Like it or not, there is indeed a speed trap

A couple of years ago we reported that Hamtramck’s speeding laws were on shaky legal ground.

A relatively new state law requires communities to first perform a traffic study before establishing how fast motorists can legally travel. Hamtramck wasn’t alone back then in not having performed the study.

To this date, the city still hasn’t complied with state law. Unfortunately, the law has no enforcement mechanism.

We mention this again because Hamtramck has a serious speed trap on the I-75 service drive – particularly the northbound and southbound section from Holbrook to Caniff. That area is all industrial and there is no valid reason to post a 25 miles per hour speed limit there.

However, there is a reason the city does this: It’s a great money-maker for the city because there’s usually a traffic cop parked along that strip waiting for the next unknowing driver to clip by.

Not surprisingly, city officials ignored our report.

But now, Channel 7’s news investigator Scott Lewis has exposed Hamtramck’s dirty little secret. He talked with a state police officer who is an expert on traffic speeds who said it’s not only illegal to set a speed limit so low on a service drive, it’s also dangerous.

Lewis also cited our previous report that the city’s police officers’ union agreed a few years ago to write at least $60,000 a month in traffic tickets in order to avoid layoffs in the department.

No one in City Hall wants to admit this, but this is a quota system.

Hamtramck had a horrible reputation back in the 1980s for being one big speed trap.

The city once again has this distinction.

It’s time to halt this nonsense. We are hammering innocent folks out there who can least afford to help balance the city’s budget.

Unfortunately, this plea will likely fall on deaf ears in City Hall.