SPEED TRAPS? WEB USERS DISCLOSE LOCATIONS

Local police said speed trap warnings on the information superhighway give Southeast Missouri a bum rap.

Patrolmen say they don't mind if the site makes drivers more cautious, but they do take offense to the implication that drivers are being ticketed unfairly.

At a Web site called speedtrap.com, motorists have posted details on thousands of "speed traps" around the country, including location, average fine, the type of car police use and the local scanner frequency.

The Web site was created in 1995 by Andrew Warner, a 23-year-old Atlanta resident.

Irritated drivers may post to the site anonymously.

Chaffee and Jackson are listed, with motorists accusing police of sneaky tactics to catch speeders.

About Chaffee one person posted:

"They do not allow any tolerance and run traps on Hwy. 77... . If you are even close to this town, get away especially if you have a Class E or CDL."

Chaffee Police Chief Keith Carr said if anything Chaffee police are merciful to speeders. "I'd challenge anyone to show me a ticket that didn't have at least a 10-mile-an-hour leeway," Carr said.

Carr said the six-man police force writes more tickets on city streets than on the highway, and the number of speeding tickets has gone down in the past year.

"The one bad thing about the Internet is that anybody can get on and post his opinion as fact," Carr said.

About Jackson somebody wrote:

"...Be careful when you are travelling on Route D and on Hwy. 61. The police like to sit behind bushes and signs and they will get you every time. So be careful when you come to our lovely town."

Cpl. Blaine Adams of the highway patrol zone office in Jackson scoffed at the idea that speed patrols in Jackson are overzealous.

"First, I say there's no such thing as a speed trap," Adams said. "I suppose they want us to drive up and down the highway with our lights on so they know where we are."

He said the people who get speeding tickets deserve them.

"The only area on Route D where they work speed is around the school. There are kids playing there, and people do need to pay attention and slow down."

Delta, Marble Hill, Perryville and Puxico also made the list, as well as Murphysboro and Union County in southwest Illinois.

Of the I-57 rural interstate running through Union County one motorist wrote: "The main prey is out-of-state plates traveling at night."

Though the site carries a disclaimer saying it is not "an effort to undercut the efforts of police to control motorists' speeds on dangerous roads," some entries read like instructions for outsmarting the law.

"The state trooper drives a gold Ford Crown Vic," reads a Connecticut entry. "You don't see him until it's too late. ...I have seen him parked sideways using laser, so beware, he is very tricky."

Still, some law enforcement officials applaud the net result.

"The purpose of speed enforcement is to reduce car crashes and save lives," says Massachusetts State Police Capt. Robert Bird. "Whether you can get people to slow down by warning that police may be there or by catching them in the act, it accomplishes the same thing."

The Associated Press contributed to this report