Campo, CO Speedtrap

[Kevin Rimcoski]

Don't want to pay the fine don't go speeding through towns. It's not a surprise that speed limits go down to 25-35 MPH in most towns. That town just so happens to have a major highway going through it - not a bad way to make income.

Absolutely true. What o was trying to get at was entrapment. There's a bit of that here as well. I've seen a few officers sit out and tag a couple cars, and radio ahead to a few motorcycle cops up ahead

But unless there's no sign or any warning in Campo, I doubt this is the case.

This was a good read

 

[Todd Rector]

I am positive nobody on this thread advocates speeding through towns, but I am equally certain we have all felt the frustration of zig-zagging northeast, trying to stay in position on a fast-moving cell when we encounter a tiny 25mph city every five miles (looking at YOU, southwest Iowa).

 

[Joey Ketcham]

I find traffic cops pretty useless for the most part. They're tax collectors most of the time.

And why do you find them useless? I hate comments like this directed at those who would be the first to come to your aid when called upon by you. They have a job to do, and traffic enforcement happens to be part of that job. I'm sure whatever job you have, I can find something about it that to me I find to be pretty useless. It's really simple, don't like being issued a speeding ticket? Then don't speed! Problem solved, no worries. Speeding is breaking the law, period. If you speed, get caught then there are consequences as a result of YOUR poor and irresponsible choices that resulted in you speeding to begin with.

I've been caught speeding, I've gotten tickets and I sucked it up like a man because it was because of MY actions that lead to that. I didn't blame the cops, I didn't call what they do useless. I sucked it up.

Sorry if my post seems a bit rude, but I hate seeing our law enforcement painted in a negative spotlight and being called useless when all they're doing is their job which is to enforce laws that you should abide by.

 

[Kevin Rimcoski]

And why do you find them useless? I hate comments like this directed at those who would be the first to come to your aid when called upon bu you. They have a job to do, and traffic enforcement happens to be part of that job. I'm sure whatever job you have, I can find something about it that to me I find to be pretty useless. It's really simple, don't like being issued a speeding ticket? Then don't speed! Problem solved, no worries. Speeding is breaking the law, period. If you speed, get caught then there are consequences as a result of YOUR poor and irresponsible choices that resulted in you speeding to begin with.

I've been caught speeding, I've gotten tickets and I sucked it up like a man because it was because of MY actions that lead to that. I didn't blame the cops, I didn't call what they do useless. I sucked it up.

Sorry if my post seems a bit rude, but I hate seeing our law enforcement painted in a negative spotlight and being called useless when all they're doing is their job which is to enforce laws that you should abide by.

No not rude at all. I like to keep an open mind on any matters. I like hearing the other side and what others have to say

I agree with you. I've had my share of speeding tickets as well. But that's not all a traffic cops gives out as citations. My more recent ticket was because my license hasn't been updated to an arizona one yet and that was a good 200 dollar fine...but I have a valid license and only got pulled over because my license plate wasn't properly attached according to him (it was a dealer plate and a screw was missing so it was hanging on one screw uneven making it difficult for him to read the plate)
There's some places where they can be a bit extreme. But it's only my opinion

 

[Jason Boggs]

I agree 100% with Joey's post above. Calling a cop useless because he/she does their job is pretty sad.

 

[Jason Boggs]

Some people want a cop to do their job when it's in their favor, but when it's not, they cry and complain..."Why does the cop stop me for such and such when there are real criminals for them to catch." I've heard it a million times.

 

[Kevin Rimcoski]

We both have Jason.

Speeding, street racing, aggressive driving is all one thing, it's a whole other for minor things

A lot of bad has happened though with people "just following orders" as well, but that'll lead this way off track.

Maybe I'm also still bitter from when I was I guess you could say victim of that style of driving, and mind you it happened twice within a 5 mile stretch of road directly in front of a cop. Even with me laying on my horn trying to make a scene absolutely nothing happened, yet I get pulled over a few weeks later in the same route just because one motorcycle cop couldn't read all the numbers in my dealership plate

 

[Todd Rector]

Another example: I own a 1978 Porsche 928. It's a classic-year vehicle and considerably rare. I have a personalized Iowa plate "928 V8", on the rear, but have a custom-made German plate (also "928 V8", matching my Iowa rear plate) on the front because it not only looks authentic/cool, but also because American plates don't fit the front license brackets and make my car look "buck toothed".

I thought "Authentic, cool, and it's the actual plate number of my Iowa registration, so what could be the problem, right?"...

I had a State trooper actually turn around on the highway, follow me home, and gave me a ticket in my own driveway for improper plates.

Was I wrong? Apparently according to Code of Iowa section 321 I was. Yet 12 years later I still think the trooper was a petty A-hole.

 

[Kevin Rimcoski]

Wow he followed you home? That sounds odd

In CT, they had checkpoints for things like that. Any pointless car related thing like that.
Lol, my best friends mom got a ticket for no front license plate. I'm sorry but who is that endangering?
I can see the tint laws, but some of these that they'll get you for are ridiculous and pointless.

 

[Todd Rector]

I was only two miles from my house when he spotted me, so maybe saying he followed me home was a little extreme (not that it didn't happen) but seriously... of all the things to nit-pick about...

 

[Mark Blue]

It always stinks to get a speeding ticket, not only because of the fine, but the inevitable hike in insurance rates that follows. I understand where you're coming from Kevin and even though we can take our medicine like a man, it doesn't make it anymore enjoyable once you pull away from the roadside. Every time I got caught speeding the trooper and/or policeman's readout was really close to how fast I was actually going. I got an 86 in a 75 on I-70 in 2011, but before that my last ticket was in 1994, so it's an infrequent event for me. I'd have to say the town of Campo needs a new mayor based on the article, with a goal of finding other sources of municipal income streams versus speeding tickets as the primary source they rely on. That seems really short sighted to me.

 

[Kevin Rimcoski]

Ya it does. I think Campo is different on that sense though. They have a crooked mayor...maybe the tickets really are the only way money is getting in though

 

[Micky Baker]

An interesting read on the home of one of my favorite tornado videos ever. Chasers be aware.

http://gawker.com/one-police-officer-makes-93-percent-of-colorado-towns-b-1701529145

I was in Campo, Co on May 31st, 2010 for that tornado. I don't get why they don't just go in with Springfield and a couple of the other smaller towns to fund the operations for the whole county. It is not like they have that much else to do. There is a lot of room for tax revenues from property owners in the county. I frequented the county when I lived in SW Kansas working the oil field. I had a wreck out there south of a town, I can't remember the name of it, and there was no response at all from a deputy. I wrecked about 9:30 in the morning and I was still there after 5pm and no deputy even came and they were called by a lady that ended up giving a ride into town where I could call my employer and tell them what happened.

 

[Jesse Risley]

Well, if he really is allowing everyone to exceed the posted limit by 10 mph before issuing a citation, which is fairly generous for an incorporated area, then they either really do have an excessive speeding problem or there's a very sudden and immediate speed reduction that is not properly marked, which in Illinois would make it an illegal speed trap.

A total of 400 tickets in a calendar year really doesn't sound that excessive to me (that's an average of less than two citations per day), especially for village police officers whose primary duties are usually relegated to traffic enforcement due to a low call volume for other illegal activities.

 

[Matt Tottle]

Google Earth it. It's not a speed trap by any means. It's an incremented drop from 65-30 over the course of a mile and a half. Not a single speed limit sign is obscured, smaller than average (in fact they look larger than average), or more than a 10mph drop from the previous sign, and no two signs are less than 1/4 mile apart (FAR wider than the minimum 100 feet required by CO law). What it boils down to is people driving through there are just stupid.