Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 9, 1995 TAG: 9510090140
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Information superhighway cruisers take note: If you've ever been caught speeding on the real roadway, you're going to love this.
Hey, the police do.
One of the hotter new Web sites on the Internet is a listing of speed traps - the police don't call them that - and roadside locations where officers consistently stalk speeding motorists.
The World Wide Web Speedtrap Registry already has nearly 2,000 entries from all 50 states. It's a variation on the venerable CB radio network that has helped truckers avoid tickets for decades. But the Speedtrap Registry (whose address is http://www.-speedtrap.com/speedtrap/) caters to a more elite crowd: people who use their personal computers to wander the Internet.
``I like the concept,'' said Lenny Simpson, a Montgomery County, Md., police officer. ``Anything that can get people to slow down is all right.''
Simpson has spent many a night waiting for speeders near the National Naval Medical Center, a spot listed on the registry.
Many of the listings on the registry come from motorists who liken speed traps to highway robbery. Many of their messages are caustic, even downright nasty.
``The tax collector with a badge sits at the bottom of the hill pretending to be concerned with public safety,'' someone wrote about a speed trap in Prince George's County, Md.
Another motorist, writing about Interstate 68 near the West Virginia border, said: ``State cops can frequently be found hiding behind the billboard sign that says, `Welcome to Maryland.' I would imagine that's the Maryland State Police's version of a welcoming committee.''
Officials from the Maryland State Police didn't want to discuss the registry, but Lt. Greg Shipley, a state police spokesman, said there are ``a lot of inaccuracies'' in the list of traps.
For the most part, however, local police departments verified many of the traps listed for their jurisdictions.
Andrew Warner, 20, a student at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, created the registry in February on a whim. In principle, Warner said, he is against speed traps and the arbitrary enforcement of speeding laws, but he added that his Web site is not designed to ``undercut the efforts of police to control motorists' speeds on dangerous roads.''
Not everyone who has used Warner's registry agreed.
``Don't be surprised to find your name on a vehicular-homicide charge or on a wrongful-death lawsuit,'' someone wrote him. ``Speed kills. And you are aiding and abetting.''
One person, claiming to be a police officer and calling himself a ``Nazi scooter pig from Oz,'' wrote, ``I ride a BMW police solo for a living, and I have never heard such a crock of [expletive] in my whole life.''
Warner made no apologies.
``I really don't feel guilty about it at all,'' said the computer-science sophomore, who calls himself the ``popular kind of computer geek.''
He insisted the registry does not promote speeding. ``It will make roads safer because people are going to slow down,'' he said.
Many police seem to agree.
``I'll give him a list of 100 more places,'' said Capt. Bob Beach of the Fairfax County, Va., police department.
Randy Bell, an officer with the Anne Arundel County, Md., police, said, ``If there's a way we can let people know that there is a speed problem in the area, it makes our job easier.''
by CNB