Howard Co (MD) Police are completely out of control

[ZBB]

Man... I'm glad I live in AZ.

While we have to put up with photo-radar on surface streets and on one freeway (coming soon to more...), at least we have what I consider a very good rule:

Only the an AZ Dept of Public Safety (ie the Highway Patrol) can pull over somone on a State or Federal highway (ie Interstates, state freeways, or US Highways). City or County officers cannot patrol those roads -- they can only do surface streets or county highways. And County Sheriffs can only patrol in unincorporated areas unless a municipality contracts with the Sheriff to be their police force -- which means you can't have 2 authorities pulling you over in the same municipality.

In addition, they can only pull you over for exceeding the limit by more than 10 MPH (state law -- even the photo-radar machines must be set to trigger at 11 MPH over).

On top of that, we generally have reasonable limits here: rural interstates are 75MPH, rural highways are 65MPH, Freeways are 65MPH in most parts, 55MPH downtown where its frequently congested, etc.

[John V]

Originally Posted by ZBB

On top of that, we generally have reasonable limits here: rural interstates are 75MPH, rural highways are 65MPH, Freeways are 65MPH in most parts, 55MPH downtown where its frequently congested, etc.

US-29 is a bit weird where TD saw the speed trap. A bit south of the road with the cherry-picker-positioned-trooper, the road turns from a limited access highway to a more traditional US highway with at-grade crossings, traffic lights, and more non-vehicular traffic. So a 55MPH limit is not unreasonable, though I usually find myself doing 65 on that stretch of road on the rare occasion that I'm forced to drive it.

And to be entirely fair, I've whizzed by the speed traps at 65MPH and not gotten a look from the police. I think they're typically looking for the gross offenders - the people doing 15-25over.

It's still ridiculous.