Hiawassee, Georgia Speed Traps

My wife was pulled over for supposedly doing 65 in the 45 leading into town, which is impossible for 2 reasons. Other vehicles on the road, and my wife drives like a grandma. It’s one lane each way. Once the officer pulled her over, he walked up and immediately tried to accuse her of texting & driving as well. He would go back and forth between his car and hers, each time coming back trying to harass her into admitting to the texting & driving. 20 minutes + for the stop. It’s all on his body cam.

We appear in court. Our turn to speak with the judge comes. You don’t stand in front of everyone else. You meet with him semi privately at the front. I tell him that we dispute the cell phone charge, so he immediately scratches that out. I tell him that there’s no way she was doing 65 on that road, so he asks me what we wanna do? So I tell him we want that violation dropped too. He does that…but…the fine still applies because he changed it to a violation of a city ordinance. No report on your license. Obviously just a cash grab. They’re just generating revenue.

Trap preys on tourists and seasonal residents. Highway 76 runs through the middle of town.

Don’t know where he was, but he came speeding east bound as I was heading into Hiawassee. He said I was doing 73 in a 55 in moderate traffic. He also said he would only ticket me for 69 (trying to make me feel better). I did not argue because I did not want to take a bullet in my head while reaching for my license. As I said, I was in moderate traffic, going with the flow, not screaming by other vehicles. I’ll spend my retirement Dollars elsewhere, but not in Hiawassee anymore.

Officer sits near Ingles parking lot and shoots north on Bell st. cars that are coming down hill (25 MPH zone) It is easy to pick up speed coming down hill.

Both the Towns County Sherriff’s Office and the Hiawassee Police Department wait in the cemetery on the east side of town and the south side of the highway and wait for speeders or anyone doing anything questionable. It is hard but not impossible to see them but you must look very carefully as they will wait on the cemetery access road, behind trees.