6.14. Myth: “Police Only Write Speeding Tickets to Harass Citizens 
and it is Entrapment.” 
TIFFANY MOREY 
Many people believe that a traffic officer or for that fact, any police officer, who is engaging in speed 
enforcement and is hidden, is guilty of entrapment and such behavior is tantamount to harassment. First, an 
officer does not have to be wholly or partially visible in order for a traffic citation to be valid. Also, the officer 
does not have to take you to, or show you a photo of, the speed limit sign (applicable for the location you 
were driving), before a citation is issued. If you get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle, you are required 
to know the speed limit of the roads you drive. If you decide to speed, even just one mile over the speed 
limit, you are, by the letter of the law, speeding, and this is a traffic offense. If an officer either through 
radar or visual speed estimation, determines you are speeding, that officer has every legal right, to issue you 
a speeding citation. 
However, let’s consider a different situation. If, while having coffee at a local coffee shop, an officer started 
chatting with you about a new speed limit along Main St. The officer told you that the speed limit had been 
raised from 20 mph to 35 mph (which was a lie); and believing that officer, you left the coffee shop and drove 
along Main St. going 35 mph. You then glanced up and saw the unmistakable red and blue lights in your 
rear-view mirror. You were stopped by a different officer, who told you the speed limit was only 20 mph 
(not 35 mph) and issued you a speeding citation. These actions would be considered entrapment because the 
other officer was trying to get you to engage in criminal behavior. 
Now onto why it is not harassment for an officer to give out speeding citations. According to The 
Association for Safe International Road Travel; “Nearly 1.25 million people die in road crashes each year, 
and an additional 20-50 million are injured or disabled” (2018). Our police are tasked with making our roads 
safe and saving lives. Since 3,287 people die every DAY from traffic collisions, police must take responsibility 
and try to lower this massive number. Therefore, police study not only where these crashes are occurring, 
but the mitigating factors that cause them. It may surprise you to know that the number one cause for road 
crashes, is speeding. How do police then slow people down? Education is the first step, however, sometimes 
the only way to educate is through a speeding citation. 
The next time you get a speeding citation (for going faster than the posted speed limit), instead of accusing 
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