That infamous 287

[rdcrags]

Between W. Falls and Bowie, that infamous stretch. 75 in a 70 zone. Asked if I was carrying. Did not ask where. Warning ticket. We were both pleasant. I guess it paid off, but he may have already made up his mind to issue just a warning, before walking up that is.

[btaylor]

Glad to hear the stop went well. I absolutely HATE 287. My first ticket was in Estelline, TX when I was on my way to Amarillo. The courthouse was open for like four hours a day and the court fees were still like $140 with defensive driving. Was it a local LEO or a trooper?

[trig]

I know Texas is an Absolute state, but seriously, 5mph over?

I go back and forth between CO and TX all the time. I had a state trooper nearly hit me while he was showing off his excellent median destroying skills to pull me over for 5 over.


I guess it all evens out. That same trip, a lady in an Audi was keeping up the pace, but would couldn't make it up the hills. I passed her going 90 up a hill and the both of us zoomed right by a CO state trooper who didn't budge. I thought I was done for.

[glbedd53]

Be aware of Martindale.

[texasag93]

Be aware of Martindale.

Martindale was a speed trap in when I was in college at SWTSU (20 YEARS AGO). Driving into town there was a plywood sign in someone's yard with hand painted letters saying "Speed Trap ahead"

WOW.

[suthdj]

I was talking to a LEO from Watauga and his comment was if you weren't speeding it wouldn't be a trap. Can't argue with that logic.

[The Annoyed Man]

I passed her going 90 up a hill and the both of us zoomed right by a CO state trooper who didn't budge. I thought I was done for.

I got pulled over by a Colorado State Trooper once, back in about 1974 or so. There was no ticket or anything. He just wanted to look at my cool car - a 1956 Dodge Cornet Lancer with the D-550-1 Daytona homologation special motor. Mine looked exactly like this one:


BTW, I agree that 287 can be a pain, but I found that the best way to deal with it was to just kind of get in the spirit of things, and kind of take it like a Route 66 kind of trip or something.

[TXlaw1]

Cool wheels, TAM. Was that one of America's first sports cars? Sure looks sporty to me. How long did you keep it?

Re 287, Estelline is a real speed trap. Watch if from either direction as the speed limit drops dramatically in a very short span of roadway. I wouldn't be surprised if the town's budget wasn't covered by speeding fines.

[Rex B]

Re 287, Estelline is a real speed trap. I wouldn't be surprised if the town's budget wasn't covered by speeding fines.

That is more and more the case. Back in the late 1970s, court costs were $5.00 in Watauga. Today I bet they are 20 times that.
Take a look at the fort Worth budget sometime. I don't recall the numbers, but traffic fines were a very significant portion. In fact, I bet they more than cover the PD budget.

[skub]

Re 287, Estelline is a real speed trap. Watch if from either direction as the speed limit drops dramatically in a very short span of roadway. I wouldn't be surprised if the town's budget wasn't covered by speeding fines.

Got stopped there about 4 years ago. Knew the speed dropped, and was slowing down, but got distracted a second talking to my son, and got busted. Literally couldn't have been stopped more than 3 minutes. LEO came to my door, took my DL, but not my CHL, and was back in about 2 minutes with my ticket. Really felt like she was trying to get me on the road so she could set up again.

[The Annoyed Man]

[hijack]

Cool wheels, TAM. Was that one of America's first sports cars? Sure looks sporty to me. How long did you keep it?

I owned it in the early to mid 1970s, when I was married to my first wife, and I guess I had it for about 3 years. I eventually sold it back to my father in law, from whom I'd bought it. I don't know if you'd call it a sports car. It was roughly the same size as a '56 or '57 Chevy, and it would have been considered a muscle car back in the day.

It was really fast, and all of the engine components were high performance parts. For instance, I once huffed the water pump driving it from El Paso to Los Angeles. I just kept pouring water in at every gas stop until I got to L.A., and then I pull the water pump and took it to Allied Auto (think "Pep Boys") in Pasadena. I hadn't even noticed, because I'm not really mechanically inclined, but the guy behind the counter pointed out to me that the impeller on the pump was made out of plastic to reduce weight. This was unheard of in 1956 motors for street machines, but was apparently common practice in high performance engines intended for racing, because less weight made it easier for the motor to pull revs. All the parts that the motor had to spin by fan-belt were like that.

As I said before, this car was a homologation special. I don't know what NASCAR rules say now, but back in the 1950s, a NASCAR racer wasn't a purpose built from the ground up racecar like they are now. They were just heavily modded street machines with real strong motors, upgraded suspension, gusseted frames, better brakes, and a roll-cage installed. For instance, my car had drum brakes all the way around (disc brakes were not really in use back then), but they were enormous drums with big cooling fins all over them. NASCAR rules at the time required a manufacturer to build 200 examples of a racecar platform for sale to the general public in order to homologate the car for competition. Most of the homologation specials were purchased by highway patrol departments, but a few fell into the occasional lucky private hands. The standard D500 engine for a street going Dodge car at the time was a 315 c.i. hemi, with a single carter 4 barrel carburetor. That was a nice setup. The D-550-1 engine like I had was the same 315 c.i. hemi block and heads, but with higher lift cams with appropriate timing, two 4 barrel carbs on a cross-ram intake manifold, with dual high-flow exhaust headers going to two straight back pipes with 36" glasspack mufflers. It wasn't just fast, it sounded nice and healthy too.

I believe that, in 1956, Dodge won the Daytona 500 with a car based on this homologation special, with an average speed of 165 mph, IIRC. MY car wouldn't go that fast, but it was really, REALLY fast. When I was a freshman at UTEP, there was a guy in my calculus class who had a '57 Buick homologation special with a 347 c.i. motor with a six-pack in the engine bay. I don't remember what Buick called it, but it was the same body as the '57 Chevy, and I believe that Buick won the '57 Daytona 500 with the car based on that homologation. Anyway, he lived over on the same northeast side of the mountain that I did, and the UTEP campus was way over on the northwest side of El Paso. He and I would frequently race one another over the mountain coming home. Sometimes he got me. Sometimes I got him. Good times.
[/hijack]

[jackal858]

I got my one, and only ticket on 287 about 9 years ago pretty soon after I first started driving. Was heading back to Wichita Falls from Fort Worth at night near the Jolly truck stop. Was doing 72 in the 65 mph at night area. Got tagged by an old state trooper. Must have been a slow night for the 7 over ticket. Stinks he got me coming down a slight descent too, cause I had the cruise control at 69 or so.

But yeah, they'll get you on 287. Not a lot to do out there between Decatur and Wichita Falls except shoot the radar at people.

[Oldgringo]

Re 287, Estelline is a real speed trap. Watch if from either direction as the speed limit drops dramatically in a very short span of roadway. I wouldn't be surprised if the town's budget wasn't covered by speeding fines.

This is true, Estelline is a real speed trap, and they do sometimes work it both ways - at the same time.

[Rex B]

Never heard of it, but I'm going to look it up right now

[Oldgringo]

Never heard of it, but I'm going to look it up right now

Estelline is a wide spot in the road with a guy cop on some sort of motorcycle and a gal cop in a car. There may be another dozen or so residents?