Englewood, Tennessee Speed Traps

I had my cruise control on below the speed limit. Then I saw the blue lights. The police pull me over and said I didn’t slow down for a yellow caution light. What do you do When your speed is set below the speed limit?

This is a wide highway that switches from 55 to 40 for the mile and a half of the town of Englewood. A traffic cop parks themselves right at the start of the city limits. I missed the first sign (I’m assuming there must have been one), but saw another within the city limits and switched my cruise control of 55 to 40. But, according to the officer, I was clocked at 56 right at the start of the town at the Dollar General. I was at 45 miles per hour by the time I was pulled over. But, that 56 was still listed on the ticket and fines given. Definitely avoid this spot if you can!

I have a similar experience to everyone posting about Englewood, TN on 411. I am also from Florida. I was driving south on 411 looking for a specific street. I had my GPS on and cruise control set for 55. At some point a police car came up behind me with lights on. I immediately pulled over and he informed me I was clocked at 58 in a 40 mph zone. I apologized but showed him the 55 sign that was about 50 feet in front of me and also that my GPS said it was 55. He didn’t care, wrote me up, and went on his way. I contacted an attorney who informed me that this area is definitely a speed trap for about a mile and a half. So, anyone beware if you have to take 411 through Englewood. They especially don’t like out of towners.

This is a four lane divided highway in a very rural area. Thinking that I was outside of the “city”, I had resumed a normal driving speed on a downhill area before a bridge that crosses a creek. There was another car beside me on the left, had TN plates (not sure if they were local), so I did not see the cop until he had done a u-turn from the opposite direction to come up behind me. The cop actually stopped me outside the city limits–perfectly legal though since he caught me at “the line”. But he stopped me within seeing distance (50 yds.) of a 55 mph sign. He clocked me, on the downhill, doing 57, although when I looked at the gauge, it showed 55.

Their was no “safety” issue as the cop mentioned, since the area had no cross roads and only a couple (and I do mean couple) of driveways to houses within a mile span of that roadway. He also marked that I was in a “residential” area, right above the rural area checkbox.

Since I was taking a scenic route home from a short vacation, I had to pay a $180 toll for the trip — $50 for fine, $130 (not including transaction fee) for their paperwork processing even if paying online and not going to court. I found an article online that stated in the month of March, 2016, that the city of 1500 residents and 2 sq. miles had 400 traffic stops, with only one of the citations issued to a city resident, resulting in almost 30 thousand in revenue for the city. So it is clear that this city does not want tourists to pass through, but if you do they will be happy to make money off of you.

Since the State of Tennessee is complicit with this scam by allowing the city to set unreasonable speed limits in an area that should not be within a city’s bounds, I decided to punish the state as a whole. I had pending sales that were being shipped to me from a gallery and so I cancelled all the orders. I also decided to cancel a planned trip close to Christmas. The town might have made money off of me, but the net effect was a loss for TN.

I will not go back through TN this way, or at all. And I can take my business and vacations elsewhere. I feel sorry for those who can’t. If you have to travel through the area, use I-75.

Runs from Maryville, TN to Cartersville, GA.