Aloha CConne,
I will see if I can do my research and pull up the national list of 'speed traps' my husband located a couple of years ago. At the time, the very area you received a ticket was considered a 'speed trap' and allegedly Judges were disallowing the tickets. However, going 55 mph anywhere from just before the dump to the hiway is in excess of the posted speed limit for most of that area, which is 45 mph. I would imagine you would not be able to get off for going 55 in the 35 area.
As to cruise control, I have a favorite story. When they became a standard item in cars I began using them because everyone I knew was getting speeding tickets on the same roads I drove. [This was in San Diego] In 1991 when I came here in January to make my choice as to whether we would move to Kauai or Hawaii Island I spent the first 5 days on Kauai. The 2nd day I was there I was given a personalized tour by one of the law enforcement folks who was a cousin to a close friend of mine in San Diego. During the all over island tour, and it was off duty, we talked about traffic related issues, from the incidents of alcohol related accidents to speed management to hiway design and traffic impact. During the conversation the tour guide acknowledged speed traps were not legal and they do not engage in them; that ticket quotas were not legal and they do not engage in them, but he did acknowledge personnel with no traffic citations may not be doing their job in how the speeding traffic was monitored on their island. I asked because my husband was part of the traffic division of the County of San Diego's Public Works until he retired. Traffic issues were very much a part of our consciousness. I was reminded about the law, a point my own father, a retired peace officer, explained to us as kids, and that is, in some places it is altogether legal to make a traffic stop and if you are not a local resident you can be charged the 'amount' as bail to insure your appearance in court, or in lieu of that, to pay for your ticket. And, if you do not have that bail you can be detained. I decided then and there on Kauai I'd best be most conscientious about observing the posted speed limit and the best way to do that is to use my cruise control.
Now, admittedly, in California, I fudged...I set my cruise control at 5 mpg above the posted, the alleged safe speed, and when driving on the freeways I always sped because you can drive in the far right lane at all times, speed and never get pulled over because the CHP are cruising for speeding violations in the left lanes. But the flow of traffic in the far right lane is always faster than the posted speed yet slower than the flow of traffic in the lanes to the left. Here, because I know the revenue generated from traffic tickets is all the more crucial as economic times fade in and out, I set my cruise control right on the exact posted speed so as not to get stopped. My husband does as well. He was stopped in town going 40 in a 35mph posted zone when we first moved here and found out the 5 mph rule did not apply here.
It is difficult sometimes to forget to set the cruise control but there are places on the trip into town that you will find the police have several cars pulled over for speeding. They sit and shoot [the Kojak with the Kodak] and call it down the road a ways where you will be pulled over. By the time you see the radar gun you have already registered. The hiway to town starts to get financially productive for the county at the subtle slope change just as you begin to hit the lights. People also get caught when the speed changes down from 55 to 45 or they get pulled over on the way out of town because they begin going 55 in the 35 after the last light. The best way to avoid traffic and traffic management by the police is to take Kilauea from the turn off just before town. Excepting for the school speed zone change, the traffic goes 35 by design and forces the driver to not speed. Sort of a self imposed traffic behavioral trick. You cannot use your cruise control because of the many stop lights and the traffic is going 35 or less so you are more aware of the speed changes. I also use it because I don't like the congestion on the hiway in town. The hiway transitions very early down to 45 going into town and for such a short distance before stepping down to 35 if you do not immediately cancel your cruise control when you see the reduce speed sign you will have to use your brakes to slow to the posted speed.
The police on this island are usually out in full force the last week and a half of the month, especially at that stretch of Keaau By Pass. I get people honking, riding my bumper and flipping me off routinely because I drive the speed limit. I figure it is their money...I'd rather spend mine the way I want to. The road is posted wrong though. There is no reason for that stretch to be 35mph. 45 with a slow curve ahead sign is all that is needed.
Welcome to Makai Puna...welcome to Hawaii Island...it is a grand place in which to live!
“A penny saved is a government oversight.”
"Q might have done the right thing for the wrong reason, perhaps we need a good kick in our complacency to get us ready for what's ahead" -- Captain Picard, to Guinan (Q Who?)
