Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, November 13, 1995 TAG: 9511140008
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
And now, Internet surfers have their own warning system for highway ``speedtraps.''
It's the World Wide Web Speedtrap Registry, and a few infamous Western Virginia speedtraps have made its pages.
Vanderbilt University computer science major Andy Warner started the registry in February, allowing people to tattle on police whom they believe are using unfair practices to catch them with radar.
Warner has categorized the speedtraps by state. Virginia currently has about 36 entries, including a few that informed motorists may have known about for years.
Sleepy towns seem to be popular among these speedtrap informants.
``Slow down to the posted speed limit (45 mph) all the way through Boones Mill,'' a motorist warns in one entry to the registry.
If you're ever zooming down U.S. Alternate 58, another motorist says, watch that speedometer once you enter Big Stone Gap in Wise County.
``This town has become a notorious speedtrap,'' this person writes.
``Speed zones are quite arbitrary, and police are usually set up at zone lines to catch people who don't notice changes,'' the motorist adds.
And don't let the flat land fool you when traveling on U.S. 29 through Gretna, someone says.
``The flat but tree strewn median through here allows local police and highway patrol to set many speedtraps. Their favorite time is around 4:30 to 5:30 p.m,'' says the motorist, obviously a frequent traveler through the area.
Western Virginia motorists have been kind to police compared to those in Northern Virginia, particularly Arlington.
``I pass a cop there almost every morning on the way to work,'' someone says of the 80-mile marker heading northbound on Interstate 81. ``Thank God he always has someone pulled over when I go past.''
Another Arlington motorist warned that the police there have a ``favorite trick'' of ``running radar from their cars with the trunks open. It is not immediately visible that it is a cop car until an officer runs into the road to flag down their unsuspecting victim.''
And watch those border-prowling police, another motorist warns about a spot near the Virginia-North Carolina border on Interstate 85.
``I was stopped in the evening (no traffic in sight, 78 in a 65). I have made the trip many times since then and have seen them lingering at the bottom of this hill more often than not. Welcome to Virginia! And don't have your radar detector visible; they will take it.''
In a disclaimer on the registry's home page [http://www.nashville.net/speedtrap/], Warner says it ``is not meant to be a tool to undercut the efforts of law enforcement to keep our roads safe.'' Instead, it is ``an effort to cut down the number of speeding tickets resulting from traps.''
by CNB