U.S. and Canadian Cities with Highest Speed Trap Activity Identified

September 2011

The National Motorists Association (NMA) released a list of 25 cities with the highest number of reported speed trap locations over the past two years. The speed trap sites were posted by the public on the NMA’s National Speed Trap Exchange (www.speedtrap.org).

With the busy Labor Day holiday approaching, and the school year about to begin, the drivers’ rights organization hopes that motorists safely anticipate, rather than suddenly react to, ticketing operations known as speed traps. Speed traps are characterized by arbitrarily low speed limits and heavy traffic enforcement. Motorists should be alert in those areas to avoid receiving citations.


The following cities had the most reported speed traps since September 1, 2009. They are ranked by speed traps per 100,000 residents (per the 2010 census).

  1. Livonia, Michigan    27.9 speed traps per 100,000 residents
  2. Windsor, Ontario    17.6
  3. Orlando, Florida    17.2
  4. Las Vegas, Nevada    11.1
  5. Denver, Colorado    10.9
  6. Reno, Nevada    10.4
  7. Tampa, Florida    8.9
  8. Colorado Springs, Colorado    7.2
  9. Austin, Texas    6.1
  10. Sarasota, Florida    6.1
  11. Portland, Oregon    5.8
  12. Jacksonville, Florida    5.4
  13. San Antonio, Texas (Bexar County)    5.3
  14. Fresno, California    5.0
  15. Hamilton, Ontario    5.0
  16. New Orleans, Louisiana    4.7
  17. Toronto, Ontario (Greater Toronto Area)    4.7
  18. Houston, Texas (Harris County)    4.0
  19. Edmonton, Alberta    3.3
  20. San Diego, California (San Diego County)    3.2
  21. Indianapolis, Indiana    3.2
  22. San Jose, California    3.1
  23. Chicago, Illinois (Cook County)    1.9
  24. Los Angeles, California (Los Angeles County)    1.6
  25. New York, New York (5 boroughs)    0.9

During the same two-year period, Vermont, New Hampshire, Michigan, Wyoming, and Colorado “led” all states with 11.4, 11.3, 9.4, 9.2, and 9.1 new speed trap listings per 100,000 residents respectively. Nova Scotia and Ontario topped the provinces, each with a rate of 8.7.

Motorists wishing to enjoy uneventful highway travel should visit www.speedtrap.org for a full list and specific locations of speed traps in these and other communities.