SPEED TRAP IN KEMAH

For the past few months, motorists entering Kemah northbound on State Highway 146 have been victimized by the "accidental" juxtaposition of signs pictured at right. The speed limit sign is completely blocked by the evacuation sign, giving motorists less than 2 seconds to slow from 60 to 45 mph.
Although the Kemah Police Department had nothing to do with the placement of these signs (the Texas D.O.T. has fessed up), there have been MANY tickets written at this location. Motorists who may have been issued speeding tickets at this location ought to request a dismissal, because this is improper posting, and shouldn't stand up in court. If only 10 tickets a day have been written for the past 6 months, the amount of fines is now well over $200,000.00 - a pretty good chunk of money. These fines now appear to be illegal.
It would be unfair to blame all this on the Kemah Police Department, which has undergone major changes since our last story about them. There is a new Chief, Tommie Buchanan, and the number of citations and arrests are much lower than previous levels. Buchanan says the department has ceased to use traffic citations as a basis for paying the bills, and community relations have improved. The DOT was recently embarrassed when they tried to take down the US Flags flying along Hwy. 146 in Kemah, and were told to "back off" by a District Judge.
The speed trap is now closed - within 12 hours of our contacting the DOT to ask about the placement of these signs, they were switched!  (GATOR)