Drove west into town on Wyoming 31. As you approach the town from open country there is no indication that you are about to enter the town. You first are advised to reduce speed from 65mph to 40mph as you approach a left hand curve in the road. You only have about 500 ft to reduce speed. Which I did. Within about another 500 feet as the town become visible you come upon 30mph with no warning. As we entered the tiny 2 block town, there were no vehicles either on the road or parked except a blacked out unmarked Dodge. Since I have 3 members of my family in the California Highway Patrol I am familiar with the appearance of a stealth police cruiser. I was astonished to be pulled over immediately after passing the Dodge cruiser. By this time I was at 20mph. The officer informed me that I was in excess of 40mph at the 40mph sign and at 36 at the 30mph sign. He said that he was going to do me a favor and only cite me for 36 in a 30. Of course he did. He has no line of site to the 40mph sign as it is around the sweeping curve leading into town and obscured by trees and building. He was lying.
I find it incredible that a town of less than 1 square mile and only 3 streets sports a $40,000.00 + state of the art Police cruiser and a police force of 3 officers!!!! What are they patrolling??? NOTHING. This is an illegal SPEED TRAP, administered by the Manderson Municiple Court. What a farce!!! This is a town of 104 with approximately 30 families with an average income of $40,000/year. How does this tiny tax base support this farce of a police department and court. SPEED TRAP.
We drive the back roads for Wyoming happily every year for the past 35 years. We had never driven through Manderson. Won’t ever again.
I am sure that my California plates made us an easy target for this continuing fraud. I intend to approach the Wyoming Highway Patrol and the Wyoming Department of Transportation regarding the obvious blight on the good will of the people of Wyoming. I’ve driven more than 15,000 miles over the years in Wyoming and have never been cited.