Maricopa, California Speed Traps

Police idling on side streets as you enter d leave an town and at every stop sign. Speed limit is posted @ 55 mph approaching the city and drops 20 MPH in a short distance. It is so bad that the town citizens have erected 2 signs warning motorists of the problem.

I was ticketed in Maricopa CA at the end of January 2008. I was coming into town from the west on hwy 166. As you come to first group of houses the speed limit changes from 55 to 45. I slowed to 45 as I passed this sign. A couple hundred feet later the speed limit changes to 35 and right after that you come to curve in the road where you have to slow down because there is a stop sigh where the curve ends and hwy 166 and hwy 33 intersect, so it�s impossible to speed through town. It is possible for them to hit you with radar right as you pass the 35mph sign and right before you enter the curve. They clamed I was doing 50 in a 35 and gave me a ticket. But I am sure I was slowing from 45mph to 35mph as I passed the 35mph sign, and I never would have been able to navigate the curve and stop at the intersection if I had been going 50mph.
Eyewitness in Bakersfield News did some research and found out the Maricopa Police Department issued 351 tickets during the month of October. In comparison, the city of Taft issued 72 that same month, Arvin only 7. All 3 cities have comparable amounts of traffic but Maricopa issues about five times more tickets than the other cities.

City police enforces the 55 mph limit from the city limit sign well beyond any actual city area. Downhill into town it is hard to hold to 55.

State Highway runs thru small city, speed posted is 35mph, they tell you you were doing 43mph, they come back to your car and have you sign a ticket indicating you were doing 53mph. The city police also impond cars with out proof of insurance. This all started when the city hired its own police force about 5 months ago. The average 4 tickets per day based on published reports by the police chief.

CHP Air patrols the Hwy 166 grade nr the Kern/SLO County line (Lockwood Valley). This is as empty a corner of the state as you can get. Westbound traffic is downhill and expected to decelerate to 45 MPH on a straight-away. Fortunately for us, we were slowing to make the turn southbound on Hwy33…but someone got nailed by a Cessna with a Siren. The air-cops call down to the car-cops to do the deed.