Tuesday, September 28, 2010

A History of Speed Traps in the U.S.



Hi folks -- sorry for being so quiet lately. I have just been overwhelmed with work, the result of having 85 students in three classes.
I am beginning to discuss one-on-one term paper topics with my students. I have one young lady doing a paper on advertising and women during the 1960s and 1970s, and this morning I met with Megan Slaybach concerning a topic I really wanted someone to pursue, namely a history of speed traps. I had noticed this summer that there were quite a few entries during the 1920s in the New York Times on speed traps, and since Meghan is interested in law school, I thought this topic might work for her. In addition to NYT articles, there are also a number of articles listed in Readers' Guide Retrospective and also Lexis Nexis Academic, including important cases that went to the several state Supreme Courts. So we will see how it all shakes out. I noted that the first reference in the NYT was dated 1908; thus, it is a long standing and contentious issue to say the least.

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