After more than
20 years, the north Florida town of Waldo is no longer the nation’s worst speed trap, according to AAA.
After more than 20 years, the north Florida towns of Waldo and Lawtey are no longer the nation’s worst speed traps, the AAA auto and travel club has declared.
The decision revealed Tuesday means AAA will no longer warn its members to drive with extreme caution or take alternate routes from U.S. Highway 301 through the towns northeast of Gainesville. According to AAA, improvements include increased warnings, more officer training and participation in national traffic safety campaigns.
“It was just due from how far they’ve come,” Matt Nasworthy, AAA’s Florida public affairs director, told the Gainesville Sun. “They changed their practices and policies, and it’s gotten to the point where we just thought it was time to change it.’’
Waldo and Lawtey were first designated by AAA as traffic traps in August 1995, after complaints they were padding their coffers with traffic ticket revenues.
Over the years, AAA issued regular warnings and even put up a billboard on the road near the towns. Yet, the tickets continued to be written, and the outcry grew.
In 2015, the Legislature passed a law banning traffic-ticket quotas for law officers, dubbing it the “Waldo Bill.’’ The action came after reports from 2014 that Waldo’s police department was writing speeding tickets based on quotas. The town’s police force was disbanded that year, and now the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office handles traffic enforcement there.
Here’s look back at the history of the saga, all from the archives of the Orlando Sentinel.
April 2015
A ban on traffic-ticket quotas is approved by state lawmakers. The law also requires a city or county to report to state officials if traffic ticket revenue exceeds a third of the cost of operating its law-enforcement agency.
August 2014
Waldo police disclose that they have ticket quotas and reveal that traffic enforcement accounts for almost half of the town’s revenue. The town’s police force is later abolished.
August 2003
Waldo police Chief A.W. Smith offers no apologies and is insulted by the speed-trap tag. “That sounds like we’re Mayberry, hiding behind bushes or something,” he says. In fact, he says, there are signs warning motorists to “Reduce speed ahead” and noting that speeds are “strictly enforced.”
“How much warning do you want?” he asks. His comments come after the AAA puts up a billboard warning that Waldo is a speed trap.
November 1999
State officials and AAA stripe the pavement of State Road 24 with 100 white bars going into Waldo to warn drivers to slow down.
The speed limit on the road drops from 65 mph to 35 mph to 15 mph as it reaches and goes through Waldo.
“We believe this will help slow people down coming into Waldo,” says Randy Bly, director of community relations for AAA Auto Club South.
August 1995
Waldo and Lawtey are first declared speed traps by AAA. The club warns its members to take alternate routes.