Speed Traps in Virginia Beach

A speed trap is any part of the highway that’s heavily monitored for speeding by law enforcement officers. Generally when people are talking about speed traps they’re talking about areas that law enforcement officers are hiding in so that they can catch speeders. Although they may have a bad reputation, speed traps are completely legal and getting caught in one is not a defense for a speeding ticket. With these things in mind, the following is more on what you should know about speed traps. For legal assistance, call and schedule a consultation with a Virginia speeding ticket lawyer today.

Types of Speed Traps

There are a handful of different kinds of speed traps. For example, sometimes officers wait on long stretches of highway where people commonly speed because they know that people are more likely to speed if the road is open and straight. There are also speed traps where officers wait in areas that speeding happens to be more prevalent in, like exits off highways because people don’t adjust their speed right away, or in areas where the speed limit changes suddenly and people don’t adjust their speeds right away.

How Long Do You Have To Slow Down After a Sign?

When the speed limit is posted you have to slow down as soon as you have passed the sign. The point where the speed chage is at the sign. When you see the sign, you should start slowing down before you reach it.

Purpose of Speed Traps

There is no clear reason for the purpose of all speed traps, but law enforcement officers like to claim that they’re for safety reasons. This is because oftentimes when there’s an area of highway or road where there has been a lot of accidents, they will have more officers in order to prevent more accidents from happening in the future. However, sometimes speed traps are set up in areas where the speed limit is lower than what you would think should be the norm on that road without an obvious reason why, in which case it’s pretty easy to see why someone would believe that a speed trap is to extract revenue.

Legality of Speed Traps in Virginia Beach

Speed traps are legal in Virginia Beach, so being caught in one isn’t going to have any type of impact on your case or defense. It’s so common for people to be caught in speed traps that judges won’t bat an eye if anyone were to try to provide that as a defense. In general Virginia is a state that’s very proud of its lower rates of accidents on the highway, so it’s not going to be a defense at all that officers happen to be monitoring your area and that’s why they caught you.

This is a common defense I’ve heard from people who come here on vacation and are driving home from Virginia Beach or another area in that general vicinity and there are a whole bunch of other tourists who are pulled over along with them. It doesn’t make a difference how many people are pulled over; you’re still guilty.