Silver Lake, Wisconsin Speed Traps

Catch people runing a stop sign on HWY B and Cogswell Dr. and speeding on Cogswell Dr.

The Police sit in the driveway on a residential farm house on Highway B. They pull way back behind the bushes, so when you are coming into Silver Lake you do not see them until you are past them and look back. Coming into town they are just after Highway AH. Be sure to watch the speed limit in this area it is only 45mph. They are there almost everyday. They have been in the paper and noted for how many tickets that they give out.

Silver Lake is a small rural town that depends on revenue from traffic violations. The speed on Cogswell Dr. is 25 mph. We’ve never received a ticket because we always do 25mph. This small town is crazy because we have had the police "zoom" up behind our vehicle(s) while we’re doing 25mph many times over the years, despite we’re not doing anything wrong. It’s very intimidating. The same holds true for boaters on Silver Lake. One evening our family was heading back for the night to trailer our boat (around 7:45pm/dusk, no wake time). As is common practice, we clear our prop of weeds before trailering the boat by reving the engine in forward and reverse. On this particular evening, after clearing the prop, the water police (who we had been watching arrest teenagers boating with beer all the way across the lake) came full speed across the lake toward us with their lights going. We were ticketed for violating the no wake rule. We explained that we just cleared weeds from the prop and that’s why our motor rev’d, but they said we caused ripples in the water and had to ticket us. We were in disbelief! Bottom line, the town depends on this revenue, no exceptions (or common sense). If you visit the town’s courtroom during any given docket call you will find it full, sometimes standing room only. We did–beware!

Cops love to sit at the end of Lake View Dr to catch people coming around the corner too fast. The Speed Limit changes from 45mph to 35mph to 25mph rather quickly and the cops know most people don’t slow down in time.

The cops love to sit at the BP gas station and hide behind the building. Watch out, Silver Lake cops will pull you over for going ANY amount over the speed limit, and they aren’t very negotiable. Once they catch you, it is very hard to talk your way out of a ticket.