# Florida speed trap may disappear, along with its home town



## CHamilton (Mar 15, 2014)

This story has been making the rounds, but it may be good news for auto drivers on US 301 in Florida. The following New York Times story is reasonably factual, but some of the subsequent stories are funnier, if NSFW.

A Dot on the Map, After Scandal, Could Be Wiped Off





> HAMPTON, Fla. — It’s easy for motorists driving down busy Route 301 to miss this speck of a city in rural north-central Florida: Fiddle with the car radio, unwrap a pack of gum, gaze out the window at the sunset and, whoosh, it’s gone.
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> And so it fell to the police to force hurried travelers to stop and savor the 1,260-foot ribbon of roadway belonging to this city. Hidden by trash bins or concealed in a stretch of woods, the officers — a word loosely applied here — pointed their radar devices. Between 2011 and 2012, Hampton’s officers issued 12,698 speeding tickets to motorists, many most likely caught outside Hampton’s strip of county road....
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> But, as it turns out, surprised motorists are not the only ones getting burned. So many speeding tickets were churned out for so many years and with such brazenness that this city of 477 residents came under scrutiny — and not just for revenue raising with a radar gun. Now, Hampton, an 89-year-old city, is fighting legislative momentum to wipe it off the map, after a state audit last month uncovered reams of financial irregularities, shoddy record-keeping and missing funds.


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## Just-Thinking-51 (Mar 15, 2014)

Travel on that road a bit.

The speed limited signs are big with a "enforced" sign on it. There is billboard outside of town warning of a speed trap. Each time I see one or two police cars.

This occurs in several area if the USA. I personal learn to drive on a military base so driving below the speed limited is natural for me.

As for the cash flow issues, not surprised. Small town have small selection of people to work for them. Some get great people, some don't.


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## Ryan (Mar 15, 2014)

Yeah, this town sounds like a soup sandwich.

http://www.loweringthebar.net/2014/03/hampton-fl.html



> Hampton has existed, for whatever reason, since about 1925. Home to fewer than 500 people, it is located east of Highway 301 in north-central Florida. Some would say, actually, that it is located on Highway 301, as a result of an amendment to the town's borders in the mid-1990s. See if you can spot the amendment on the map below:
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> ...


Sounds like a bunch of crooks to me.


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## jimhudson (Mar 15, 2014)

Like the old Dodge Sherrif Commercials used to say:

"You're in a heep of trouble now boy!" LOL

Moral: Stay off Southern Backroads, take Amtrak!


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## Anderson (Mar 15, 2014)

This reminds me of New Rome, Ohio in _so_ many ways.


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## railiner (Mar 16, 2014)

IIRC, Waldo was another notorious Florida speed trap.....AAA trip tickets were stamped with a warning" "Speed Limits Strictly Enforced" with arrows pointing at Waldo....


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## trainman74 (Mar 16, 2014)

railiner said:


> IIRC, Waldo was another notorious Florida speed trap.....AAA trip tickets were stamped with a warning" "Speed Limits Strictly Enforced" with arrows pointing at Waldo....


Yes, although with Waldo, it's a little more obvious that you're going through a town (and should therefore slow down) than it is with Hawthorne! In my younger days in Tampa, I remember it being a big deal when the local AAA club came up with that "Speed Laws Strictly Enforced" stamp for Triptiks.

(Going to the Northeast from Tampa, AAA would route you up I-75 to near Ocala, then over to U.S. 301 to cut across the state that way, switching to I-10 at Baldwin to go east to meet I-95. U.S. 301 is a divided highway without much cross traffic just about the whole way, it just has a few towns where the speed limit drops and the local cops are often out with radar guns.)


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## railiner (Mar 16, 2014)

I remember US 301 very well....it was the AAA route of choice from the Northeast to Florida in the days before I-95.....we would hit it after leaving the US-1 parallel toll roads at Petersburg, Va., and follow it down to Folkston, Ga., where it would rejoin with US-1, which we would follow down thru Florida, until hitting the Fla. Turnpike the rest of the way to the Miami area.....a faster route than US-1 all the way......


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