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I destroyed one of these “sudden” speed traps (where the Speed Limit suddenly and unexpectedly is dropped very close to the higher speed as you enter the town).

I got a ticket at 1:30 AM in Bridgeville, Delaware as we were returning from Rehobeth Beach. The town’s outermost speed limit was about 35-40 MPH but then within less than a block it dropped to 25 MPH with a cop attached to it. Also, the signs were placed in a poorly lit area so that you could miss them if you were unfamiliar with the area.

Wanted to fight the ticket but they rigged how it was written and priced to discourage out of town travelers who they caught by the score, from coming back many miles to fight it in court.

Well, I paid the ticket but got my revenge by writing a column-sized letter to the state newspaper telling everyone where it happened, what happened, and that I would never come back to Delaware beaches again.

Also I would warn our extended family who had a beach house up there about the speed traps and asked others who had suffered from the “money trap” to boycott the beaches.

The newspaper actually asked me to write the letter in a column format, and they printed it across the whole page on a Thursday. My sister-in-law went through the town on Friday and the speed signs were changed (wider spacing etc), but the damage had been done.

People avoided the speed trap by slowing down before even getting near the signs, thus depriving the little thiefdom of their ill gotten gains (Alderman Brown, you did that to your own town because you were a nasty SOB, and got what you deserved).

Also, a new state bypass before the town took away about 80% of its traffic, thus reducing any chances of them getting the kind of speedtrap money they had done before.

Besides the personal satisfaction of screwing the town out of ill-gotten money, I also got some satisfaction of showing them that you don’t f*ck with a longtime investigative journalist with a degree in Police Science.

My Traffic Patrol and Administration teacher taught us well in the ways of the “money” schemes police departments used to fill county/city coffers, such as “quotas” for specific types of offenses on an assigned basis.

They also use their ticket power for minor problems such as cracked, broken or burnt-out operating lights, many of which the driver never knew about, esp. if it was the rear lights. The police have the discretion to give warnings but they don’t. Their local governments need the money to pay for their profligrate spending and boondoogle schemes.

Publicizing really blatantly unfair ticketing practices is the only way a citizen can strike back. The media is usually open to publishing a story that shows a bureaucratic unfair or unethical practice. DO IT!