Update: I never got any notice from Eloy PD. I did read on their web site that they don’t issue any citations for less than 10mph over the posted speed limit.
This morning (Thursday, July 3, 2014) around 6:10am I was making my way home along Sunland Gin Road, heading from Jimmie Kerr Blvd. The frequently-seen Eloy PD Speed Trap SUV was parked on my side of the road. I’m pretty good about getting the speed down under 30mph when approaching the 25mph speed limit sign anyway, and usually people are all “up in my bumper” thinking I’m going too slow, and when it opens up to two lanes in each direction, usually they’re passing – and zooming by.
This time there was just one motorcyclist behind me, and while he was “pressing the safe distance limit” while driving down Jimmie Kerr (the speed limit is 45mph in the stretch approaching Sunland Gin from the west, though most everyone drives 55mph or more), he was at a reasonable distance in the 25mph zone. Looked to me to maybe a student, wearing a green helmet and backpack, on a smallish bike.
At the 25mph sign doing 29mph, I let my Prius “coast” to continue to slow down , and within what I think is “radar range” I’m traveling 27mph (the Prius digital readout doesn’t leave it to your judgment; it read 27mph). Thinking that there’s a little buffer there (who writes a ticket for 2mph over the speed limit, right?), I let it continue to coast – but then FLASH… the strobe light lit up. Hmmph! I wonder if it’s looking at me, or the guy on the motorcycle. Even if it caught me all the way back at the 25mph sign, I was doing under 30mph. In my mind, it seemed unlikely I’d be ticketed.
By the time I’m directly beside the Eloy PD Speed Trap SUV, I’m reading 26mph, and shortly upon passing it, another FLASH. Really? You’re busting my chops for 26-27mph? Even the motorcycle guy was paralleling my speed, so I doubt it would pick him over me.
We’ll wait and see if Eloy PD actually sends me something. Maybe it’ll be a medal for always slowing down, whether the Speed Trap SUV is there or not.