SpeedTrap.org, operated by the National Motorists Association, recently revealed that South Carolina is the state with the highest complaints in their speed trap database.
South Carolina had 50 reports of speed traps per 100,000 residents. The only other areas that are worse than South Carolina are two Canadian provinces and the city of Washington, D.C. WMBF News has more details including some very interesting quotes from the South Carolina Highway Patrol. Read more here.
The National Motorists Association has long been an advocate for driver's rights against unfair speed enforcement designed to pad municicpal and state revenues. While highway patrol claims they don't "trap" speeders, there's no denying that officers will conceal their locations and target areas where the speed limits fluctate in short distances. Another issue the National Motorists Association contends is how speed limits are calculated with little or no traffic study data used to justify them. The National Motorists Association recommends the speed limit should be in the 85th percentile speed of free-flowing traffic.
Cue the folks that say "just don't speed."
If this were truly about public safety and not making money, why wouldn't law enforcement show a highly visible presence similar to what they do in school zones or the "ghost cars" employed by Georgetown County Sherrifs?