Driving unreasonably fast (ticket rant)

[Michael Morris]

(The city thinks sidewalks detracts from the country atmosphere. Please this has not been country since the late 70. )

More likely the city doesn't want to assume the liability of maintaining them. Too many people have sued municipalities for tripping on sidewalk cracks, and now most cities don't build sidewalks. One town in Texas does, but it's illegal to walk on the sidewalk (yes - that's actually on the books). The reason for the law is to stop liability - if you injure yourself while walking on the sidewalk you were "injured in the commission of a crime" and can't sue the city. Montgomery Alabama has a law against women wearing high heels for the same reason (woman sued the city when she stepped on and throw a storm grate spraining her ankle, so now it's illegal to wear such shoes).

 

[Elf Witch]

More likely the city doesn't want to assume the liability of maintaining them. Too many people have sued municipalities for tripping on sidewalk cracks, and now most cities don't build sidewalks. One town in Texas does, but it's illegal to walk on the sidewalk (yes - that's actually on the books). The reason for the law is to stop liability - if you injure yourself while walking on the sidewalk you were "injured in the commission of a crime" and can't sue the city. Montgomery Alabama has a law against women wearing high heels for the same reason (woman sued the city when she stepped on and throw a storm grate spraining her ankle, so now it's illegal to wear such shoes).

That is a whole other rant. Stupid people who sue over things that is either their fault or nobody's and is just pure dumb luck.

Down here a family sued the state park system when one of their family members was struck by lightning and killed while taking cover under a huge tree during a storm. And they won.

 

[ph34r]

People can be trusted to drive a reasonable speed given their surroundings and their vehicle's capabilities.

No they can't. You put too much faith in our society... :\

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I disagree. Even if you don't get a chance to talk to anybody beforehand, the best advice I ever got was go to court for every ticket. If the cop who wrote the ticket doesnt show up, it's dismissed (well in CA, WA, AK and MI, havent fought tickets in any other states). Even for showing up the ticket price is almost always reduced. I ALWAYS recommend fighting traffic tickets, and I have never seen and didn't realize it was legal for them to add to your ticket price for showing up for the court date that they have to give you and be there for.

Aaron Blair
Foren Star

Maine as well. In fact the police got a bit of a talking to about that, it seems that everybody, their cousin, and their little dog Toto too knew that the cops never bothered showing up if it got disputed.

I know somebody who got pulled over in Texas for driving 15 miles over the speed limit - the cop told him to speed up. There used to be a town in Texas that sold traffic tickets ahead of time, so you could hand it to the policeman, stick the receipt in your window and go speeding off again.

And here in Maine I was once passed on the Interstate by a truck barrelarsing along way above the speed limit. A police car pulled out, started speeding along after him, then slowed and parked again. The truck was an open topped hopper containing fishmeal, and the temperature was around 90 degrees... I think that the cops decided that they wanted that thing off the highway as fast as possible, my gods, what a stink!

The Auld Grump, you know that it's stinky when you still remember it twenty years later...

 

[Michael Morris]

Garbage trucks also don't get pulled over often for much the same reason.

 

[ph34r]

Studies have proven - speed does not kill. Motorists who are not driving according to their vehicle's capabilities or road conditions are what kills.

Be my guest and go to every single resident in the United States and explain to them the capabilities of their vehicle and what unsafe road conditions are. Do you honestly expect everyone to know these things? It's much easier to just put up a general speed limit for everyone to go by. Scared of getting a ticket?...Don't speed! Just because everyone else thinks it's the Suburbia 500 doesn't mean you have to drive fast with them?

Is it really so hard for someone to obey something as simple as speed limit..looks to be that way. :\

 

[Darrin Drader]

Is it really so hard for someone to obey something as simple as speed limit..looks to be that way. :\

Obeying is the appropriate word here since it suggests subservience. I'm willing to be subservient to laws that are just and make sense, but speed limits do not fit that criteria. The nature of the ticket itself and the purpose it serves is the problem. So to answer your question, no I don't feel that I should be forced to obey arbitrarily set random taxation zones. I have utter contempt for those who impose speed limits, those who enforce them, the courts that "adjudicate" so called "infractions", and the insurance companies who syphon millions (if not billions) of extra dollars every year from people who are essentially nothing more than victims of circumstance.

 

[ph34r]

I have utter contempt for those who impose speed limits, those who enforce them, the courts that "adjudicate" so called "infractions", and the insurance companies who syphon millions (if not billions) of extra dollars every year from people who are essentially nothing more than victims of circumstance.

If people obeyed the speed limits then there would be no "victims of circumstance" now would there? Sounds like you've got one too many speeding tickets and plenty of points on your license and insurance...but hey I don't blame you! It's THEY'RE fault for you getting a speeding ticket right!

So the next time you're driving down the road with a loved one and some car comes out of nowhere doing about 90 MPH and slams into you killing whoevers with you...you wouldn't be upset would you? Shouldn't, because according to you they aren't doing anything wrong.

 

[Lhorgrim]

One thing to remember about the philosophy behind speed limits is that they have the lowest common denominator in mind. Whisperfoot is probably very safe on the state road going over the posted speed limit, but many very young and very old drivers are not. Part of the idea is to have a somewhat uniform traffic flow so that the widest range of drivers will be able to safely negotiate the roadways. Some places have tried different solutions to this issue, such as designated cutoffs and restrictions against holding up traffic, but that is just a different citation for a different violation if someone refuses to yield.

Yes, many people speed and don't get caught, but they risk that they will get caught if they speed so they are gambling. The possibility of getting a ticket is enough af a deterrent to most people, and actually getting a ticket slows down many more, but some people will continue to speed and/or violate other traffic laws. This situation isn't unique to the U.S., most countries have traffic laws and some enforcement for them.

As far as tickets being a money making proposition for the local agencies, it varies. In my area the municipal department gets a very small amount of the fine, and the rest goes to the state and the county court sysytem. There is no distinction between traffic and criminal charges. If someone is convicted of assault the money distribution is the same. Most places in KY do not have seperate traffic courts, all misdemeanor and traffic cases go through the same district court.

 

[Krieg]

No they can't. You put too much faith in our society... :\

Yes they can. Studies continually to show that it is statistically verifiable.

The problem is knee jerk reactions by folks who think that the one or two aberrant data points they witness are indicitive of a trend.

Be my guest and go to every single resident in the United States and explain to them the capabilities of their vehicle and what unsafe road conditions are. Do you honestly expect everyone to know these things?

Yes I do.

We expect too little from people.

If you don't take the time to understand the capabilities of any piece of potentially dangerous machinery you were using then you have no one to blame but yourself when it bites you on the ass.

Is it really so hard for someone to obey something as simple as speed limit..looks to be that way. :\

No one is advocating breaking the law.

It is merely being pointing out that posted speed limits are generally ineffective as a safety measure.

Sounds like you've got one too many speeding tickets and plenty of points on your license and insurance...

And that is an prejudicial ad hominum attack with no factual basis.

...and for the record I personally have not received any type of traffic violation in over 10 years.

So the next time you're driving down the road with a loved one and some car comes out of nowhere doing about 90 MPH and slams into you killing whoevers with you...you wouldn't be upset would you? Shouldn't, because according to you they aren't doing anything wrong.

There is no direct connetion between driving 90mph and "coming out of nowhere and slamming into you". Regardless of what the speed of the driver is or the posted speed limit the above scenario cannot happen without other traffic laws being broken. Would it really make you feel better if that someone came barreling out of nowhere and slammed into you at a legal 65mph instead? Will it make you feel better about your loved one's death if you can say "Well at least he wasn't speeding!"?

This of course brings up one of the other points regarding the determination of speed limits in some areas....the desire to appear to be "doing something about the problem". Under constant barrages of "Won't somebody please think about the children!!" politicians tend to seek quick solutions to quell the outcry...even if those "solutions" do nothing to ameliorate the underlying basis of the problem in question.