[wkimeria]

There was a notorious road in Wilmington VT that was known for targeting out of towners in the mid to late 90s. It was a 35 MPH road that abruptly changed to 25 MPH. I'm from MA. I was in the area camping and I saw the 35 MPH speed limit. Was driving 35 MPH. Then I saw the 25 MPH and began slowing down at a sensible rate and got immediately pulled over by a cop who was literally camping out between the 2 signs. I got a ticket for going 29 MPH in a 25 MPH zone. The only way you could have gotten down to 25 MPH was to slam on the brakes.

I could fight the ticket, but that would mean driving back to Vermont for the court date (a 3-4 hour drive and whole day away from work). I just ended up paying it (it was over $100). Only later did I find out that stretch of road was notorious for this and the cops preyed on out of towners who had no idea they needed to slam on their brakes before the poorly indicated 25 MPH zone (locals knew to do this).

The traffic stop served absolutely no purpose other than revenue.

[daengh]

I had occasion to be out on the back roads in Utah with a local. At every little hamlet the speed limit dropped 20 mph in two increments over about 50 yards. As was explained to me it was for revenue. Either you'd break one or the other speed limits, or you'd do a panic slowdown & get ticketed for "reckless driving"; either way a nice fine for the town coffers.