These East Texas Speed Traps are Some of the Worst in the State

(Coffee City, Texas) - If I were to ask you your thoughts on speed, I'd get a different answer from every one of you. Some of you believe you can drive five miles over the speed limit. Some of you just make up a reasonable speed to drive at and expect everyone else to follow your speed, too.

It's really frustrating for me when on our East Texas roads because I do my best to follow the traffic laws. I blame the parent taught driver's education. Whoever made that a thing in Austin needs to be fired immediately. So many young drivers don't know any of the traffic laws because of it.

A Long East Texas Commute

The topic of speed on the roadways in East Texas can be a very contentious conversation. One thing all drivers can agree on, however, is that there are certain areas that seem to have purposely been set up to catch people speeding (speedtrap.org). These are called speed traps and they exist all over Texas.

I worked at a small radio station in Malakoff for a couple of years in the early 2010s. I commuted from Tyler every day with part of that commute taking me through the cool little town of Brownsboro. As you're entering or exiting Brownsboro on the west side, there is an unusual progression of speeds.

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Speed Trap in Brownsboro

It's 35 mph while in town, goes up to 45 mph at the church, then 55 mph after about 300 yards, then 65, then 70 mph before you get to the school. Not to mention the 35 mph school zone in the 70 mph zone when flashing. You would think this would be a natural speed progression but too many get anxious and hit the 70 mph mark in the 55 mph zone.

The same can be said for entering Brownsboro from the west, it's 70 mph coming in, the 35 mph school zone when flashing, back up to 70 mph, it drops to 65 right before the city limit sign, then 55 mph just after the small welcome sign, then 45 mph after about 300 yards and 35 mph after that. It's too easy to miss these marks and drive too fast through that area.

It's not uncommon to have an officer sitting either in the church parking lot or on the other side of Highway 31. It's very easy to get tagged there. Luckily, I paid attention in those areas and never got a ticket during my daily commute. But I did see plenty of people getting pulled over.

Other East Texas Speed Traps

On social media, I asked what was the worst speed trap in East Texas. That spot in Brownsboro seemed to get the most call outs. The 40 mph section of Loop 323 in Tyler, Coffee City, Wells, Franklin and Diboll got a lot of call outs, too.

Yeah, speed traps can be annoying and cost you some money. But here's the deal, these speeds are set by those local governments for a reason. If you violate those speed limits, the authorities there have every right to stop you and issue a ticket. Doesn't matter if you're going 1 mile over, 5 miles over or 15 miles over the speed limit, you have broken the law and you will have to pay a fine if caught.

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