “loose gravel”.
Because drivers have a tendency to ignore such warnings, and speed recklessly along, the police are usually directed to monitor such areas more closely.
Just as they do to working construction zones.
Just as they do in school zones.
This was a temporary ‘construction zone’. The reason is to keep people from losing control of their cars on loose gravel, and suing the city or state for not having warned them.
Police officers should ask themselves if it is worth their time and dignity to stop traffic violators and ticket them if necessary to save their lives, and the lives of others.
I don't know if the officer was telling the truth or not regarding the existence of previous warning signs or if the driver entered the highway before seeing the signs. There is justification for slowing down in a construction zone when workers are present. However, if some motorist wants to suffer damage to his vehicle from loose gravel by driving too fast, that is his business. As to the danger, it appears the weather was fine. It is not the business of government to impose endlessly silly nanny state rules, as is increasingly the case. Too often, speed traps are difficult to avoid. For example, US 69 in Oklahoma, unlike several Oklahoma interstates, is not a toll road, yet the towns along the route are notorious for setting up speed traps, thereby collecting revenue, none of which is spent on improving the highway, which is in atrocious shape from the Texas line to Big Cabin. US 69 is really a toll road, even if the state of Oklahoma refuses to acknowledge it.
We would be a far better country if government on all levels just left people alone, even if they do foolish things. Most traffic laws are far more about enriching the local Boss Hogg or, in liberal cities, imposing an anti-automobile social agenda, than actual safety.