Colfax, Washington

Colfax, Washington•Sep 17, 2010•2 Comments

The city of Colfax has always been noted for speed trapping. They will also pick you up if you are 2 miles over….OR pick you up for speeding when you aren’t. It is their word against yours and unfortunately…the officer is always right. There is a hill coming down in to the city. It starts out 55 then a sign that says slow down to 35..then 35 then slow down to 25 then 25. The city policeman sits at the bottom of the hill and waits before you hit the 25 slow down sign. I had returned 2 of my teen grandchildren to Spokane and was bringing 2 back home with me. I had thought I had left my purse in the car, only to find later on I had left home without it so I was really watching my speed all the way up and back. I WAS NOT SPEEDING! I have gotten tickets I deserved but this one I did not. I had slowed down to 37 by the time I hit the 35 sign and 37 because by the roadside speed monitors my speedometer is over 3 miles an hr at that speed. There were 2 cars ahead of me and one following….after the last car, the policeman turned around and followed with his lights on…I pulled over to let him by cause I thought he was after someone in front and he pulled in behind me. He came up to the car and asked if I knew why I was being pulled over. I said, "not really." He said "so you didn’t know you were going 52 in a 35?" I said, " no, I certainly was not." I told him I had been watching my speed very carefully and explained my situation with car speedometer and my purse. I told him I deserved a ticket for not having my license on me but not for speeding and he said and I quote " Are you calling me a liar?" I said, "No, I am telling you for a fact, I was not speeding." He walked away and gave me the ticket for speeding which was $210.00 I called to see if I could get it reduced as I am on a very fixed income and the lady told me if I wanted to pay double, the ticket would be removed and not go on my record otherwise I could write a letter asking the judge to lower my fine and they would let me know. I said so, if I was rich enough to pay double, the ticket would not be reported but since my income was too small to do so, the ticket goes on my record, am I correct?" She said, "Yes mam, that is true!" Well, that tells me…that little city is not only corrupt but making a great deal of revenue! Next time I will video tape and record with my phone!!!!

Vote for this Speedtrap below:
Yes! This is a speed trap. (75 votes)
No, this is definitely NOT a speed trap. (7 votes)
Comments:
Colfax is a world renowned speed trap. Main Street in Colfax is also US Highway 195 - the main road connecting Spokane Washington with Pullman and Clarkston, Washington. In the mid 1970s a young girl on her bicycle was run down by a speeder on this road in what was clearly marked as a 25 MPH residential section of the road. Since then, the Whitman County Sherrifs and the Washington State Police have had a zero tolerance policy towards speeders on this road. When I first moved to this area Colfax made worldwide headlines when a county sherrif gave a speeding ticket to an ambulance driver for driving through town too fast. Washington state law at the time allowed an ambulance on a code to go no faster than 10 MPH over the speed limit through a residential area and the driver in question had been warned on two previous occaisions that he was going to fast, so, on the third time, he received a ticket. They did have the courtesy to not give him the ticket until he was on his way back through town without a patient in the vehicle. About 2 weeks ago (May 7, 2011) a 76 year old woman was killed while crossing this street by someone who was speeding. I would expect the police in Colfax to be particularly vigilant in the immediate future.
#1•May 17, 2011•Report Abuse
I note that the Sept. 17 comment was written by a woman, because when my husband was stopped for presumably surpassing the speed limit, he assured the officer that no, he knew exactly where it went from 45 to 60, and he did not increase his speed until then. He did not get a ticket, perhaps because he had a carload of witnesses. I, however, got one, and last night I had my most horrifying experience ever. I was going EXACTLY the speed limit, and was still pulled over. It was very dark and rainy, so when cars going the opposite direction had their brights on, I was so blinded I couldn't see the road, so I blinked my lights a few times until they dimmed theirs. The officer was the one who refused to dim his brights. He then proceeded to tell ME that when I blinked my lights, I blinded him and nearly caused a wreck. I asked, "what do you think your brights did to ME?" Of course he had to give me a $136 ticket for challenging his authority, but what he did was clearly ENTRAPMENT. Every time I tried to explain that I blinked my lights to get the cars in the opposite lane to dim theirs, he interrupted me. I have no doubt he's the type of bully who loves to assert his authority over women. I think if I'd been a man, he would have been content with a smug warning.
#2•Apr 20, 2017•Report Abuse

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