Marion, South Carolina Speed Traps

Wife and I were traveling east on Rt76 towards Marion and missed the turn south on to RT576. We were followed in another car by daughter (driver), son-in-law and their 18 month old son. We drove a few blocks looking for a good place to turn around. We pulled into a small parking lot to turn around. Traffic was zipping by us pretty fast so it was a little hard to pull out. It was about 2:20pm on a Saturday. Daughter was unable to pull out right behind us
so we got a little bit ahead of her. We drove for several blocks and could see daughter comming up behind us. We went thru an intersection controlled by a traffic light.
Daughter sped up for a very short distance as the signal was changing so as not to loose us. Next thing we know is daughter is calling us to say she was stopped by a cop for speeding. She was ticketed for doing 52 in a 35. Fine is $180. None of us know where the cop was hidding. It was very obvious to us that he was looking for tourists. He could have stopped half of the cars on that road for speeding. Just in case anyone from Marion city government
reads this; you need to mark the right turn from east bound
76 to south bound 576 better. The sign is on the SE corner
of the intersection and partially obscured which means you are right on to of the sign before you see it. Finally, is it me or does $180 seem high?

Local police sit (hidden) at the point of speed reduction to 35mph in either direction. They clock you at the exact spot of the first speed sign, so being in the process of slowing down is not an option. If you are slowing down, but not quite to 35mph, expect a ticket. With my officer, there wasw no discussion, no eye contact – he just gave me the ticket and threatened me with loss of my license if I did not pay. This is a major highway to Myrtle Beach and Wilmington, and judging by the attitude and activity of the officer -a real financial boost for Marion. Beware.