It can be downright hard (and sometimes terrible on gas mileage) to go 55 in a nice car.

OK....last comment, but had to comment on this.

Absolutely true. I have measured my MPG and it does not peak at over 30 until I maintain 82-84. 55-60 is somewhere in the low 20s.

TheDroidYouAreLookingFor: $ome people ju$t don't under$tand that you can $imply avoid a $peeding ticket by not $peeding.

/voting enabled?? sure...

Cool story bro...I was doing a ride along with the local PD. A guy passed us while doing the speed limit. The cop followed him for over 2.5 miles before he finally nailed him for a rolling stop. After the police officer returned to the car he asked me if I knew why he pulled that guy over. I told him because of a rolling stop. He then asked me the REAL reason he pulled him over.

"Because he passed us."
"Exactly."

BillArr: Only a fool would push his vehicle past it's safe limits.

Do you know what those safe limits are? Do you know the efficiency vs speed curve of your vehicle? What about the other few million people you share the road with who are not prepared to go these insane speeds?

Variance (having one person going 50, another going 65, another going 80) is infinitely more dangerous than having everyone going 75 and calling it good.. its the same reason why left-lane hoggers catch more crap than speeders do - because the twit going faster or slower than the flow of traffic is the real danger.

Oddly enough, studies have shown that people will drive how fast they want to (the "flow of traffic") regardless of what you set the limit to.

I'd like to see the USA on highways take Germany's response to the Autobahn. Lots of areas with no speed limit (but if you're going abnormally fast and cause a wreck, its your ass). Also, enhanced requirements for getting and keeping a license.

I know that Cali has outrageous fees for vehicle registration and violations. Are we really that surprised they're raising fees in other states? I know, let's charge more for our poor spending habits. And there is mosdef quotas.

Shvetz:

I got a speeding ticket in a school zone. There's actually a bus stop on the other side of the street, and putting up a fence wouldn't do much. As I mentioned earlier, the government only cares about money, because it pays for the social services that the people demand. Nobody in the government ever gets a percentage of the taxes they pull in.

In conclusion, you are wrong, and an idiot.

No - the govt cares about money because having more revenue makes their job easier, because paying off noisy special interest groups with additional revenue is a lot easier than fixing fundamental problems, and because all that makes it more likely that they will be re-elected.

In conclusion, you are naive, and an asshat

Do_Not_Want: I clicked on the link expecting it to be Virginia. I'm surprised it was another state.

They already did that in Virginia. They went too far, and the law was overturned pretty quickly.

Now if they'd just raised the speed limits to properly reflect speeds that people normally drive, it might still be in effect

/well, there was a bill passed to allow speed limits to be raised to 70 MPH
//which is better than nothing, but it should really be at least 75
///which means that they'll probably reintroduce the high fees soon

BillArr: they are not numbers that some politician pulled out of his ass.

I am not suggesting that we drive 80 through a school zone. I am saying that when we drive on a 4-8 lane road, that a speed limit is not really necessary. I have driven my SLK in excess of posted limits with no problems because that is what it is designed to do.

well, I hope your SLK has extra pothole avoidance, you living in the NE and all.

douche.

seriously, only a douche would mention his precious overpriced car when its not warranted.

Rodddxl: Shvetz: Barakku: I love politician's logic. "Due to the poor economy, people have less money.
Tax.
Up.
EVERYTHING"

No... due to the poor economy, the government has less money coming in. Taxes are a percentage of the economy pretty much. When the economy goes down, but the cost of social services (like police, fire departments, trash collection etc) stay the same, we get budget crunches.

I love all these Fark articles on local governments trying to get money to pay for the social services that the people demand. Politicians don't get a cut of the taxes. They get paid the same amount either way, so stop biatching, you people would cry your eyes out if your standard of living was affected by a cut in government services.

No.

FTA: Tennessee lawmakers are considering ways to add new monetary penalties on speeding drivers as a way to boost funding for the state's trauma centers.

They are trying to increase spending at a time when revenues are down.

Oh ok. I guess trauma centers aren't a big deal. So what if they're raising the budget of them? Either way, it's to significantly raise the general standard of living of the people. Again, nobody is going to bring home a cut of the money raised through these tickets. It's going to benefit the people, via improved trauma centers, out of the pockets of people that break the law.

hmmm... I for one would love to see a night blindness vision test being mandatory.

Epsilon: I go the speed limit on streets and highways, and you can imagine the angst and shiatty looks I get from other drivers who swerve around me in frustration (and sometimes rage) so they can go faster. Well guess what; I'm not the asshole, you are. That's why you get speeding tickets and I don't.


This. I find it amusing when I'm going the speed limit and someone starts riding my tail. I just ease off the gas and slow right on down. Don't be a douche and I'll let you over. Be a douche and you can just slow it on down a notch.

TsukasaK: its the same reason why left-lane hoggers catch more crap than speeders do

Where is this that left lane blockers catch any crap at all?

/let me know so I can move there
//yes, I know there's laws just about everywhere, but they don't ever seem to be enforced
///hey, why don't they raise revenue by ticketing those assholes
////and people who don't use signals
//and people who don't use mirrors
//nah, that would make sense

Jim from Saint Paul: THe fee$ are only for tho$e who are going "15 mph over the $peed limit".

Tran$lation: $low the fark down jacka$$e$. You didn't need to get there that fa$t anyway.


Is the "practice freeway" still out there? If it still is, giving someone a ticket for driving 60 on I-35E is dogshiat.

Shvetz: Nobody in the government ever gets a percentage of the taxes they pull in.

Really.
Except for those 21 million government employees in the US and their families.

Quantumbunny: BillArr: F*cking pigs....speeding laws are now and always have been there to fund the local corrupt governments. Most cars made in the last 5 years can safely travel at 100+ on an interstate hiway. The speed at which you drive should be dictated by personal responsiblity, not government greed. If you drive a Prius or a 10 year old heap you should know better, and keep the piece of shiat to 60.....if you drive a Mercedes, BMW, etc...,push it to the floor and have fun, that is what they are made for.

Stop that... enough talk about being sensible.

I would add in, I think they should test your abilities when you get your drivers license and have speed levels on high ways. At certain milestones - such as new cars in notably different classes, or at age 16, 21, 30, 50, 60, 65, 70 then every year - you get retested. Your license and the little sticker you put on the plate get a colored bar through them denoting your driving level. Go 115 in a Geo Metro when you are rated for 65, and revoke the license.

If I've proven I can handle 125 given my abilities in my car, let me freaking do it. If Grandma Jolene's abilities or College Student Bill's beater limit them to only handling 50 safely, restrict their asses from the highway.

This everyone's equal bullshiat needs to be quashed. You should be allowed what you can handle, not what the lowest common moron can handle.

\Of course voting

There.
Are.
OTHER.
PEOPLE.
On.
The.
ROAD.
Besides.
YOU.

How about when your tire blows out, or you hit a pot hole, or a moose jumps in front of your car. Or a kid. Or someone who didnt realize how fast you were going.

Your.
Plan.
Is.
Dumb!

It's times like these that make me glad I'm not physically capable of exceeding the posted limit on my bike.

/ for all the bike haters: I don't ride like an asshole, I'll gladly stay out of your way in exchange for you not trying to kill me because some jackass took the lane six miles back
// voting? frak yeah

Epsilon: I find it difficult to feel sympathy for speeders. I've gotten one speeding ticket in the past 22 years -- 1997, caught going 51 on a rural road that was poorly marked as a 35 zone. I paid the fine.

I go the speed limit on streets and highways, and you can imagine the angst and shiatty looks I get from other drivers who swerve around me in frustration (and sometimes rage) so they can go faster. Well guess what; I'm not the asshole, you are. That's why you get speeding tickets and I don't.

It's extra schadenfreudey when you're on a two-lane and the tailgater is a cop. I usually feel bad for the guy behind me, because he just wants to drive a normal speed (I simply can't get any tickets due to my job) but when it's a cop I take great pleasure in watching him stew as he's forced to obey the speed limit for once.

/of course, when you do this, you have to make DAMN sure you're not breaking ANY laws at all...

Shvetz: darth_shatner: CowboyNinjaD: In all fairness, the lawmaker wants to define super speeders as people going 25+ mph over the speed limit. This is pretty reasonable unless you have cops setting up speed traps near construction zones.

which is what they did here. School zones are also a great revenue raiser - especially when the speed limit on a hwy drops from 80 to 40 instantly. Of course, they could put a fence on the side of the road to stop kids running out from the school onto the road, but that would save lives, and govt only cares about the $$$

/$
/$$

I got a speeding ticket in a school zone. There's actually a bus stop on the other side of the street, and putting up a fence wouldn't do much. As I mentioned earlier, the government only cares about money, because it pays for the social services that the people demand. Nobody in the government ever gets a percentage of the taxes they pull in.

In conclusion, you are wrong, and an idiot.

You sound fat ...

Bigtimmy: There.
Are.
OTHER.
PEOPLE.
On.
The.
ROAD.
Besides.
YOU.

Well then they can jolly well get out of my damn way.

aquaticphoenix: It's times like these that make me glad I'm not physically capable of exceeding the posted limit on my bike.

You're not? In-town speed limit here I believe is 25 unless otherwise posted.

/done greater than that on my big heavy touring bike
//48-12 spins out a bit at that speed, so not *much* more...

Yes, subby. I know for public safety.

Quantumbunny: it isn't right to pin hole an attentive 25 year old guy in a sports guy

Yeah, I think that's a whole different set of laws.

/not that there's anything wrong with that

Don't be a douche and I'll let you over. Be a douche and you can just slow it on down a notch.

Do you realize that in most state the police can get your for going too slow? Being an obstacle can be just as dangerous as going too fast for conditions. And in some states (CA, GA, FL, DC...not a state, but anyhow) will get you shot.

TsukasaK: BillArr: speeding laws are now and always have been there to fund the local corrupt governments. Most cars made in the last 5 years can safely travel at 100+ on an interstate hiway

Your point would come across clearer if it wasn't horribly misspelled, and containing a huge mess of run-on sentences.

Anyways, buddy, do yourself a favor, and look into the methodology that went into creating the speed limits. I concede that they are long overdue for a revision (upwards), but in general, they are not numbers that some politician pulled out of his ass.

yes they are.

Speed limits are SUPPOSED to be set by the 85th percentile speed of free flowing traffic, with the design speed of the road also taken into account.

In reality, some legislative asshat says "all urban freeways shall be 55 MPH" (with a really loose definition of "urban") or worse yet "the default speed limit on a freeway shall be 55 MPH but that can be changed if an engineering study so indicates" (and of course the study is never done) never mind that everyone's driving 70+ and would go faster if it weren't for all the cops.

Oh, and my roommate is one of those "got to drive fast everywhere" kinds of douche.

Brags about how his Tiburon is so awesome, can go so fast, such a smooth ride. "how can you not do 30 over the limit" once came out of his mouth.

The look on his face when he hit a patch of sand around a curve(25mph) doing 80 was awesome. If only I could have taken a picture of it. Punching him in the face when we got in the driveway was good enough for me though.

oh and just for the record. I drive a Ford Taurus. The speed limit wherever I go. Have a license to protect and all y'know.

BillArr: Don't be a douche and I'll let you over. Be a douche and you can just slow it on down a notch.

Do you realize that in most state the police can get your for going too slow? Being an obstacle can be just as dangerous as going too fast for conditions. And in some states (CA, GA, FL, DC...not a state, but anyhow) will get you shot.

As far as I know, there is no minimum speed limit in North Carolina, South Carolina has them in some places, but I've never seen it in NC.

Funk Brothers: Anyone who speeds more than 80mph on a road is an idiot except in cases where your wife is pregnant or someone is dying.

Do you mean 80mph over the limit or 80mph total?

Cause 80mph is kinda the flow of traffic here in socal.

BillArr: It can be downright hard (and sometimes terrible on gas mileage) to go 55 in a nice car.

OK....last comment, but had to comment on this.

Absolutely true. I have measured my MPG and it does not peak at over 30 until I maintain 82-84. 55-60 is somewhere in the low 20s.

B


S

Barakku: I love politician's logic. "Due to the poor economy, people have less money.
Tax.
Up.
EVERYTHING"

I've never seen anybody spend their way out of debt before.

Andytimebomb: What about super litterers, or super parking offenders.

It's because speeding and red-light violations are low hanging fruit. It requires minimal effort. From my observations, a lot of these citations are issued to responsible drivers who were not aware they were speeding or misjudged when a light would change. The fact that the enforcement of speeding is so sporadic indicates that its main purpose, money for the municipal (or state) treasury. Uniform and consistent enforcement does not result in a good revenue flow. In places known for rigid enforcement (e.g. Nolanville, TX, quite a few years ago), people didn't speed. But in a some places , you'll damn near get run off the road if you drive the speed limit in the rightmost lane.

Speeding typically isn't the biggest problem, just the easiest to make money on. Speeding typically is not enforced where it would be most problematic (residential areas), but where it would be most profitable (highways and other arterial roads). An obvious exception is school zones, where it is both.

I would think that one of the biggest problems on the road is unsafe lane changes. These usually occur in conjunction with speeding and/or driving with impaired faculties. However, it takes a little bit of work to catch this, so instead the focus is on speeding and red-light cameras.

Another hazard I've never seen enforced is improperly secured loads. I frequently see crap falling out of the back of trucks, or the driver or passengers holding onto the load instead of tying it down properly. Then there's the gravel trucks, the ones with the "Not responsible for windshield damage" on them. While I've never seen one of those trucks pulled over, I have had to replace windshields damaged by bouncing gravel.

I personally think that littering is a bigger problem than someone driving faster than the posted speed limit (within reason). But then again, it's harder to catch someone throwing beer cans out of their car than it is to ping them with a radar gun.


/BTW, smokers, the world is not your ash tray.

CowboyNinjaD: In all fairness, the lawmaker wants to define super speeders as people going 25+ mph over the speed limit. This is pretty reasonable unless you have cops setting up speed traps near construction zones.

When Illinois passed their $250 for first time speeding in a construction zone and $1000 for your 2nd and subsequent offenses (note that workers do not need to be present to incur the fine, the zone just has to be marked) suddenly a couple miles of a very busy US route that I traveled to & from work (and pretty much anywhere because it was the only way to get from the boonies to civilization) became a construction zone.

That construction zone lasted for two years. Workers were never present, as no construction work was actually ever done.

I suspect 90% of the Fark posters who routinely rage against speeders are the same retards I ended up wasting time behind because they were doing 15 under the speed limit... on a sunny day. Apparently the concept of trading in their monstrously oversized SUV for something economical is beyond them, much better to get half the gas mileage and waste everyones time.

Subby, why don't we just eliminate all traffic laws and have anarchy? That seems to be what you (and most liters) want.

Wow, color me surprised that the guy who came up with this is a republican. Golly Wally, I thought Republicans were about smaller government and curtailing spending? Gosh, I guess that was just a load of bull, huh?

This seems to be the place to mention it. I would love to see a day-fine (new window)
system put into place for speeding in the U.S.

A$ the $ubby I'd like to $ay that I don't even know how/why voting got enabled.... Too much green beer maybe?

GaryPDX: Andytimebomb: What about super litterers, or super parking offenders.

Or super jaywalkers or super loiterers.

Super-skaters and Super-douches?

AntiNorm: Subby, why don't we just eliminate all traffic laws and have anarchy? That seems to be what you (and most liters) want.

Yep - there's certainly no middle ground between overbearing nanny-state laws turning everyone into criminals; and anarchy.

TsukasaK: Andytimebomb: What about super litterers, or super parking offenders.

It's kinda a running joke in my hometown. The town landfill is on a mile stretch of road away from the town.. so naturally, it has a farking ton of trash all over it.

Signs went up that said "FINE FOR LITTERING: $850"

To this day, not one person has been caught for littering on that road.

I maintain that if the local PD would spend a week with one, maybe two officers in cruisers parked out there, issuing tickets left and right to people either throwing shiat out their windows, or not securing their load properly in their truck beds, our town would no longer be short on cash.

/voting? sure why not.

I've been saying for years if cops would spend a little bit more time going after people who actually do things that endanger others i.e. not using turn signals, turning into the wrong lanes, tailgating, lane changes in intersections, obstructing the flow of traffic, crossing 4 lanes of highway traffic, weaving etc. they'd have a whole lot more money and the roads would be a hell of a lot safer.

I dunno I guess that whole "To Serve and Protect" thing really isn't all that profitable.

TheDroidYouAreLookingFor: $ome people ju$t don't under$tand that you can $imply avoid a $peeding ticket by not $peeding.

So... if it's possible to not do something, it's okay to fine it?

I'm all for fining dangerous driving, but most speed limits are artificially too low so they can be selectively enforced.

People_are_Idiots: GaryPDX: Andytimebomb: What about super litterers, or super parking offenders.

Or super jaywalkers or super loiterers.

Super-skaters and Super-douches?

How about 2 days jail time for the SUPER SPEEDERS going 25+ over the speed limit? (or even ONE day) Wouldn't that be a better deterrent and do more for the safety?

OH...that wouldn't generate revenue...it'd be safer, but it wouldn't generate ca$h.

Cool story bro.......He then asked me the REAL reason he pulled him over.

"Because you're a douche? he passed us."
"Exactly."

A vote for me is a vote for pro speeding!

elliot/western AVE is the biggest speed trap / revanue generator in Seattle, wide open 6 lanes, speed changed from 45 to 30 for no reason what so ever. Most nights there are 3-4 patrol cars pulling people over. A friend got 3 speeding tickets one Saturday night. He got 3 other tickets for giving lip to one of the cops. heh.

Cha! ChING! Seattle made $400 on a 3 mile road.

If you stop speeding, you stop generating revenue. Yeah, stick it to the man by not breaking the law.

GaryPDX: super loiterers.

I have found my calling!

The list of states I refuse to visit for non business trips because I am afraid to enjoy the drive just gets longer.
http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/laws.html
Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, North Carolina, Vermont, Virgina, and now perhaps Tennessee.

/tell you what I will just give the state $200 upfront and rent the CTS and not the Vette just make these for profit speeding laws go away
//if parking fines went to build parking and speeding fines were spent on faster road upgrades the problem would just go away