SR 789, all 11 miles

Longboat Key, FloridaJan 08, 20031 Comments

Random traps. Always three to five patrol cars roving or parked running radar and laser. Some with no lightbars on the roof. Cars are beige and hard to pick out by colour. They are very strict on the no passing zones and will pull over older or less expensive cars for profiling. Also more than 4 mils over is a gauranteed stop. Entire Key is 45 except very south end.

Comments:
SR 789, also known as Gulf of Mexico Drive, is the main road through this heavily residential Key (island) which can only be accessed from islands to the north and south. Police force is small, with generally three cars on a shift - never five as commented 7 years ago above (probably as force has been reduced by economy which affects even wealthy town budgets). Two traffic lights plus two flashers at fire station (south end) and police and fire station (north end). Cars continue to be champagne colored with reflective signage. Many bicyclists favor road, also full of elderly residents, so enforcement is strict and six over limit may indeed bring a ticket. Police tend to roam rather than sit in place, and before 8 AM and after 5 PM there is a code restriction on work being performed, so "profiling" of certain demographics at certain hours can exist. Due to relative wealth in this one zip code island, older cars are often stopped for minor infractions to allow license checks. Local weekly papers often mention arrests for documentation issues and warrants on notably non-resident drivers. North end of island (Manatee County) repaved in 2009, south end (Sarasota County) to be repaved in late 2010 - smooth road in north seems to have put more "speed traps" where cars are more likely to inch over 51 MPH.
#1Sep 29, 2010Report Abuse

Log In

Forgot Password?

Create an account

Note:
You only need an account if you would like to comment on speed traps. You can view and add speed traps without registering.

Create Account