In mid-January 2008, the warning was issued about Louisville, Kentucky:

Heads Up, In February, We will launch a 30-day speeding ticket frenzy.

The city estimates that 9 million dollars will be generated in speeding tickets. 1 million will go to pay Mero Police overtime.

There will be 50 Metro Traffic Officers on duty 24/7 patrolling the following highways AND MORE!

I-65 North and South
I-64 From Shelbyville Rd. to Portland Av
Preston Highway to city limits
Now, 5 mph above the limit can justify a ticket, and every Traffic officer is supposed to pull a car over and write a ticket every 10 minutes. They have issued 30 brand new unmarked Crown Victoria cruisers and they are bringing all their part timers on full time.

* Wear your seat belt,
* have nothing hanging from the rear view mirror,
* do the speed limit - use cruise control if you have it,
* have insurance papers,
* and use your turn signals!

Origins: Snopes Urban Legend Website first encountered this warning in mid-May 2005 when it went to them as an e-mail purporting to detail information gleaned from "a State trooper in south Jersey." At that time the crackdown was said to be scheduled to begin on Monday, May 2, 2005.

Towards the end of June 2005, the e-mailed warning reappeared. (It had gone dormant for a few weeks — it had been at least that long since it appeared in the snopes.com inbox.) This second version was identical to the first except for one small yet important detail: the "as of Monday, May 2" was elided from the beginning of the advisory, rendering the updated version's opening line as "New Jersey will launch a 30-day speeding ticket frenzy" and providing readers with no inkling of when the enhanced traffic enforcement would supposedly take place. Subsequent versions of the e-mail were altered and the locations of the alleged crackdown moved: Tri-Cities area, Tennessee (or all of Tennessee); Dallas (or all of Texas); Orange County, California; Detroit (or all of Michigan); Honolulu, Hawaii; Michigan; Pennsylvania; South Carolina; Oklahoma; Louisville, Kentucky (or all of Kentucky).

No news outlets reported a 30-day round-up of speeders in New Jersey in May 2005. Even if there had really been such a month-long rousting of Garden State leadfoots, given that May 2 kick-off date, it would already have come and gone by the time motorists started receiving the original message. (Of course, that doesn't mean anyone should now assume the listed routes to be completely trooper-free.)

New Jersey state troopers were issuing considerably more speeding tickets immediately after March 2005 than they had been previously, but that increase was the result of the state's hiring additional officers, not the product of a short-term effort to raise revenue.

The Bottom Line: The Louisville Speeding Crackdown email is just another in the long list of official-sounding emails floating around the internet that turn out to be an Urban Legend. However, the advice in the email is good and it is in the best interest of drivers to drive safely, defensively and have all the proper papers with the vehicle.

And, on as personal observation, it is always best to to heed caution in those 25 MPH areas and to NEVER speed in a school zone.