Greene, New York Speed Traps

Prior to entering the Village of Greene, the posted "State Speed Limit" along Route 12 is 55mph. Even though the Village of Greene has a speed limit of 45mph, it is not posted along with the "Welcome to Greene" sign at the top of the first hill coming into Greene. The first posting of the new 45mph speed limit in that area is in front of the Raymond Corporation building. I was traveling along Route 12 at about 8pm and doing 60mph, only 5mph over the last posted speed limit. As soon as I came around the corner which leads down the hill into Greene, I was spotted by an Officer who was approaching me in the opposite lane of traffic. At this point I was finally able to see the signs that posted 45mph, but was not near them yet. I noticed the officer pull his car slightly off the road, activate his radar gun, then turn around and follow me to the stop light. Immediately after the light turned green he pulled me over. The officer, informed me that the speed limit was 45mph in the area where he clocked me (quite a bit before the first posting of the 45mph!) and the there were a total of 4 postings in my lane designating the new speed limit before I reached the area. He wrote me a ticket for doing 60 in a 45 and let me go. When I was returning home from my destination a few days later and was once again traveling on Route 12, and I was shocked to find out that the 45mph sign next to the Raymond Corporation was infact the first posting of it since the last 55mph sign. Luckily, I had my digital camera on me so I took some pictures of where the signs were, and were not posted. I arrived a few weeks later for my traffic court date and showed the judge, the DA, and the officer who had ticketed me where exactly the signs were posted. Unfortunately, I could not attend the trial date they wanted to schedule due to my school schedule in Boston. They offered me a plea bargain of an Illegal Turn (which I wasn’t happy with either, but had to accept). After the fine was paid, I had an opportunity to talk with the officer about the legality of the ticket. He once again stated the speed limit was 45mph as soon as you see the "Welcome to Greene" sign. He also stated that it was posted twice before entering Greene (down from the 4 he told me the night of the ticket). I informed him that the only posting of 45mph on the hill was on a yellow advisory sign posted on the corner before the one that leads down into Greene. Still, he stuck to his guns and stated even if the speed limit is not posted as 45mph, it is implied as soon as you see the "Welcome to Greene" sign. It’s important for other people to know about this since the Village of Greene has some very alarming figures for such a small town when it comes to speeding tickets. Take a look at page 14 of http://www.nysgtsc.state.ny.us/DataPacks/CHENANGO-01-DataReport.pdf You can see the amount of tickets the write has nearly doubled every year starting with 1999, while the amount of tickets for DUI and seatbelt related issues has remained relatively the same. This is blatantly a major source of Greene’s income, whether it be done legally or not. I apologize for the length of this, but it�s important for other people to not be unfairly ticketed simply because the new limit isn�t posted and they�re still under the assumption that it�s the last posted 55.

Coming into the Village of Greene on 206 from the east, the patrol sits at the bottom of the hill and reads you as you round the right-ward curve near the graveyard. The speed limit reduces to 30 from 45 or 55, but the street doesn’t reduce to "village" size until the bottom of the hill. Several people I’ve talked to have been pulled over and consequently harrassed at this trap.