Athens, Ohio Speed Traps

Heading east out of business district past Lowe’s. Just past Lowe’s, on the opposite side of the road there is a Dollar General store. From that Dollar General to the RT 50 on ramp (approximately 1 mile stretch) the city police and State troopers sit in businesses and abandoned parking areas. The speed limit drops to 35 mph and they hide and aggressively target vehicles there. It seems like the speed limit should be 55 mph so it is easy to let your speed get high there. Be careful!

set half way down hill in 40 mph then at richland ave church at bottom of the hill at 35mph hiding. this is a very steep hill & hard to keep speed down but they patrol heavily.

Going into Athens, at Morrison Elementary, the speed after the school is 40- the city police have several spots where they sit and monitor the speed.

The State Highway Patrol sometimes post a car on Columbus Road in the middle of this stretch of road, a location just after the speed limit changes from 45 to 35. This allows them to catch inbound traffic as the speed limit drops from 45 to 35, and catch outbound traffic who are not paying attention to their speed as they drive downhill away from town. The problem is not with the city police (who exercise discretion in their ticketing), but specifically with the State Highway Patrol which tends to ticket indiscriminately.

On party nights in Athens (Homecoming, Halloween, Palmer fest etc) Troopers will sit on Stimson avenue right before it merges onto US 33. They will sit right before a bridge where the speed limit is 25 and then magically changes (there is no sign up) to 55 just on the other side of the bridge. This is probably the most blatantly unjust speed trap I’ve ever seen as it is ambiguous whether or not you are still on Stimson or already on the on-ramp to the highway and there is no sign to indicate the speed change from 25 to 55. Beware of this unjust trap!