Summersville, West Virginia Speed Traps

This ticket was totally bogus. I was traveling south bound at between 55 and 60 and beginning to slow down to 50 mph, which was the posted speed limit. On the north bound lane, I saw a police car with his lights on and thought to myself "He must be getting a speeder on the north bound lane. Poor guy." However, he pulled a u-turn at a light and pulled me over! He claimed to have clocked me at 63, but this can’t be scientificlly possible, for he was traveling in his car toward me in the other lane. Furthermore, the car next to me was passing me and traveling at a consistantly higher rate of speed. Why did he not pull him over, you ask. Well, it probably had something to do with the fact that I’m not from WV, and the officer knew that I probably wouldn’t fight it. Let this be a warning to any out of state driver driving through WV. Personally, I will avoid driving through that state at all costs. I will also commit myself to never spending a single unnecessary cent within that state again.

speed drops from 70 to 55 with no warning and a cop waiting for you…good luck.

Isn’t it ironic that almost everyone gets a ticket for the same speed "62"? I got a ticket there and I swear I was going 50, but the cop said I was going that famous 62. I will NEVER go through Summersville again and will go out of my down I-79 and then go south through Charleston. I do not blame the natives or the citizens of the great state of WV; I blame the local law enforcement.

I would love to see this place exposed on a program such as "60 Minutes"! Speed limit is 50 mph and drivers are given no leaway. If you get a ticket don’t bother to fight it. The courtroom is an autotorium with the only thing missing is the kangaroos on the walls. They tell you they have a unique "thing" in Summersville…Driving school. You can take their "driving school" for the cost of your fine as I did and if you pass the test at the end your violation "never happened". However, the instructor didn’t want to give the hour long class and opted to just give us the test (with his help on the questions…ie: "#17 is false, #19 true". The toughest question probably was "If your going to drink and drive, always drink light beer because it has less alcohol" 🙂 What a racket they have there!!!!! Being they give the "driving school" the city get ALL your money whereas normally the fine would be split between the city, state and county. BTW: If you HAVE to take the "driving school" because you cannot afford the points etc. on your driving record…don’t waste your time going there in person, go to there web site, enter your citation number and for another fee you can take the test online! Someone should really investigate this town!!!

I had been feeling very guilty about my first traffic violation of any kind in my 14 years of driving. Seeing the shared experiences of so many others I feel a bit different, just angry with this evil little haven and annoyed that the state of West Virginia allows this kind of activity to take place. Driving from my home state of Maryland, I was looking forward to a little Sunday afternoon hike at the New River Gorge. Unfortunately any pleasant ideas I had about the state of West Virginia were ruined also at that traffic light, told I was doing 62 in the 50 MPH zone. I also suggest that everyone affected by this speed trap file complaints with the governor’s office of WV (e-mail at governor@wvgov.org) as well as anyone involved in tourism in WV (including local outfitters and the National Park Service operating locally). This is a way to hit this problem economically, making it clear that tourism dollars are being lost. Also check with your state’s attorney. Thankfully, Maryland has an active state’s attorney’s office. Also check your state’s laws on points. In Maryland, "When the Administration receives a notice of conviction from a party state to the Driver License Compact… the Administration may not assess points against an individual, except upon receipt of reports of the following convictions…" which are all more serious than the speeding conviction. So no points should be carried to this home state, making the inept traffic school a pure waste of $20 if someone chooses to pay their fine because they can’t return to Summersville for the court date. Do your research, it’s worth it.