$300 speeding ticket

[Alexander's Horse]

Overtaking or missing an exit is not an excuse for speeding.

Please don't speed - there are families sharing the road with you.

[David Floyd]

You know what I think would be much better than speed limits? Raising the driving age to 18.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Originally posted by Ming
I've been pulled over often for speeding.. and out of the last four times, I've been given a pass three times for be polite and honest with them, and treating them respect...

I'll vouch for this one...The one ticket I've actually gotten was for 62 in a 45, and it was mostly because I was having a bad day and was less than polite with the officer. (In Maine, by the way, 62 in a 45 is ~$120 and 6 points...they suspend your license at 12 points.) I've been pulled over at least five other times that I can think of, including one that was really bad (103 in a 35 at 3AM) and they let me go just fine when I was nice.

[Alexander's Horse]

Originally posted by Ming
If I get caught when speeding, I'm usually very polite, and more than willing to pay the fine, go to traffic school, or just take the ticket on my record. I broke the law, so I pay the price.

In many cases, they are so surprised with my overall attitude, they end up not giving me a ticket...

My experience is the same

I've only had one speeding ticket in over 20 years of driving - and that was from a speed camera.

I've only been pulled over once - and that was for not replacing the rego sticker - and the cop let me off because I was polite.

I had a car full of my school buddies and we were all real polite Maybe because we didnt want the cops to search the car

[Asher]

It really pays off to just keep an eye open for where cops are.

At least here, they always sit in the same damn spots over and over again. And they announce Photo Radar spots on the radio.

More often or not I'll spot a car and make sure I'm going the speed limit, and other people don't notice it and keep going -- lo and behold the lights start up and away they go. Much of the time they're unmarked cars, so whenever I see a car parked on the side of the road I make sure I'm okay.

Over here the true speed limit is the posted speed limit + 15km/h (except for school/playground zones). They can still give a ticket out, but the courts have publically stated if you challenge a ticket and are 15km/h or less over the speed limit they'll throw the case out. They claim there's a backlog for tickets so the small trivial ones are a waste of time.

[Alexander's Horse]

The true speed limit is the published speed limit

I used to drive fast - till I nearly lost my life at the age of 21 and killed my sister too when a tyre blew one fine day on the highway. The car spun out of control into oncoming traffic, narrowly missed going off a bridge and was totally written off. Fortunately we walked away from it without a scratch.

You don't get luck like that twice. All you young speeders might not get such a chance to wise up before becoming just another statistic. The worst part is you might take innocent people with you

There is nothing "cool" about speeding

[Asher]

I don't do it to be cool, I do it because on an 8-lane road with next to no traffic it's ridiculous to go 60 km/h.

I would hardly consider going ~75km/h dangerous. In fact it's still rather slow...

I'm used to 65mph of the US freeways.

[Alexander's Horse]

If you blow a tyre you can lose control of your car in perfect driving conditions. Your chances of survival are directly related to the speed you are travelling at.

The same goes for surviving accidents caused by others. The speed of the cars is the major determinant of survivability.

So please, don't speed - think other of road users, who don't want to be one of these

[David Floyd]

Actually, if everyone around you is speeding, it's dangerous to go against the flow of traffic.

Thus, if everyone is going 70 mph in a 55 or 60 mph, you damn well better go 70 too.

[Alexander's Horse]

Originally posted by David Floyd
Actually, if everyone around you is speeding, it's dangerous to go against the flow of traffic.

Thus, if everyone is going 70 mph in a 55 or 60 mph, you damn well better go 70 too.

Funny how its always the youngest drivers who know best. Funny how they also make up the bulk of road deaths

Good one Floyd

[David Floyd]

Funny how its always the youngest drivers who know best. Funny how they also make up the bulk of road deaths

So you're trying to tell me that if everyone around you is going 70, it's safe for you to be going 55? You might argue that it would be safer for EVERYONE to go 55, but I don't quite see how you can argue it is safer for you personally to go 55, when everyone else is going 70.

[Ramo]

Gotta agree with David. Going 55 mi/h in 70 mi/h traffic can be pretty damn dangerous.

[Alexander's Horse]

I'm yet to be convinced that "everyone" would be exceeding the speed limit all the time. Just sounds like a big BS excuse for speeding to me

I travel at the speed limit or depending on the driving conditions, below it. If others don't like it, they can stow it. Sometimes I exceed the speed limit - I'm not Mr Magoo

But we have speed cameras here so most people travel within the speed limit. I don't know what its like over there.

One thing about country/highway travel is you should enjoy the ride. What's your hurry? I see speeders whiz past, risking heavy fines, and then you catch up to them 5 minutes down the road. What's the point of taking the risk?

[David Floyd]

Yes, not "everyone" speeds. There's always the one old man who's going BELOW the speed limit in the fast lane.

But pretty much everyone else speeds, at least in the US. And going below the speed of the flow of traffic is far more dangerous than going with traffic - even driver's ed classes here tell you that (at least mine did).

Of course, in bad weather this never applies. It's dangerous anyway, and I'm a horrible bad weather driver (all my wrecks have been in rain or ice, I just can't deal with it very well), so I tend to get in the right lane and go as slow as possible until conditions improve.

[Alexander's Horse]

Originally posted by David Floyd
(all my wrecks

How old are you and how many "wrecks" have you had?