Riesel, Texas Speed Traps

The Police Chief, head of the two man police department, sits in his cruiser just off Texas Hwy 6 with radar aimed at northbound traffic. The speed limits drops from 70 mph to 60 mph at the beginning of this berg, where the highway divides and then apparently drops to 45 mph, all within 1/2 mile. At the north end of town the speed limit increases to 55 mph and then 70 mph. Riesel is just a wide spot in the highway. I was ticketed for doing 64 mph in a 45 mph zone, right after entering the town. This is my first ticket in 19 years, since I was 25. I’ve never been in an at fault accident either and always drive within 5 mph of the posted limits. I had just left Douglass Nissan in College Station Texas, where we had driven from Rogers, Arkansas to pick up my wife’s new Nissan Murano. The Chief wasn’t interested in my driving record or that I was driving a brand new car that I was unfamiliar with or that I had come from Arkansas, 600 miles away. Indeed, he knew because of that, I would not come back to contest the ticket and my $234.00 fine would pay his salary for the week.

I was driving less than 10 miles over a very low and poorly designated limit of 30 miles per hour on a state highway in this small town. My fine was more than $200, which grew to $681 because I could not make my court date because I live out of state. I have never encountered a higher fine for a small violation or a higher fine for failure to appear. The city then informed my home state DMV, which threatened to suspend my license. The city of Riesel, Texas, has you over a barrel when you’re from out of state and they exploit this to the fullest. It is really outrageous.

Police Chief Danny Krumnow, head of the two man police department sits in his cruiser just off Texas Hwy 6 with radar aimed at northbound traffic. The speed limits drops from 70 mph to 60 mph at the beginning of this berg, where the highway divides and then apparently drops to 45 mph, all within 1/2 mile. At the north end of town the speed limit increases to 55 mph and then 70 mph. Riesel is just a wide spot in the highway. I was ticketed for doing 64 mph in a 45 mph zone, right after entering the town. This is my first ticket in 19 years, since I was 25. I’ve never been in an at fault accident either and always drive within 5 mph of the posted limits. I had just left Douglass Nissan in College Station Texas, where we had driven from Rogers, Arkansas to pick up my wife’s new Nissan Murano. Chief Krumnow wasn’t interested in my driving record or that I was driving a brand new car that I was unfamiliar with or that I had come from Arkansas, 600 miles away. Indeed, he knew because of that, I would not come back to contest the ticket and my $234.00 fine would pay his salary for the week.

While traveling North on Hwy 6 through Reisel towards Waco, watch very carefully as you leave out of Reisel. The speed limit stays 55 mph until you are clearly out of town. The officer will sit at the stop sign of the road coming from the right. I passed through 4 times in two days and each time he had someone pulled over. He is using laser to detect the speed as you are accelerating leaving the town.

Just as Hwy 6 turns into 2 lanes the speed limit goes from 70 to 45. The man will be in the center of town on the leFort

Before I could say any thing, he started to defend the trap. “It’s 45 all the way to the top of the hill”” he said.

You know its bad when you go the post office to send your info certified and the post office says “” you would not bleive how many of these we send to Riesel””.”