Seeking legal advice..

[Joe]

Last night at 1:02AM I was stopped by a county trooper on a highway. He cited me for doing 60 miles per hour in city limits, in a 45 mph zone, during construction. In actuality, I was doing 55 in the 45, outside city limits in a non-construction zone.

My question is whether I should take the rap or plead not guilty. I'm worried about pleading not guilty because:
- I was indeed doing 10 miles over the speed limit (although I was cited in the 11-15 category).
- I was driving after midnight, where my license is restricted to 5AM to Midnight (Can I be convicted for that post ex facto?)
- There are three people who were there -- myself, the officer, and my passenger. Obviously, the officer holds the most credibility.

EDIT -
I found an official website from our Dept. of Transporation listing road construction zones. Highway 16 in Columbia County, the area in question, is not on this list. What is the best way to cite this? I don't want to just direct them to the website as they could bring up that it may have changed since then. Could I just ask them to look up road construction records?

[Warrior]

pay the goddamn thing lardass

[Joe]

I have enough points on my license that it'll be suspended if I do.

Not to mention I don't like handing out $198.60 for something I didn't really do.

[MyndFyre]

Last night at 1:02AM I was stopped by a county trooper on a highway. He cited me for doing 60 miles per hour in city limits, in a 45 mph zone, during construction. In actuality, I was doing 55 in the 45, outside city limits in a non-construction zone.

My question is whether I should take the rap or plead not guilty. I'm worried about pleading not guilty because:
- I was indeed doing 10 miles over the speed limit (although I was cited in the 11-15 category).
- I was driving after midnight, where my license is restricted to 5AM to Midnight (Can I be convicted for that post ex facto?)
- There are three people who were there -- myself, the officer, and my passenger. Obviously, the officer holds the most credibility.

EDIT -
I found an official website from our Dept. of Transporation listing road construction zones. Highway 16 in Columbia County, the area in question, is not on this list. What is the best way to cite this? I don't want to just direct them to the website as they could bring up that it may have changed since then. Could I just ask them to look up road construction records?

You're probably SOL.
- You're not going to beat the officer on the speed discrepancy.  There could have been an issue with your speedometer and you're not an uninterested party.  The officer is (at least, more so than you).  This is why, if you know cops generally pull you over at 11 over, that you shouldn't do 10 over.  You never know when you might look away from your speedometer for a few seconds and just accidentally kick the speed up; hell, I drive with cruise control obsessively, and I managed to kick it up to 15 over on the interstate today without trying.
- If the officer didn't give you a citation for driving outside of the bounds of your permit, then it probably won't cause a problem if you simply pay the ticket.  However, if you decide to go rogue on this issue, the judge would certainly be within his bounds to say "So, I notice your license has restrictions, and this ticket was issued at 1:02am.  What's the deal?"
- The passenger would also be biased.

Construction:

Map # 69
Road: WIS 33
County: Columbia
Region: SW
Description: CLOSED WIS 33 between WIS 16 and the railroad tracks on the east side of the city of Portage.DETOUR via WIS 33 to WIS 16 to WIS 22 to WIS 33.

If WIS-16 is indeed part of the construction detour AND bounds of the WIS-33 construction, and/or there was posted signage, you're out of luck.  I'd put money that someone has pictures of said signage.

The website doesn't mean anything.  It's not a legal document

I have enough points on my license that it'll be suspended if I do.

Well, that's really the consequences of a poor decision.

You know, after I got my second ticket (my first for speeding), I decided to set bounds.  For me, in general, my bounds are 10% of the posted speed limit, rounded to the nearest MPH, but bounded up by about 7.  So in a 65, I'll do 72; in a 75 (our non-city interstates), I'll do about 82.  Within-city (45) I'll do 50.  My theory is, if my speedometer is off by 5mph (that's a pretty big gap), I'll probably not be pulled over.

Not surprisingly, I haven't been cited by a cop or photo radar (which is used state-wide) in... 5 years.

The bottom line is: you and only you are responsible for the situation in which you are.  If you don't speed, there is next to no chance that a cop is going to pull you over.  Even if you do speed, if you do it in a way in which the cop is going to give you the benefit of the doubt, you'll probably not be pulled over. 

Sorry for going on a rant; my roommate just got pinched by the photo radar because of the same thing.  "I was going 10 over and I got flashed, going 11.  I knew the photo radar goes off at 11 so I figured I'd be ok at 10."  Well, 10 doesn't give you a whole lot of margin for error, human, machine, or otherwise.

[edit] If you really want out, get an attorney.  But that'll probably cost you more than the car, ticket, and ongoing insurance increases combines.

[trust]

Fight it, don't just roll over and pay it. That's pretty pointless. If you go to court and say not guilty, he may ask you on what grounds and you can tell him how you feel. If he sides with you, maybe he'll reduce the charge to a non moving violation (no insurance increase) or maybe he won't side with you and you'll have to pay the fine. However if you just send the payment in you have no chance of any leeway the judge may give you. You never know..he may be a lenient judge that realizes you're a teenager that needs his car on a daily basis and reduce it enough so that it isn't a suspended license. You may also get a dick judge that wants to teach you a lesson, but then the max penalty is going to be paying the fine anyway.

Go to court.

Edit: And no, they're not going to charge you for your license restriction violation ex post facto, as I'm pretty sure it would violate your sixth amendment right.

[iago]

To repeat what I said in another thread: get a bike.

[Krazed]

Plead not guilty. Fuck, how many times are people going to ask this..

[iago]

Plead not guilty. Fuck, how many times are people going to ask this..

Twice?

[Krazed]

Plead not guilty. Fuck, how many times are people going to ask this..

Twice?

Winner. But yeah, if you sit there and take it can you get any better outcome then what's in the books? No. Plead not guilty, say what you have to say in court. That's always been my way of doing things, and I have no points and a clean license.

[Rule]

But yeah, if you sit there and take it can you get any better outcome then what's in the books? No.

Actually, the answer is "yes", if the question is whether to "sit there and take it" or "to fight it".  First of all, he could have additional punishment for breaking with the restrictions on his license.  But much more importantly, I notice most people seem to ignore the value of their own time and reducing stress in these situations.  Whenever you decide to spend time fighting something like this, you should believe that it wouldn't be better spent doing something else.  Often the stress and the time that goes into these battles isn't worth it at all.  Every month, I am sure there are tons of things you could argue about where you could stand some tangible gain, and the tangible loss is zero, but the small chance of success just isn't worth the time and stress and other losses.

$198?  Most people could make that in a day or two without having to go through some silly ordeal.  It's guaranteed, you would possibly save time (and you also don't waste other people's time, if that means something), and you'd definitely feel better about it -- not having to squeeze whatever you can out of an imperfect system.

On the other hand, I'm not saying don't do it.  If the loss of your license would result in other big losses, and so on, maybe it is worth your while.  But try to consider everything when you consider what you're losing or gaining.

[MyndFyre]

Edit: And no, they're not going to charge you for your license restriction violation ex post facto, as I'm pretty sure it would violate your sixth amendment right.

That is incorrect; most driving citations are civil complaints, and the sixth amendment rights only apply to criminal complaints.

Fight it, don't just roll over and pay it. That's pretty pointless. If you go to court and say not guilty, he may ask you on what grounds and you can tell him how you feel. If he sides with you, maybe he'll reduce the charge to a non moving violation (no insurance increase) or maybe he won't side with you and you'll have to pay the fine.

Unfortunately, at least here, that's not how it works.  Generally the judge doesn't have any power; what happens is that we would go to arbitration, and the officer would have to show up and tell the arbitrator what happened.  The arbitrator could do worse or do better for you, but you'll probably have zero standing with him (partly because it's a waste of his time, partly because you've got a lot less credibility than a cop).

Now, that could be different in WI.  Maybe you should go to the court and see if the judge would help you out.  My post wasn't generally discouraging you from trying that, so much as "this is what could happen if you do it, don't expect good things."  Oh and also, "Stop driving like a douchetard."

[Joe]

I was given two tickets in February, in the same county. One for running a stopsign (for the record, the cop parked in front of it and I didn't see it, but oh well), and another for violating my passenger restriction. I was given the full 3(*2, as my license is probationary) points for the stopsign, but the additional 3(*2 again) for the violation was changed to "disorderly conduct with a motor vehicle", carrying no points, just a fine.

Also, if the judge saw that I had restrictions on my license whereas the cop didn't, wouldn't that be self-incrimination under the 5th, if I caused him to notice?

[K20A2]

I have enough points on my license that it'll be suspended if I do.

Not to mention I don't like handing out $198.60 for something I didn't really do.

$198.60 for a speeding ticket...I wished I lived there.  I paid $300 for my last speeding ticket, as well as $285 for my last five 'loud exhaust' tickets

[rabbit]

Also, if the judge saw that I had restrictions on my license whereas the cop didn't, wouldn't that be self-incrimination under the 5th, if I caused him to notice?

The 5th only applies cross-case, IE: if the fact that you had a restricted license was critical to proving you were a murderer or something.  The 5th doesn't help you in this case.

[Krazed]

I have enough points on my license that it'll be suspended if I do.

Not to mention I don't like handing out $198.60 for something I didn't really do.

$198.60 for a speeding ticket...I wished I lived there.  I paid $300 for my last speeding ticket, as well as $285 for my last five 'loud exhaust' tickets

Seriously.. I payed 500 for reckless driving in jersey, lameee.

[Super_X]

Go to court, man.

Oh and also, "Stop driving like a douchetard."

Seriously.

[trust]

Unfortunately, at least here, that's not how it works.  Generally the judge doesn't have any power; what happens is that we would go to arbitration, and the officer would have to show up and tell the arbitrator what happened.  The arbitrator could do worse or do better for you, but you'll probably have zero standing with him (partly because it's a waste of his time, partly because you've got a lot less credibility than a cop).

When I had my ticket, the cop that pulled me over told me I'd be better off going to court because most likely it'd be reduced or dropped. I didn't want my parents insurance going up, so I went to court. It was a 10 minute ordeal, and not very much stress was involved. My speeding violation was reduced to "faulty equipment" which is a non-moving violation so I had no points on my license and no increase to my insurance. I paid $140 (fine+court costs) and was on my way.

[CrAz3D]

I have enough points on my license that it'll be suspended if I do.

Not to mention I don't like handing out $198.60 for something I didn't really do.

$198.60 for a speeding ticket...I wished I lived there.  I paid $300 for my last speeding ticket, as well as $285 for my last five 'loud exhaust' tickets

Loud exhaust tickets?!  And here I am thinkin about cutting two of my 6 cats and my muffler  !

[Joe]

Can we stay on topic, here? And I'm not worried about the fine, that's just icing on the cake -- I need to keep my license.

rabbit, the violation of my license restriction would be a different ticket and a different case, wouldn't it? Or is this cause it's a civil case, not a criminal, or something like that?

[rabbit]

No, because all the same case.  You'd have to be on trial somewhere else where the fact that you have a restricted license was crucial.

[MyndFyre]

Not to mention that you waive the 5th amendment right when you TELL THEM SOMETHING.  That's where Miranda "You have the right to remain silent" comes from; the 5th amendment is the right to not incriminate oneself.  If you choose to speak then you waive that right.

[Joe]

No, because all the same case.  You'd have to be on trial somewhere else where the fact that you have a restricted license was crucial.

That doesn't answer the original question though -- can the judge look at my license and notice I have a restriction on it, and cite me then and there, after the fact, even though the cop didn't notice it that night?

Not to mention that you waive the 5th amendment right when you TELL THEM SOMETHING.  That's where Miranda "You have the right to remain silent" comes from; the 5th amendment is the right to not incriminate oneself.  If you choose to speak then you waive that right.

I read up a bit after posting. Apparently your right to silence is all or nothing? Like, if they ask you one question and you answer it, and then another you don't want to answer, you've waived your right to silence?

[iago]

I read up a bit after posting. Apparently your right to silence is all or nothing? Like, if they ask you one question and you answer it, and then another you don't want to answer, you've waived your right to silence?

No, you can agree/refuse to answer any number of questions. Watch more Law & Order.

[Joe]

Whenever I'm out with a certain friend of mine, he always comes up with a bad idea and he says "I saw it work in a movie once! Let's try it!". I sort of want to hit him every time he says that.

But on the other hand, I do indeed love Law and Order.

[while1]

I've always wanted to say "I plead the 5th" in its actual legal context... but yeah, you can exercise your 5th amendment right for any question you're asked.

[MyndFyre]

I've always wanted to say "I plead the 5th" in its actual legal context... but yeah, you can exercise your 5th amendment right for any question you're asked.

But, and this was my original meaning, once you've told them something, you can't go back and be like "Oh I want to go 5th amendment on you now holmes."

[Warrior]

I've always wanted to say "I plead the 5th" in its actual legal context... but yeah, you can exercise your 5th amendment right for any question you're asked.

But, and this was my original meaning, once you've told them something, you can't go back and be like "Oh I want to go 5th amendment on you now holmes."

in joes case you can say the interrogator shoved a broomstick up his ass to extract the evidence


cmon joe we know it happened

[iago]

Whenever I'm out with a certain friend of mine, he always comes up with a bad idea and he says "I saw it work in a movie once! Let's try it!". I sort of want to hit him every time he says that.

But on the other hand, I do indeed love Law and Order.

Well, Law & Order portrays legal situations fairly accurately. The cops can lie to you, they will try to get you to roll over on your friends (often by telling you they already confessed), and they can't force you to answer any questions.

That being said, although a non-response can't be used against you in court, detectives will take a non-response as evidence that they're on the right trail. "Why did you have the shovel in your trunk?" "I refuse to answer" -- they'll then try and find a reason.

At any point, you can also say, "I'm not answering any more questions" or "I want a lawyer" and they have to respect that.

I've been watching Law and Order for the whole long weekend, so I know all the tricks! But we also learned this back in school.

[Joe]

Stupid question -- this isn't a Canadian law and order, is it?

[rabbit]

Stupid question -- this isn't a Canadian law and order, is it?

You're right, it was a stupid question.

[iago]

Stupid question -- this isn't a Canadian law and order, is it?

You're right, it was a stupid question.

Haha

[Joe]

So I guess what I'm going to do is plead not guilty and get a court date. From there, I'll tell then that I was only going 55 and can produce a witness, as well as prove that the cars speedometer is accurate (only if they challenge this, I don't want to sound arrogant). I'll also challenge the "work zone" aspect.

From there, I'm not sure if they can give me a ticket for speeding in a non-work zone, as it's a separate citation, but if they do then whatever. I'll probably lose my license either way, but it's less points, lower fine, and I'll feel better knowing the system didn't walk over my ass like they enjoy doing.

EDIT -
I'll also mention that the officer didn't tell me why he pulled me over. I asked why as I reached for my license and he asked me how fast I was going, which I responded "55". He said I was going 60, and mentioned nothing of the work zone. He gave me a citation (which I didn't read, it was dark, 1:02AM, and I wanted to get away from the cop) and I saw it said "work zone" the next day. I'm not sure if that counts for anything, since I was supposed to read the citation, but oh well.

[Killer360]

- I was driving after midnight, where my license is restricted to 5AM to Midnight (Can I be convicted for that post ex facto?)

Your case will get completely thrown out of court, and I'd bet you anything you'd get charged with that.

Don't even BOTHER trying to fight this one. You're lucky he didn't even notice when he stopped you and looked at your license. Pay the ticket.

BTW, radar guns don't lie. Especially the ones State Troopers carry.

What you did was basically drive without a license. It's the same thing. You are not legally allowed to operate a vehicle during those times, so why were you in the first place?

[iago]

What you did was basically drive without a license. It's the same thing. You are not legally allowed to operate a vehicle during those times, so why were you in the first place?

Not to mention drawing attention to himself by speeding.

[Joe]

- I was driving after midnight, where my license is restricted to 5AM to Midnight (Can I be convicted for that post ex facto?)

Your case will get completely thrown out of court, and I'd bet you anything you'd get charged with that.

Don't even BOTHER trying to fight this one. You're lucky he didn't even notice when he stopped you and looked at your license. Pay the ticket.

BTW, radar guns don't lie. Especially the ones State Troopers carry.

What you did was basically drive without a license. It's the same thing. You are not legally allowed to operate a vehicle during those times, so why were you in the first place?

State Troopers like to use a little trick, where they follow you maintaining the same speed that you are and then look at their speedometer. That's what most of them do, and it's inaccurate, up to.. say.. five miles an hour or so?

[MyndFyre]

State Troopers like to use a little trick, where they follow you maintaining the same speed that you are and then look at their speedometer. That's what most of them do, and it's inaccurate, up to.. say.. five miles an hour or so?

Neat thing we've invented, is the radar gun that doesn't need to be stationary.

Do you have proof that the officer was following you?  Or had he clocked you?

[Killer360]

Joe, you're just going to end up getting yourself in more and more trouble. You could VERY well end up losing your license.

It should say on your ticket what method he used. Which one was it?

[MyndFyre]

I think he should totally go in with that attitude.  Sooner or later he's going to have to figure out that he can't live his life that way.

[Warrior]

be sure to tell us the results of your hearing
i'll probably need a laugh that day

[Killer360]

He's going to lose his case, and I'd bet you anything he's going to lose his license.

[Super_X]

State Troopers like to use a little trick, where they follow you maintaining the same speed that you are and then look at their speedometer. That's what most of them do, and it's inaccurate, up to.. say.. five miles an hour or so?

http://www.bmwmotorcycles.com/bikes/bike.jsp?b=r1200rtp&bikeSection=tour Look at the "standard equipment" section under the pull down tab. If you look at the bottom of the list of equipment you will see these two at the bottom are "Pace-Lock Speedometer," and "Calibrated Police Speedometer." 
Those R 1200 RT-P are the police bikes we've got in town. I highly doubt that they, or any other cops, would be very inaccurate.

[warz]

oklahoma drivers are the worste we've got around here. well, asians are way worse, but just because they drive horribly slow. the okies, in thier okie-mobiles, try to act like they're used to city driving but they just don't seem to get it.

[Killer360]

I'm sorry, but I have to agree with warz. We have the WORST Asian drivers here in Winnipeg. They PISS ME OFF...

[while1]

I'm sorry, but I have to agree with warz. We have the WORST Asian drivers here in Winnipeg. They PISS ME OFF...

what's with it with Asian Canadian drivers?  This is like the millionth Canuckian I've heard complain about how horrible Asian drivers are there.  There's too few Asian drivers where I live to make any generalizations.

[Blaze]

I'd have to complain about Europeans more than Asians in the GTA.  They're an angry set of people. 

[CrAz3D]

I'm sorry, but I have to agree with warz. We have the WORST Asian drivers here in Winnipeg. They PISS ME OFF...

On my way back from the lake I saw a little asian kid on a speed bike pulled over by a state trooper on a bike.  Fuckin kid (for all I know he was 30, crazy asian kids) was sitting on the road guard texting.

[iago]

I'm sorry, but I have to agree with warz. We have the WORST Asian drivers here in Winnipeg. They PISS ME OFF...

On my way back from the lake I saw a little asian kid on a speed bike pulled over by a state trooper on a bike.  Fuckin kid (for all I know he was 30, crazy asian kids) was sitting on the road guard texting.

I'm sort of confused about what you're talking about. A guy got pulled over, and he's texting somebody. So...?

[MyndFyre]

So what ever happened with this?

[CrAz3D]

I'm sorry, but I have to agree with warz. We have the WORST Asian drivers here in Winnipeg. They PISS ME OFF...

On my way back from the lake I saw a little asian kid on a speed bike pulled over by a state trooper on a bike.  Fuckin kid (for all I know he was 30, crazy asian kids) was sitting on the road guard texting.

I'm sort of confused about what you're talking about. A guy got pulled over, and he's texting somebody. So...?

A)  We dont have asians here, and they all do suck at driving.
B)  What a prick to be texting.  Also, asian + technology = cliche lol moment

[trust]

I have an azn friend and he's the most awkward person haha but it's so funny sometimes. along with the technology statement, he got the iPhone the day it came out.

[Quik]

My city has a very high population of Asian people. It's like, the most concentration of Vietnamese people west of Saigon. And to tell you the truth, most of them don't suck at driving. Just the older Asian ladies. Or, well, Asian women in general. Most of the guys are pretty skilled drivers, especially the ones you see attending auto-x or road course events :p

[trust]

of course youd say that arent you azn

[while1]

I'm Asian and I'm not a bad driver.  Although I did just mail my first speeding ticket today.  Fuck Amelia County.

[trust]

I'm Asian and I'm not a bad driver.  Although I did just mail my first speeding ticket today.  Fuck Amelia County.

my first and only speeding ticket was in good ol farmvegas

[Blaze]

I don't understand how you guys get speeding tickets.  Here, you'll get one for being 10km over, which is roughly 6.21371192 miles.  Roughly.  I always hear about people going 10 miles over, which often confuses me on how you can let yourself slip that much.  :\

[Towelie]

Easily. You go over the speed limit a lot on purpose, thinking you wont be caught.

[iago]

I don't understand how you guys get speeding tickets.  Here, you'll get one for being 10km over, which is roughly 6.21371192 miles.  Roughly.  I always hear about people going 10 miles over, which often confuses me on how you can let yourself slip that much.  :\

10km over is usually the safe rule of thumb here, on a highway. So yeah, I totally agree.

[trust]

I don't understand how you guys get speeding tickets.  Here, you'll get one for being 10km over, which is roughly 6.21371192 miles.  Roughly.  I always hear about people going 10 miles over, which often confuses me on how you can let yourself slip that much.  :\

i was 14 over. I was going back to school from walmart and wasn't really paying attention, decided to take a back road that runes parallel with the main road. If I had been on the main road I wouldn't have gotten a ticket.

[while1]

I'm Asian and I'm not a bad driver.  Although I did just mail my first speeding ticket today.  Fuck Amelia County.

my first and only speeding ticket was in good ol farmvegas

I swear the Farmville police really have nothing better to do than to pick on college kids.

[Camel]

I don't understand how you guys get speeding tickets.  Here, you'll get one for being 10km over, which is roughly 6.21371192 miles.  Roughly.  I always hear about people going 10 miles over, which often confuses me on how you can let yourself slip that much.  :\

I haven't been driving in Canada for years, but unless I'm mistaken, your speed limits tend to be higher. Interstate highways that are "near" large cities are rarely any higher than 55mph. In urban areas, they let the interstate speed limits get around 65, and in the middle of nowhere they can get even higher.

Does that sound like a fair assessment?

[edit] Oh, I forgot to make my point! Regardless of what the speed limit is, 75 will not get you pulled over, and 85 will definitely get you pulled over on most interstate, and some non-interstate highways.

[Blaze]

Most regular roads around here are from 31 miles (50km) to 43 miles (70km), while on expressways the limit is around 62 (100km), although nobody is going to pull you over on an expressway unless you're going REALLY fast (140+km) or you're doing something else wrong. 

[iago]

Most regular roads around here are from 31 miles (50km) to 43 miles (70km), while on expressways the limit is around 62 (100km), although nobody is going to pull you over on an expressway unless you're going REALLY fast (140+km) or you're doing something else wrong. 

Manitoba is the same. The max limit you'll see in this province is 100km/h. People tend to stick around 110km/h, though.. I don't know about doing 140, but I know there are certain place here where you can get a ticket for 115+.

[Super_X]

Does Joe still have his license?

[MyndFyre]

[edit] Oh, I forgot to make my point! Regardless of what the speed limit is, 75 will not get you pulled over, and 85 will definitely get you pulled over on most interstate, and some non-interstate highways.

That's definitely not the case here.

[Joe]

I got it reduced to speeding in a non work zone, and I think it was reduced to 10 over. I ended up losing my license. It took me over two years to get over Warrior hurting my feelings but its okay, because he's banned now.

[iago]

Warrior isn't banned, he left on his own after being kicked out of x86.

[deadly7]

Warrior isn't banned, he left on his own after being butthurt.

FTFY

[CrAz3D]

It took two years to resolve this speeding ticket, or just whatever about warrior?

[Joe]

I totally forgot I posted this. It's some guys birthday who posted in this thread.

I have my license back already and have a clean license.

[nslay]

I totally forgot I posted this. It's some guys birthday who posted in this thread.

I have my license back already and have a clean license.

Now don't speed ... unless getting there tens of seconds to minutes faster with 10x the anxiety makes that much of a difference.

[Joe]

I commute from WI Dells to Madison five days a week, a 52 mile drive including 40 miles of interstate. Driving 40 miles at 65 miles per hour takes 36.9 minutes. The same drive at 75 miles per hour takes 31.9 minutes. I was going to make a point but apparently you're actually right. Fuck.

I usually set cruise at 74 (I've passed cops at 79 regularly) and I'm just fine, but occasionally I'll hit 80 if I'm trying to pass a really annoying semi (srsly, they're terrible) or 90 to avoid an accident or get the hell away from a tailgater. The 80, I could probably not get away with but I think I could justify the other stuff.

[nslay]

I commute from WI Dells to Madison five days a week, a 52 mile drive including 40 miles of interstate. Driving 40 miles at 65 miles per hour takes 36.9 minutes. The same drive at 75 miles per hour takes 31.9 minutes. I was going to make a point but apparently you're actually right. Fuck.

I usually set cruise at 74 (I've passed cops at 79 regularly) and I'm just fine, but occasionally I'll hit 80 if I'm trying to pass a really annoying semi (srsly, they're terrible) or 90 to avoid an accident or get the hell away from a tailgater. The 80, I could probably not get away with but I think I could justify the other stuff.

Going 5 over works well for 400 miles ... but you have to go long distances for speeding to make a significant difference.

For city driving ... you're better off exploring back roads and neighborhood roads as these don't typically have traffic lights.  But ALWAYS do a complete stop at a stop sign!  It takes a little getting used to stopping for 1-2 seconds, but it pays off and becomes a good habit.  Driving the speed limit also becomes a good habit when you get used to it.  It may be hard for you to get used to it though.

Driving the speed limit is also a way to get tailgaters off your back as they typically speed.  They seem to not fully grasp reality ... you don't need to take a physics course to feel the effects of momentum and inertia.  What's worse is that they continue this behavior in the rain!  Another possibility is that they actually believe the closer they are to the bumper, the faster they get to their destination ...

Anyway, I hate driving! I hate the way other people drive! Especially those dumb fucks who drink coffee and text while the car is in motion.

P.S. Always use two hands on the wheel.  A bump or pothole can easily disorient a one-handed driver ... and in the right situation, that's a crash.

[Newby]

But ALWAYS do a complete stop at a stop sign!  It takes a little getting used to stopping for 1-2 seconds, but it pays off and becomes a good habit.

Truth.

[CrAz3D]

Stopping at stop signs wastes gas...you guys hate the environment!

[while1]

Stopping at stop signs wastes gas...you guys hate the environment!

Or you could get a hybrid, I was under the impression one of the benefits of said technology is better fuel efficiency in such scenarios.

I just wish the premium you pay for a hybrid would drop... for someone like me, the extra fuel efficiency isn't worth the significantly higher price tag I'd pay for a hybrid when I don't spend the majority of my driving in city/urban/stop-and-go traffic.


Anyways on topic, I never get speeding tickets in Maryland.  I only ever get my speeding tickets in Virginia... grrrr... I have a ticket I got in VA a month or so ago for going 76 in a 60 zone... bah.