Northlake, Texas Speed Traps

We were pulled over for registration and asked to follow the officer back to the courthouse. If it had been closed, we would have been screwed. He was 10 miles from his jurisdiction. Watch out on the I35 for these guys. Near the Texas Motor Speedway.

Cited for 74 in 65 mph zone. My cruise was set at 64 mph, but how would the officer really know. Ran up on the officer in this sleek looking sports car going about 40-45 mph in the right hand lane right before the exit at the end of the Northlake jurisdiction. Funny thing is, none of the other 5 cars that had just passed me, their brake lights never illuminated, and they were running a heck of lot faster than I was traveling. He appeared to be slowing down very fast as I approached. to give the appearance that I was going a lot faster than I actually was. It was dark and I couldn’t see the cherries or other markings on the back of the supercop car. When I was informed of how fast I was going, I started to offer that I had the cruise set lower, then I saw him reach to his side and thought I heard something unsnap. He then said ‘say what?’. No way was I going to say another word. I just took the ticket, payed the fine. I-35W is a gold-mine for Northlake. I travel that route 4 times round trip every week. I always see at least 5 cars pulled over getting tickets. Funny thing is I’ve seen a few accidents too, and the cops are NEVER there or just arriving.

Northlake isn’t really a town, just a patchwork of annexed farmland straddling I35W between Denton and Southlake, but they do have a police “department” and a municipal court. Their police cruiser (we’ve only ever seen one) frequently parks along the interstate between Crawford Rd. and FM 1171. Since nothing that happens on this rural stretch of I-35 could possibly impact anyone in the “town” of Northlake (because there isn’t one), you can make the reasonable assumption that it’s all about generating ticket revenue. This seems to be prevalent in Texas, with its baffling myriad of jurisdictions and “home rule” regarding speed limits and traffic fines. Be careful.

This is a very small town near the Texas Motor Speedway which has a police department dedicated almost solely to running a speed trap racket on I-35W. The way they obtain revenue is bad enough, but their court system makes it even worse. Court is usually held at 6:15 at night (try getting there from work in DFW traffic). The court staff is probably the rudest I have ever encountered – so rude that they actually advertise the fact that they don’t answer telephones during the nights when traffic court is in session (thus preventing someone from calling to advise the court they are running late). They farm the prosecuting out to some law firm, and the second-rate lawyers they send are known for breaking plea agreements. They need to be investigated by the feds.

Officer was parked in the grass, lights off, on east side of northbound service road. I was traveling at posted service road speeds and entered long entrance ramp to I-35W Northbound. I started accelerating on entrance ramp to merge into traffic and the officer ticketed me for 64 in a 50. Mind you…I was accelarting to merge into 65 mile an hour traffic AND I was already on the entrance ramp NOT on the service road. This is a racket!!!!