My husband and I were caravaning through Lawtey, FL from Charleston, SC to southern Florida. He was pulling our fifth wheel with a truck and I was following him and pulling a trailer with our SUV. We were doing the speed limit and braking to accomodate the suddenly changing lower speed signs. Anyone who has pulled a fifth wheel through traffic knows you don’t pick up much speed between all those red lights and heavy stop-and-go traffic.
When we slowed from the 45 mph sign to the 35 mph sign, I took note of three things. My speedometer, my gps speed and a cop parked up a side street as I went by. I thought, "I’m okay. My speed on both devices was 38 mph". I was shocked to notice the same cop behind me with lights blaring to pull me over. He said I was doing 57 in a 45. Now, I don’t want to call anyone a liar but he was definitely mistaking. I told him about following my husband and our SLOW moving fifth wheel in "all this traffic", and that I truly believed he was wrong. He told me not to argue with him. Then I told him about the speed reading on both of my devices and he told me I couldn’t count on the accuracy of a gps, which might be true but if it reads the same as my speedometer, I’d say that’s pretty darn accurate. So, I asked him to show me the radar gun and it’s calibration report and he refused and made it plain that I shouldn’t argue with him. I was raised to have respect for the law. I wouldn’t argue with a policeman but it is my right to ask to see those things I asked to see. Right? I have to pay an unwarranted speed ticket because I’m from Colorado and because the cop pretty much told me to shut up and pay up. It’s one thing to set up a speed trap to catch unlawful speeding and quite another to collect your city’s income by falsely ticketing innocent visitors to your city. Shame on the Lawtey P.D.