D. Fahleson / Chronicle

Anyone who has gotten caught speeding knows the sinking feeling you get. You know it’s wrong to drive too fast but you were in a hurry.

But what about when there seems to be no posted speed limit? Or your speed seems appropriate but you’re actually over the legal limit? Or the speed limit drops so fast you can’t slow down quickly enough? You may be the victim of what many call a speed trap.

Houston is king of the speed traps, not just in Texas but in the United States, at least according to speedtrap.org, which rates every state.

According to CNBC.com:

Drivers note on Speedtrap.org that there are traps set at the Houston city limits and near attractions like the Astrodome. And, the speed limit can change rapidly and dramatically. One motorist wrote that entering the city on Highway 59 North, the speed limit dropped suddenly to 55 from 70. Just as the motorist noticed the speed-limit change on his GPS, BAM! There was a speed trap. The number of tickets was even more staggering when the economy was bad: In March of last year, KTRK Channel 13 found that Houston police officers wrote about 3,000 tickets per day, or 147 an hour!

Here’s the page for reported speed traps in Houston on speedtraps.org:

http://www.speedtrap.org/city/11261/Houston

There’s a separate entry for Houston/Bellaire:

http://www.speedtrap.org/city/18906/Houston/Bellaire

Do you agree with this unscientific report?