I am heading to Laughlin in a few days, and just was thinking about the Needles Highway. I think the police target the California drive in crowd. It must be a good money making deal for law enforcement.
The Needles Highway has all the makings of a speed trap. As you drive in from Needles, the California section of the road is just terrible, and the speed limit is 55, which is ok with the bad road, dips and curves. Then you hit the California/Nevada state line, and the road is straight, no dips and nicely paved. The speed limit is still 55, although (in my opinion) 65 is a safe speed on this nice road. Don%26#39;t speed. Now, as you get closer to Laughlin, the road improves even more- we now have a 4 lane highway with sweeping curves, but they have lowered the speed limit down to 45. I do not see the logic of this, as there is no foot traffic, non residential, and a non commercial area. Don%26#39;t speed, as the police always seem to be hiding. My last trip in, I saw two ticket writings in action..... One had an Arizona license plate, and one California.
This speed trap is just that, and is written up on various speed trap websites, but most people don%26#39;t pay attention. Now I just slow down as I have learned the sad truth, but I know some do not. I have even had some pass me over the double line, as I was going too slow (speed limit). Really unsafe!
Yes, the speed limits are well posted, but in my opinion there are set too artificially low so that it becomes an easy revenue for the police.
Also, watch out if you turn onto Casino drive at the signal. It is another low speed limit, and it is down hill, so it is easy to gain speed here too. The police seem to watch this stretch also.
You have been warned. If you get a ticket it is your own fault. LOL
Laughlin Speed Trap
Since I always drive this route coming in from SoCal,have the same thoughts as CaSwede.This road would be safe if the speed limits were raised 5-10 mph in many sections.On the other hand,this a dangerous road,with many crashes.Because of the low speed limits,the danger may actually be increased.Impatient,frustrated drivers will ignore the speed limits and make dangerous moves like passing in a double stripe zone or passing multiple vehicles at once.Late Friday and Saturday nights are often deadly times according to what locals have told me.The law presence is large,and on almost every trip will see someone pulled over.Have a rule that so far has not gotten me a ticket;absolutely no more than 5 mph over the posted speed limit.The 5 mile stretch on Casino Drive after making the right turn off of Needles Highway is even more absurd;a maddening 35 mph posted speed limit.50 would be perfectly safe and sensible.To avoid this nonsense,I now just proceed straight ahead through Laughlin proper,posted 45 mph,and turn right at Woodbury Dr. and down the hill.Saves a bit of time and frazzle.
Laughlin Speed Trap
As I am sure most Laughlin locals will agree, the California race track drivers in their mad rush to get to the casinos on weekends are the very reason that these ';speed traps'; exist. I would hypothesize that 90% of those drivers who pass me like maniacs in the 45 mph limt zone coming into Laughlin on Needles Highway are from CA. This comes from years of looking at the plates of those flying by as we come from the Avi on Friday or Saturday evening.
The casinos have lobbied to get the limits in such areas raised up in order not to offend the lucrative California buisness coming to town. That would certainly accomplish little. If the 45 on Needles Highway were raised to 55, the California drivers would I am quite certain drive 65.
There does seem to be a simple solution. If these folks would begin their journey to Laughlin twenty minutes earlier they could obey the speed limit laws and still get there at the same time as they previously did. Hmmmmm
Just some observations from a local yokel who probably knows far less about what is good for Laughlin than the CA folks do.
Totally agree grif......from another dummy who just lives here.
I just drove from the Avi to Needles on my way to the London Bridge today and didn%26#39;t see a single cop.
But I have to agree I drive around 5 miles over the speed limit and still get passed by people going 20 over and this was all day on I10 heading to phoenix which is 75 mph already. I was cut off by a Prius when he made a left right in front me, which then had to have been driving 90mph, tail gated at 80mph and passed over and over. All California plates. I%26#39;m not saying Arizona drivers are any better because they are just as bad.
But you don%26#39;t know what a speed trap is. 20 miles from Phoenix and I10 has mobile radar vans, and permanent fixtures every 2 miles then all the way through Phoenix permanent radar fixtures every few miles. These are under the road sensor systems and can flash multiple cars in multiple lanes at once.
In Laughlin I%26#39;ve seen them most at Casino Drive at the bottom of a blind turn and hill they%26#39;ll sit. Just before Gilligan%26#39;s. Slow speed limit and big hill right before the cops.
As a newly semi-transplanted CA driver that has driven to Laughlin 14 out of the past 15 weekends (no typo there) I find that stretch of road from the Avi to Gilligans very irritating. Not really from a %26#39;
I gotta get there now%26#39; point of view, but mainly from a %26#39;my senses -35 years of driving- feel like 45 through that stretch just isn%26#39;t right. I can see no reason for that speed limit other than a revenue generator. I%26#39;ve seen the Police SUV%26#39;s tucked up in the bushes, pulled of the road in the darker areas, just waiting for the innocent suspect that may be driving %26#39;by feel%26#39;, not rules. I would say at least half of those 14 trips there was at least one driver pulled over, a couple of times there were 2 drivers, just a couple of hundred yards apart. I guess it%26#39;s good for the city - a city I hope to call home shortly, but come on. From Gilligans north through %26#39;town%26#39; sure, but south of there... I don%26#39;t think so.
Now that I think about it, it%26#39;s still 45 mph north of Bruce Woodbury towards 163... it%26#39;s a desert up there and there%26#39;s actually a section that%26#39;s 35 mph!
We have been going to Laughlin for years and understand the locals feelings of wanting to protect their area, but the truth is it is real easy to go over the limit on that stretch. We have lived in small towns and big cities over the last ten years and the truth is the posted speed limits in that area are common sense low. In twelve years since I turned 21 I have never gotten a ticket in that area and honestly if I was a local I would think our local police would be better served patrolling my neighborhoods or ensuring the drunks stay in the casino rather than pulling over motorists doing 55 in a four lane strech of 45.
After spending 2 winters in laughlin area I agree with the locals on their opionion of the stretch of road mentioned. We don%26#39;t particularly like to go 45 mph but resign ourselves to it and allow ourselves plenty of time to get where we are going. It always amazes us how the speed signs are ignored over and over. And sorry CA the speeders are most often from your state!!! Nothing personal here, just true..we have had them ride our bumper, honk their horn (my husband abides the limit with a wee bit extra)and some have flipped us off as they are screaming around us. Many times we have seen cars pass ours or other cars with barely enough room to do so. I have yet to have a uneventful trip coming or going to Avi..and with the drinkers leaving the casino I for one feel a bit safer knowing that it is being patrolled!! So because of what we have seen I do not believe it is a speed trap but something that is needed to keep us all safe..so it is simple, SLOW DOWN!!
The bottom line is slow down when you come to our town or stay home. And don%26#39;t move here if you can%26#39;t support our town either. Nuff said!
I can definitely see both sides of the argument. I do think if the posted limit is intentially set ';too'; low (i.e., they set the speed limit 20 MPH slower than what is safe and hope no one will do more than 20 MPH over the limit), then often it%26#39;s the law abiding drivers (those going the posted 45 or whatever) that are put in danger by the maniacs going WAY too fast.
I don%26#39;t know...seems the best thing is to set the speed limit at a reasonable level, and enforce the heck out of it. That way when law-abiding drivers are doing 55 (or whatever), they%26#39;re a little less likely to get run over by the idiot doing 80. The idiot doing 80 is going to do 80 whether the posted speed limit is 45 or 55. So instead of punishing the ';reasonable'; drivers going 55 in a 45, crack down on the unsafe drivers doing 75 in a 55.
Of course I don%26#39;t live in Laughlin so perhaps there%26#39;s other issues I don%26#39;t know about, and as a visitor I will follow the law of the land...but that%26#39;s my .02 for what it%26#39;s worth!
Oh yah!! Raise the speed limit ?! Instead of the speed racers doing a mere 80 they%26#39;ll bump it to an even 100!!!! Problem solved!!
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