Santa Monica, California Speed Traps

As you drive from Pico towards the 10 East entrance off to the left (occasionaly the right) you see a motorcyle officer sitting off to the leFort He is usually there in the a.m. hours and watches as people come zipping down Cloverfield to get onto the 10E. Too fast and he’s quick to pull you over.

Since this stretch or road is on a hill the officers like to sit on there motorcylces inbetween the cars and wait for you to go by. The disadvantage to the driver is that when you are goin up or down the hill the cars along that street are so tightly packed bumper to bumper that you can’t see the officer because of the degree of slant on the hill and because of all the vehicles parked along the street.

Cops, usually on motorcycles, well-hidden on side streets lining the San VIcente Blvd. corridor from Bundy Drive in Brentwood all the way to Ocean Ave. in Santa Monica. Speed limit is an unreasonably 35 mph. They will radar you as you drive past, though I’ve gone by them at 44 mph and not (yet) been stopped. On the eastbound side, they often hide behind a truck or parked motor home. They are there more often towards the end of each month, but can be there any day of the week. Keep your speed to 39mph and you should be okay.

I saw the other 5th street post but I wanted to add that the area around Downtown Santa monica is HIGHLY police dense. The police hang out at just about every corner and will give out tickets for any excess speed, jay walking, incomplete stops, or anything else they can think of. The high density of pedestrians and merchants somewhat justifies their behavior but they can go a bit overboard. Linooln(8th) and Wilshire is also a holiday checkpoint for drunk drivers and you just need to be extra on the look out in this area.

Motor cop will hang out in one of the closed beach parking lot entrances early in the morning. He will radar traffic going in either direction. The 10FWY turns into PCH/Hwy 1. after the Maclure tunnel so typically traffic is used to going freeway speeds and once you come out of the tunnel the speed limit drops to 45MPH. In the early morning before traffic starts to build up many cars are going 60MPH+ with such a wide open road. I’ve had my radar go off many many times in this location. The ONE week after my radar detector was stolen was all it took to get myself caught in a location I know to keep my eyes open.