The anatomy of a speed trap

Speed trap

noun

1. a section of a road where hidden police, radar, etc. carefully check speed of motorists and strictly enforce traffic regulations; sometimes characterized by hard-to-see signals, hidden traffic signs, etc.

                                                        Dictionary.com

As I have mentioned in several previous posts if there is one thing I get asked about more than anything else is – in so many words – “what are you going to do about that speed trap heading north out of town on SS?” Ask any officer be they local or otherwise and they will categorically deny that there is such a thing as a “speed trap.” Posted speed limits are just that: posted and meant to be honored. If, in our case, a Chetek police officer tags you going

Flash should know better

above the limit on SS or elsewhere within the city limits, well, yeah, you may earn yourself a ticket. Everybody knows that. But what if there is a stretch a road where it seems the police are not just catching occasional speeders but hunting for them regularly? Then conventional wisdom says you got yourself a speed trap.

This is a real website

How did SS north of town get so renowned that it made the National Motorist Association's national speedtrap exchange (speedtrap.org)? On that half mile stretch of road between Harrison Auto Body and the former Snug Harbor Resort there is Just Imagine Florists, the American Legion post, Heritage Credit Union, three storage units and essentially a whole lot of green space and yet the posted speed limit is 25 mph. Why? Even in front of the high school and middle school up the road in Cameron its 35 mph. so why is the traffic regulated to an Amish buggy-like pace on a relatively empty stretch of highway? The more cynical among us already have an answer: it's a revenue-making machine for the city. But is that really so?

In the last few months I've spoken by phone with Barron County Highway Commissioner Mark Servi on a couple of occasions and when I asked him about why SS is 25 mph. he thought about it for a bit and then said, “I'm pretty sure it has to do with the 'Safe Routes to School Plan.' In March of 2008, the City of Chetek with the full support of Chetek Area School District (note: the school had not yet consolidated with Weyerhaeuser School District) adopted the Chetek Safe Routes to School (SRTS) plan that eventually brought all those new sidewalks that went in on the north end of town (as well as on Railroad Avenue and elsewhere). According to the official application dated April 2, 2008, the SRTS Task Force, made up of a wide spectrum of school, city and county officials as well as several other parents and community members, already had an agreement with the county to reduce the speed limit on Dallas Street from 35 to 25 mph. No where in the seven page document is any mention made of Highway SS north, however.

NOT the actual document

About a month ago in Gordy's parking lot, like some clandestine exchange between a spy and a public official, “John” (okay, that's his real name but never mind), handed me a four-page memo from Mark Servi of the Barron County Highway Department to someone whose name has been blacked out. It includes a cover letter from Mr. Servi as well as a copy of the minutes from the Barron County Highway Committee Meetings from March, April and August 2008 that essentially gives us a time line of how SS went from 35 to 25 mph. According to Commissioner Servi, the County was “approached at the March 5, 2008, Highway Committee meeting by representatives of the City of Chetek. At that time, the posted speed limit was 35 mph for that section of road. The City of Chetek was working toward a 'Safe Routes to School' grant and one of the items on their prioritized list was speed reduction on both CTH SS and CTH D.” For those intent on looking for a 'smoking gun' there it is: we asked for it.

His letter details that following that request he met with a representative from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation who reviewed the request and in turn “advised that the speed limit should be lowered to 25 mph, taking into account the Safe Routes to School initiative.” With the thumbs up from the State, the Highway Committee approved lowering the speed limit to 25 mph on August 6, 2008. What is interesting about the minutes from that August meeting is that they indicate that the speed limit was to be lowered “from the Heritage Credit Union's driveway south to the intersection with CTH D' and that “we [i.e., the county] would work out the appropriate signage duties with the City of Chetek.” However no where in this four page document does it indicate why the 25 mph begins way out by the turn lane for Parker Drive instead at Heritage's driveway as originally noted. Perhaps that's detailed in other meeting minutes? Perhaps the guy put the sign in the wrong spot? Or was he directed to do so by some unnamed county or city official? I guess that's where conspiracy theories begin to gestate.

We are officially on the agenda for the Barron County Highway Committee meeting that will meet on April 6 to lobby for the following changes:

1. To change SS from 45 to 35 mph where currently the 25 mph now begins.
2. To leave alone the 25 mph sign that is currently posted near the Heritage driveway as it has stood since 2008.
3. To change Hwy D west from 35 mph to 25 mph between the railroad tracks to the city limits. There are a lot of homes where small children live on that stretch of road as well as an entrance to Faith Baptist Church and Parker Drive north.

In a few email exchanges between Mark and myself he cautioned,

“...you will need to come prepared to explain why the City wants the changes. Please understand that these are no longer just us agreeing. There are speed studies and DOT (Department of Transportation) concurrence that are needed to make any changes.” In other words, don't get your hopes up. There are yet a lot of hoops to jump through.

Everybody wants the same thing: kids getting to school safely and people driving responsibly. Those sidewalks on Dallas Street took a long time to get here and we're glad that they're there. But is it really necessary to slow traffic down to a crawl on a stretch of road you never see kids on? Inquiring minds would really like to know.