Charleston, West Virginia Speed Traps
Virginia Street near Exit Number Virginia Street
The Virginia Street exit feeds off of I-64 East which has a posted limit of 65 mph. You must maintain this speed or risk being rear-ended as another exit feeds onto I-64 as you are exiting. About 15 feet from the ramp a 30 mph sign is posted on a pole on a small bridge -less than half a blcok away officers are either hiding in their cars on a side street across from the Wendys or actually stand in the far right land in the middle of the day with the radar gun pointed at traffic. I was pulled over at 10:30 at night and was the only car on the road. I am aware of tickets being issued at all times during the day and the Charleston paper ran an article in the last few weeks where the city bragged about the increased level of enorcement.
Interstate 64 east/77south near Mile Marker 99
Right before you come to the Greenbrier Street exit there is a slight incline in the roadway. As you top this incline, there is an overpass and police officers will set up there with radar gun in hand and police lined up down the exit ramp to catch speeders. The posted speed limit is 60 mph which is resonable but it’s hard to keep that speed on with 3 wide open lanes.
Kanawha Boulevard near Patrick Street
West side of Charleston, Kanawha Blvd. Last 1/2 or 1/4 mile or so of Kanawha Blvd. westbound approaching Patrick Street. Speed limit drops abruptly from 40 MPH down to 25 while you’re still on the straight stretch. There is only 1 sign for 25 MPH posted in an inconspicuous place in front of a building. Police (Charleston) sit radar-ing cars as they round the turn in front of Drug Emporium. Enforcement seems to be stepping up as of early April 2005.
5th Avenue near Near Patrick St infront of Surface Banana
City police hide in the Surface Banana Co. parking area on 5th Ave before you get to Patrick St. They are out of their cars and are hidden to the oneway approching traffic by two dogwood trees in front of the residence next door. They then jump out in front of your car from nowhere and direct you to pull over. It took me a couple of seconds to figure out what was going on because the officer’s signals were confusing. If my brakes had failed I would have hit him. I got a ticket for 40 in a 25. I travel this way daily and very seldom do you get behind anyone going that slowly. If you do go 25 everybody passes you.
Virginia Street
The Charleston city police use at least 2 vehicles, and sometimes a motorcycle, to run a speed trap on Virginia Street, just off the I-64 exit. After coming off the interstate exit ramp, they park on the side of the road near the Wendy’s, and ticket cars going over 30mph on a three-lane street. One cop usually uses Ka-band, and the other uses a laser gun, and they seem to be able to write at least 2-tickets every five minutes. And they’ve learned a trick from the Summersville P.D – when you go to pay your ticket, they offer you the opportunity to pay 92-dollars to go to a one-hour "traffic school, after which your ticket will cease to exist. Of course, they get the entire 92-dollars that way, and don’t have to give the state a cut.