I've a question for our police officers..

[myold88]

Originally Posted by sen10l

and their wives??

How on earth will the traffic officer know that the wife is related to a police officer? Does the wife say "my husband is a police officer can you let me off?"

EXACTLY, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN LIVING ?> In N.Y. State PBA (Police Benevolent Assoc) cards are given out to close friends and especially WIVES. I have one here in Ct.
Again, Wives and relatives, some close friends, and anyone with political pull are routinely given a pass. Like they say "It's who you know."

[CaMeRoN187]

You said u went 52 ina 40... thats 12 over if it was 5 im sure they woulda let you go

[biojack]

Originally Posted by The_Blur

Just to provoke discussion, I'll go ahead and point out that this assumes that there is good reason for the speed limits. Speed limits are set by the governments that we elect to serve us. These guys are administrators, and they operate under the premise of getting reelected. In order to get reelected, they try to be safe by being "tough on crime" and improving safety standards. For many of them, it is safe for their profession to reduce speed limits. This begs a very important question. Are low speed limits inherently safe?

That's a fair question. Haven't seen any in-depth studies recently, but i would comfortably say that speed limits are considerably geared towards factual/proven best practices, as opposed to having political motivation (in. I do have many anarchist tendencies in me, but speed limits are not the focus of any wrath i may have.

If you want to speed, go ahead if your are skilled to do wo without hurting anyone, but be prepared to face the repurcussions.

and some people should not be allowed to drive period, let alone over the speed limit

[Blade]

The whole 3rd speeding ticket since September thing screwed ya. And on the third strike you were almost at Reckless Driving speed, so that made it worse.

I have been there, I was 21 driving to community college everyday.

1. Spring 2002 I get pulled for passing a guy in no passing zone. The dumbass was doing 10 under the limit.

2. Spring 2003 I get pulled for 10 over but it was a local town cop, so he bumped it to 5 over.

3. Halloween 2003 another local cop, pulls me over for excessive speed, but didn't clock me so just gave me a warning. He also knows my dad for 22 years at that point.

4. The week after Halloween 2003, I get pulled for reckless driving. I got screwed and lost my license for 2 weeks. This guy was catching speeders, so BONG, I was the winner that week.

Obviously the first 2 times I got a break. The third time I was lucky he knew my father and hadn't tagged my speed. The fourth time, the guy saw my record pointed it out and threw the book and gave me a riot act right on the street.

I was polite every time and terrified the fourth time. Lesson here is, no matter how polite you are, keep breaking the law you are going to run out of chances.

[mmongi7]

I too have had a similar situation and feel your pain. I'm 22 and work my ass off for my car and insurance as well. I don't need my rates to go up any higher which is exactly why I only go at most 6mph over the speed limit. So I was on my way up to Portland from Salem, I just got off work at 7 in the morning and was going up to my fiance's parents for a Christmas get together at noon. So I had no reason to be in a hurry. So i just did my usual 6 mph over the speed limit and as I'm passing through wilsonville I get pulled over. I'm polite and think I'm gonna get a warning because I really wasn't going that fast. Instead the cop tells me he lasered me 3 times and I was doing 80mph in a 65mph zone. Not even possible because traffic was heavy and it was raining so everyone was going fairly slow anyway. Because of the heavy traffic and me being in the far lane there's no way he could've got a clear shot of my car to laser me 3 times. Also when he pulled me over he asked if I was even the owner of the car after I gave him my license and he saw my age. I told him yes and handed him the registration next. He promptly when back to his car wrote my ticket and left. I was so shocked and the last thing he said to me is that I must be a huge fan of transformers to have bought this car. Don't get me wrong transformers is a good movie but not the reason I bought the car. He totally just ticketed me for being so young and having such an awesome car. He even related how he gets to drive a mustang for patrol once in a while. Total jealousy. I'm definitely not a cop hater at all, plus I have to work with them here and again at the hospital, but this guy just rubbed me the wrong way. I even work with a couple ex cops and they told me my situation was total BS! Hope your court dates go well, but with having 3 I'm not so sure you'll have the best luck.

[CamaroSkooter]

To the OP, get a radar detector. It's cheaper than getting 3 citations, and they don't hurt your insurance premiums

[Seminole]

Once again, speed is not the only or even primary factor in accidents.

Stop moving the goal posts. You asked if lower speeds were inherently safer. I pointed out stopping distances were remarkably shorter at lower speeds.
Maybe you think you can handle 100mph on a city street, but when something you don't expect happens the guy going 30mph is going to have more time to react, and need less distance to stop, than you. That is a cold, hard fact, inherent in speed and governed by the rules of the universe you find yourself sharing with me.

You can argue that speed differential caused by people violating the law makes driving less safe, but that is why the cops enforce the laws, it isn't a justification in and of itself that 'faster is safer'.

If cars were governed at 5mph, do you think there would be 37,000+ fatalities?
So yes, slower is safer, and we establish speed limits to try and maintain a balance between safety and convenience.

Why don't you ask a cop how many of the fatalities they see on the road involve going too fast vs. going too slow?

[3CamarosOnHand]

Originally Posted by Dire Wolf

If you got 3 speeding tickets in 5 months then you're a speeder. Why are you asking for leniency from the law? One ticket... okay ...maybe two... alright it can happen but three? If you got three in that short period of time then I bet you are ALWAYS speeding.

COME ON ALREADY.

Yeah, 3 speeding tickets in 5 months =speeding too much. This is your choice to speed and you are asking for leniency from the law? They run your plate and see your other speeding tickets= not letting you slide by...can you blame them? Is it the officers fault??? No my friend it is your fault. Also, I think they already have you on their radar gun before your detector hits.

[nyycamarogirl]

Originally Posted by CamaroSkooter

To the OP, get a radar detector. It's cheaper than getting 3 citations, and they don't hurt your insurance premiums

Agreeeeeeeed. You were speeding and breaking the law, but I do feel for you. 12 over isn't THAT bad. I only have been pulled over once in my life...... 5 days after getting my camaro... for 99 in a 60. Yeah I am dumb no need to lecture. And I got out of it... in VA too which has HORRIBLE traffic laws. I technically should have been arrested on the spot.

[Darsh 007]

Originally Posted by The_Blur

This information is incomplete. You're forgetting about the consideration of reaction time and whether the car behind you or in front of you has stopping power on par with your own. You're forgetting that people driving slower cause lines of traffic which lead to erratic driving behavior. People have more accidents at intersections than on the highway, but highways are far faster than people turning left at a green arrow. Once again, speed is not the only or even primary factor in accidents. Stopping power doesn't necessarily prevent accidents. You might be able to stop before me by going 10 mph slower, but I'm going to be driving safely behind you or in another lane to compensate for the difference.

Safe, not necessarily defensive, driving stops accidents. Speed limits merely take the focus of driving away from the road and place that focus on the needle under the window.

On another note, speed limits, by their very name, reflect an absolute maximum that should be driven on any road. Why is it then that the vast majority of drivers drive the absolute limit or higher all of the time? Is it possible that the limit is too low that everyone feels safe at the same velocity? And from what are we safe? We don't go out on the roads worrying about collisions most of the time. Our main concern is getting pulled over.

Think of the benefits of increasing speed limits. Less traffic means less accidents. Less time traveling on the highway means less sleepy drivers on long commutes. I could go on, but this rant must continue instead.

I'm not sorry to say that speed limits contribute very little to safety and very much to inconvenience and citizen fear. It merely forces Americans to fear the police who are around to protect, yet their primary role on the highway is to punish. Perhaps punishment should be reserved for those significantly exceeding traffic rather than picking 1 out of every 15 cars that speed by the radar station. If the majority of Americans drive over the speed limit, that's a pretty democratic indicator that the speed limit should be raised. Instead, the majority of Americans are the bad guys. Logic isn't backing the obvious. It's a democratic system, yet the speed limits reflect the seeds of an authoritarian police state.

In a country where the plurality rules, does it really make sense that such a large number of drivers break the rules regularly have no say in the rules they are breaking?

+1

Too many buy into the sound byte dillusion that "speed kills," with no critical thought to the source. There are a plethora of factors that play into accidents, and unfortunately, root cause of these accidents is not the one that law enforcement goes after. Speeding is simply the most easily detected, and therefore the most readily applied. Its not any specific cop's fault, its the way the system is setup. If root cause were the target, the majority of tickets would be for people driving in the left lane, tailgating, failing to signal, failing to merge properly, refusing to yield, rubbernecking, etc.

To the OP, understand that speed limits are low. Modern technology has surpassed many of the antiquated numbers, but they are what they are. You live in a world where you roll the dice when you drive. Not much you can do directly to modify it. You can try contacting your elected officials, but as has been pointed out, you will lose to the safety argument, despite validity in your own. You'd also be cutting tax revanue, which is a steep enough hurdle on its own.

If you choose to speed (and I'm an admitted advocate), make sure you give yourself plenty of following distance, signal, etc. Find what the sweet spot is in your area for tickets. Around here, the addage is "9 you're fine, 10 you're mine." Budget for the tickets you know you'll get. If you overestimate, great! You have extra cash. If you're under... well its just like today I suppose.

[nyycamarogirl]

Originally Posted by Dire Wolf

I know I'm gonna get it for this comment but I can't help it...

Your post only goes to show it pays to have hooters when you get pulled over!

HAHA I know. And I cried a little too. And was really nice, apologetic, and polite.

[TommyTSquared]

Originally Posted by nyycamarogirl

HAHA I know. And I cried a little too. And was really nice, apologetic, and polite.

I hate my sister for this reason... she ALWAYS pushes them up and out, make sure her shirt is nice and tight, then prepares the waterworks should that not work.

What are we guys supposed to do, unzip our pants a little an hope the officer swings the other way? :(

[nyycamarogirl]

Originally Posted by TommyTSquared

I hate my sister for this reason... she ALWAYS pushes them up and out, make sure her shirt is nice and tight, then prepares the waterworks should that not work.

What are we guys supposed to do, unzip our pants a little an hope the officer swings the other way? :(

hahaha. Well my waterworks were real... I thought I was going to get arrested, lose my license, and get my car taken away :(

[Krozzbow]

I believe that the first beautiful light show you get after getting busted by speeding will be determine by how clean your driving record is and “may” be given a warning. After that than you become a persistent violator. I can’t afford a speeding ticket with today’s economy.