I posted information about this speed trap last year and the only thing that has changed recently is their new deceptive tactic of catching you. Since my jan 2010 encounter, I have run a premium radar detector every trip on this route and it is a life saver.

However, to those motorists who choose not to run a detector, Smithers has a new weapon in speed detection to catch you. Between the Smithers township and the Catholic church is a nice straight stretch where Smithers doesn’t write too many tickets because most of it is posted 55 and you can see the police car before he can get radar lock in most cases. In early february of 2011, I ran by the wide spot on this staight stretch and just as the speed limit went from 40 to 55 my Escort went crazy. I looked everywhere for this bogy. What looked like a broke down Envoy or Trailblazer in this wide area was a Smithers city police officer with a radar gun. The vehicle had private WV tags, the person in the drivers seat was uniformed, and there was a blue light in the windshield. The vehicle did not look anything like a police vehicle so please just be warned, don’t speed through this town.