Saint George, Kansas Speed Traps

St. George is a very small bedroom town with no businesses about 6 miles east of Manhattan and 1/2 mile south of Highway 24. Old Military Trail Road is a designated scenic and historic road that runs thru the town of St George for a distance of about 1.4 miles. In that 1.4 miles there are 10 speed zone signs, 7 of which say 30 mph, 1 that says “20 mph when flashing: and 2 that say 20 mph. The city deliberately turns off the flashers on the “20 mph when flashing” sign to make you think it is 30 mph but 75 feet further on there is an inconspicuous 20 mph sign that most people don’t notice but the city police use as justification for ticketing you for going 30 mph. When you object that the “20 mph when flashing” sign was not flashing they point out that it always 20 mph during that stretch and ask you if you saw the other inconspicuous 20 mph sign just 75 feet from there. The locals are all aware of this speed trap, but they regularly ticket visitors who decide to take the designated scenic historical route. The town has one city police officer on duty and with no businesses, the city police officer’s job is obviously to help fund the city by issuing $156+ fines to non-locals who are going a mere 30 mph and sincerely believe that they are within the speed limit. The officer video records the alleged speeding violation and in these video the wrongly accused is clearly driving very slow, but the local city municipal judge says the officer’s word that you were speeding is “beyond reasonable doubt”. There is another stretch where there is clearly 30 mph sign, then there is a “20 mph unless posted otherwise” sign and then LESS THAN 5 FEET from that sign is another 30 mph sign. The local police officer and municipal judge say that this reduced speed zone of LESS THAN 5 FEET is not entrapment and IS in compliance with Kansas Department of Transportation guidelines. This 1.4 miles stretch of road is the most flagrant form of entrapment in terms of speed zones that I have witnessed in my entire life of some considerable years. When you mention this to the residents of nearby Manhattan and Wamego they all just laugh and say “Yeah everyone knows that St George is a speed trap.” This small town is conspicuously stalking and preying upon innocent and law abiding visitors who are safe and contentious drivers in order to help fund the city budget.