posted on May 28, 2002 04:00:41 PM new
Despite having a really good radar detector, I got a speeding ticket the other day. I had the radio blasting so I could not hear the audio signal(which I had turned down a few notches) from the detector. By the time I noticed the LED going wild it was too late. I think I may get a radar jammer. It is interesting to note that there are some cities in Florida that get as much as 2/3 of their revenue from speeding tickets, but Florida is not even on the top 10 list of states giving out the most.
posted on May 28, 2002 04:30:05 PM new
I do. But, even though this doesn't justify it usually only about five miles over the limit. Waldo, FL is one of the towns that is well-known for it's speed traps. If memory serves me correctly, AAA was warning their members about speeding through this small little town. The majority of their revenues come from speeding tickets. So, if you ever find yourself passing through Waldo slow down.
posted on May 28, 2002 04:54:42 PM new
Hell I don't even drive and got in trouble during a traific stop less then a half mile from home coming from work one night.
Cops put there lights on pulled my wife over one cop on the drive side one on the passanger side where I was sitting.
wife rolled down the window to ask what the trouvle was so I reached out rolled down the window cop put his gun in my face said roll up the window hands on your lap.
posted on May 28, 2002 04:59:30 PM new
When I first saw this thread title, Stusi, I started to post "Nah. I didnt like speeding. I was a downer person myself"
posted on May 28, 2002 06:43:13 PM new
Yes I speed. In Michigan it is called keeping up with traffic. I have been going down I-696 at 80 mph and they are passing me on both sides. Have not got a speeding ticket in about 10 years. The main street we live off of is posted 25 - they go 45 and 50. If I go 30 - 35 I have big trucks following me about two foot off my bumper. One day I put on my left blinker and the guy behind me passed me anyway over the double yellow line as I turned left onto our side street. He ended up in the neighbor's yard since I turned across his nose just like the signal said I was - Duhhh.....
Respite that I feel speeding is rarely a safety issue - It is just a random form of taxation and demeans the officer into a tax collecting thug instead of a peace officer.
About the same as forfeitures.
Dman3 I don't forgive people for pointing guns at me. (Or framing me.) That makes a permenant enemy of me. Just a question of how long it will take to get better than even.
posted on May 28, 2002 06:45:53 PM new
STUSI...I WAS IN THE....sorry..forgot I wasnt talking to jackswebb, lol....I an early 70's child.... I had an old 1970 volkswagon van camper that was babypoop yellow and KEEP ON TRUCKIN' painted on the rear bumper, peace sign hanging on the rear view mirror, Patchoulie incense wafting about the interior to keep the smell of pot from being so strong and tunes of Crosby Stills Nash and Young blasting on the 8 track tape. I was the grand old age of 18. But I did liked my pot, hash and what they called then, "reds". Long time ago. And yes...I remember.
edited for spellin'
[ edited by hepburn101 on May 28, 2002 06:47 PM ]
posted on May 28, 2002 06:50:53 PM new
I guess I am Real Bad..
What speed limit ???
Do they still post signs???
I go as fast as I can, and still be a safe driver, Florida is well know for 35mph on many many roads, If I can, I will go as fast as 50 in these area's, of course, that is now, and not during the "snow bird" season....{ oct - march }, during this time, your lucky to even do the posted speed limited.
I better not get a ticket now, for posting this here. I havn't recieved a ticket in 20yrs.
posted on May 29, 2002 07:32:56 PM new
Gravid are you a troll ? the rest here won't understand upper and lower penninsula terminology.
The Michigan state police Lie ? my god what are things coming to someone has found out their secret power now they will have to go back and ask for more funding to stop A. Drugs B.Gangs C.Terror D.their own imbecility.
Like the SS they have no one who over sees their conduct.
posted on May 29, 2002 08:01:12 PM new
I am in beautiful Rochester MI and the best thing about the little town is that there are no expressways going through it. I-75 is near enough to be handy but there are no x-ways that a criminal can do something and go up a ramp and be far away
quick.
I know what a troll is on the board but not for Yupper/Mitten terminology. I am from Ohio but have been here twenty some years and been in the UP quite a few times.
The only place I have seen the same level of speeding accepted as here was in Quebec. I was doing 85 one time in Quebec and a Winnabego passed me! I had no idea they would go that fast.
posted on May 29, 2002 09:50:26 PM new
I never speed. Not even on I-696. Gravid, was that you the other day on 696 and Dequindre?
When someone speeds and tailgates me, I simply lift my foot off the gas. Usually within a few seconds, they pass. It really is a good defensive driving technique to go slower when you are being tailgated. The object is to increase the distance of the car in front of in relation to your car. If the car in front stops suddenly, then you will have a greater chance to stop slower, thus lessening the chance of being hit from the rear.
Another reason for not speeding is the fact that you may cause an accident. Everyone thinks they are good drivers, but really the good drivers obey all traffic laws. If you cause an accident, it really doesn't matter who is at fault. What really matters is what the people who witness your accident say. Do you want them to tell the police you were speeding or that you were obeying the speed limit and the other guy was speeding.
If you go 20 mph over the limit, trying to gain time, you will loose any time that you've gained the very first time you have to slow down or stop. I watch people speed and pass me all the time. Many times, when we end up at the same place, they reach the destination about 30 seconds before me. For the pleasure of arriving soooo early, they have to run red lights, change lanes numerous times, and speed. If you think about it, these people may live to be 80 + years old, the 30 seconds they save really means very little.
In Michigan, if you speed in a construction zone, (45 mph limit) the fines are doubled. If you kill or injure a road worker, your fine will be $7,500, and you will forefit 15 years of your life in the fact you will be placed in prison.
So that's why, I don't speed. There are only two people that don't speed in construction zones in Michigan, me and the person behind me. If they tail me, I go slower.
posted on May 30, 2002 04:03:36 AM new
I usually pull over on the shoulder and let them pass if I have someone pasted right on my rear end. Too many people go nuts in that situation.
I feel much safer going about the same speed as everyone else no matter if they are above or below the posted limit.
When I see some old person going 55 in the left lane with traffic backed up in a tight clump behind them and people passing on the right I can't admire their respect for law at the cost of risk to everyone involved.
I ignore laws that don't make sense all the time when they are based on making money rather than physics. No apology - the law is often an ass. Remember when the 55 speed limit was law for all "urban" areas and you would be driving through woods out in the middle of nowhere and the speed limit would drop for no reason except that on a map some city line went across the road there? No ramps or even developement - just urban trees instead of country trees, and you are supposed to slow down. Do you think the local cops would ignore it as unreasonable? Shucks no - they were out there making money.
Oh and about construction zones. If the construction people treated the driver with a little respect they would get some more in return.
I can't tell you how many times I see signs left up for weeks saying the lane ahead is closed and when you get over and get up there nobody is working today. Same with Sundays
I have approuched a construction zone and had the flag man sitting on his butt with his sign hanging between his knees and offering no clue if it was this sides turn to stop or go. When the work area is completely boxed off with concrete barriers what is the point of reducing the speed?
Speed is the whole point of having a car. If we didn't care how long it took we would still keep horses or just walk.
It is a shame we can't have very limited access unlimited highways where you can go as fast as your car is capable of going. It would replace air travel for short and medium hops.
You would have to maintain your car much better than many people do. For example from Detroit to Florida would be a one day drive.
There would be economic benefits to the increased tourism. 120 - 130mph is really not difficult for a car to go and still maintain economical operation and not stress the components too much. It is true that cruising at 150 to 180 is expensive and requires special tires and suspension and burns more gas. But still not as much fuel as a plane uses for you.
posted on May 30, 2002 05:18:00 AM new
WOW, dman, how frightning.
I don't think I've ever driven more than 5-7 miles over the speed limit...traffic allowing. The one and only ticket I ever received was when I was 17 or 18 and made what was referred to as a 'rolling stop' at a four way stop sign. They (CA) took my drivers license away for 6 months...taught me alright.
Since retiring...I think most of the time I drive slower than the posted limit....there's so much beauty to take in.
Now my husband, who by nature has always been a "what's the hurry?" kind of guy, used to be in the 'go with the flow' crowd [keeping up with traffic, even if they were driving way too fast]....although he's driving slower now too.
Yeager when you said, "I watch people speed and pass me all the time. Many times, when we end up at the same place, they reach the destination about 30 seconds before me", I laughed. That's sooo true. When that happens to me, I fight the urge to wave and smile at them as we sit side-by-side at a stop light.
posted on May 30, 2002 05:32:23 AM new
Stusi same thing happened to me last year was very annoying since then I purchased an ESCORT PASSPORT 8500 since then not looked back.
I know I will get slated for this but least being honest!.
I am no a 100mph driver 10-15 over the limit but speeding still I know.
posted on May 30, 2002 07:00:27 AM new
The ones that really grate me are the fellows who jerk back and forth from lane to lane like one of them is going to magically get ahead when there is traffic bumper to bumper.
If you make enough fast lane changes sooner or later you are going to make a mistake and clip someone.
There has to be a balance - you don't have to floor it when the light changes but how selfish the person who sits there with their mouth hanging open and you can count off the seconds the turn arrow has been on and they take 5 or 6 of the 15 seconds it will be green staring at it before they move. There are 10 or 15 people behind them and maybe 2 or 3 will get to turn. You feel like leaning out the window and yelling "It's the pedal on the right dim wit!"
Edited to add the completely self centered person who does not believe there is a world behind their ears they can't see. When they use the center turn lane instead of getting over in it and stopping they stop in the left lane then turn their nose across the turn lane with the whole back of their car still hanging in the lane blocking it. They have no sense of space. Me? You can't get past me? Probably learned to drive a hay truck on a farm road in Nebraska and can't see any need to change style.
[ edited by gravid on May 30, 2002 07:15 AM ]
posted on May 30, 2002 09:59:40 PM new
It is not so much speeding that is dangerous, as is disparity in speed among drivers.
I currently own 2 cars with a top speed in excess of 160MPH. One is a 4 cylinder and the other a V-8. Both get 10-12mpg in town and 27-29 mpg at the posted speed limit.
Practical...No Fun to drive...YES.
The fast acceleration from a stop, and the high speed cruising, are not to get there quicker. It is about the feel of the ride. there is a short section of I-75 near my home that has no place for the law to hide and once a week or so, I enjoy a good 140 to 150 mph blast. The rest of the time, I accelerate fast then just pace myself with traffic.
No speeding tickets since 1979, however I have collected a few for improper starts. Love those long double blacks.
I have never been in or caused an accident and consider myself a safe driver.
posted on May 31, 2002 01:49:08 AM new
scrabblegod,
It is not so much speeding that is dangerous, as is disparity in speed among drivers.
I have never been in or caused an accident and consider myself a safe driver.
How could you really consider yourself a safe driver when you go that fast. At 60 mph, a person covers 1 mile per minute. At 150 mph, a person covers 2 and 3/10ths mile in one minute. You CAN NOT see traffic and road conditions clear enough ahead to be able to do that safely. The traffic conditions in that stetch can change drastically. With all due respect, you may consider yourself a safe driver. However in reality you very likely are not.
Some people with high powered cars and other vehicles think they are exempt from obeying common sense traffic laws.
A good example of this is what happened the other day in Detroit. A rider of a high powered motor cycle, a so called "crotch rocket" was driving down a residential street at an estimated 110-120 mph. His poor choice enabled him to crash into a innocent motorist, almost tearing the car in half. The driver of the car is in serious condition in a Detroit hospital. This innocent person's life will be changed forever. I'm happy to say, the person driving (the motorcycle) will never be able to do this again. You see, his body was found about 70 feet past the car, in several pieces. GOOD RIDANCE!
I would bet $100.00, if you asked that person the day before this accident if they were a "good driver", they would have said yes.
Isn't it funny how some people think it's OK to rationlize their thinking and behavior?
[ edited by yeager on May 31, 2002 01:50 AM ]
posted on May 31, 2002 05:25:53 AM new
I see no comparison between a blast down the highway and driving down a residential street at an estimated 110-120 mph.
On a residential street, there are way to many variables for excesive speed. This piece of hwy is 4 miles long with no access and a very clear view ahead. If it is congested, I come back some other time, but when it is clear, I see no problem.
When I started driving, the speed limit had been dropped to 55 and people said you were crazy and reckless to drive 75 or eighty. In all reality though, only a few years before I started to drive the limits were higher and people including my grandparents drove that those speeds every day.
Defining reckless by what the local powers that be,have randomly set the limit at is not accurate.
posted on May 31, 2002 06:19:53 AM new
Speed limits are there for a good reason. They are just a comprimise for safety reason. If you think you are exempt from them and should be allowed to go 75-85 mph them the 80 year-old grandma with the poor eyesight and 3 ton luxury tuna boat should be allowed to go that fast. And let us hope the family in the suburban or you are not in her way.....Remember, that is what you thought the rules sholud be....
I do not want you setting the rules---EVER!
There are only 10 types of people in the world
Those who understand binary and those who don't
[ edited by mlecher on May 31, 2002 06:22 AM ]
posted on May 31, 2002 06:55:44 AM new
scrabblegod- your 4 cylinder gets 10-12 MPG in town and your 8 cylinder gets 27-29 at the posted limits? I don't think so! Would you mind telling me what these miracle cars are?
posted on May 31, 2002 06:56:46 AM new
I usually do the speed limit, but I'll admit that on one road I speed. The speed limit drops from 55mph to 35mph and the road conditions are identical. The 35mph just happens to be in the city limits. I still try to keep it under 15mph over the limit because that means the difference between a speeding ticket and reckless driving.
posted on May 31, 2002 07:44:12 AM new
The majority of "speed limits" exist primarily as a source of revenue. To enhance the collection of this, the government spends millions telling you about the horrendous consequences in speeding. There have been many scientific studies of speed limits and the results are never even close to the propaganda war.
1) The federal interstate highway system was designed (banking, curves, etc) in the 1950s for vehicles of the 1950s to be able to maintain a speed of 75mph.
2) The accident/fatality percentage attributed to "speeding" is in single digits. This was based on examining accident reports and analyzing them.
3) Compare the enforcement dollars spent on "speeding" to say, drunk driving (the #1 accident/death cause BY FAR.) and you can see the big smokescreen.
4) The overwhelming majority of speed related accidents are caused, as yeager said, by a disparity in speed, not the speed. This is when you come over the hill on an empty hghwy doing 60 and there's a mope in the left lane doing 35 or when the same mope gets to the end of the onramp of a superhighway doing 30. These people could never pass a driving test in Europe, but are rampant here.
5) Speed limits USED to be determined by using average drivers with blanked out speedo and telling them to drive at a "comfortable" rate. When you do this and make a plot of the number of drivers vs their average speed you get a bell shaped curve. The speed limit was usually the 85th percentile mark on the graph. If this was say, 70mph, most people would think that putting a speed limit of 50 would make the road "safer". This has been proven WRONG. Posting a lower speed limit causes add'l accidents. Psychological testing has explained this by saying that exceeding the derived limit taxes the avg driver and driving slower breeds boredom and less attentiveness.
So when you got to work on that 12 lane limited access highway and everyone is doing 75, they are not crazy "speed demons" they are just travelling at the road's natural speed limit.
posted on May 31, 2002 08:04:04 AM new
Another aspect of the type of car scrabblegod is speaking about is that they can stop in sometimes a third of the distance of a normal car. I also once had a car that could cruise at 155mph and go faster for brief periods.
However it had brakes that could stop it from that speed in about 250 feet with good control and do it several times in a row. You had to be strapped in good because you would be literally hanging on your belts. And I had the double over the shoulder belts with the strap through between the legs.
Many of the cars the brakes will self destruct in one hard stop from past 100.
posted on May 31, 2002 08:07:29 AM new
For awhile, Germany had an unlimited speed limit. I just checked out the latest news from Germany and found this article.
Achtung! (Watch out!)
Germany's "highway patrol" -- otherwise known as the Autobahnpolizei -- is usually less visible than the U.S. version, but in a way you may never have suspected.
One of the weapons in their arsenal is the "automated police officer." Along certain stretches of autobahn or highway (Bundesstraße), usually in high-traffic areas, special radar-linked police cameras are stationed over the roadway ready to take a revealing snapshot of you and your car at any time of the day or night. Displayed prominently in this special photograph, besides you and your car, is a record of your speed, the date, the time, and the location. You won't even know what happened until your photographic speeding ticket arrives in the mail a few days later. Although some have tried, these incriminating photos are difficult to fight, and German courts have ruled that the "camera police" are perfectly legal. The photographic police are also located at city intersections to catch drivers who run red lights.
Some German drivers were finding these photos incriminating in another way: their spouses were less than happy when, in the radar-trap photo, they saw someone else sitting next to their partner, someone of the opposite sex who was not supposed to be there. To avoid a higher German divorce rate, the police have ceased sending the actual photos to the offender's home. Now when the traffic ticket arrives in the mail, the person caught in the act has to go down to the police station to view the "camera police" photo and protest the charges.
