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Old 03-31-2010, 03:07 AM   #1
Ozz
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"I can't drive 55"

I can,and do. I hear the 5 MPH 'grace' is being slimmed down, as city government's revenue is down, there will be an increase in traffic tickets. Better get used to going 35 in a 35. You will get glared at, tail-gated and the occasional 1-finer salute, but they will not be in court paying the ticket for you.
Human nature; I get far fewer of these impolite actions when in my big truck, as when I am in the Ford Escape.
 
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Old 03-31-2010, 04:07 AM   #2
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Jim,
you are right on. Revenue is tough and they are going to get it anyway they can. Consider if a person breaks the law they pay the fine.

However, I have a technical question. Back in the 60's a judge ruled on this, but I'll save his ruling for later.

When you are going into a town, doing 55 mph and you see the speed limit sign that says, 35 mph, when you reach that sign you had better be doing 35 mph.

Now, let's do the inverse. You are leaving town from a 35 mph zone, and you see a sign that says 55 mph. Can you legally increase your speed to be doing 55 mph when you reach the sign?

Hmmm!
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Old 03-31-2010, 04:15 AM   #3
Ozz
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I think they would not try and enforce the 35 to 55 when it's so easy to set up a speed trap and get the uncontested money, as most speed.
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Old 03-31-2010, 04:33 AM   #4
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Ozz, is this in just one state/town or all states/towns? There always seemed to be an unwritten rule that 10 mph was safe and I heard that ever since I was a kid many many years ago. Then one day I became a police officer and found that "unwritten rule" was false and it depended on the police officer running the radar
unit and the latitude he felt like giving someone at that paticular location that he was running the radar unit. Of course you have to take into consideration the weather,road condition, location, day time or night time, etc, etc....Of course you can get an officer that sees no gray area, only black and would give his mother a ticket for doin 1//2 mph over the limit. By the way there is usually a plus or minus 2mph error factor given the radar unit for error. But the main factor is the man running the radar unit- at least that is what I found durning the 25 years as a police officer.
and what he feels is fair.
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Old 03-31-2010, 04:43 AM   #5
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Good post Sky, and thank you for serving your community in what must be a difficult and dangerous job at times.
I know you must have had to at be aware of the local politics when doing your job.
The pressures put on law enforcement, in the traffic area is now being applied as city, county and state budgets are slashed, the 'Low hanging fruit' of speeding tickets, among other enforcement is an easy way to bring in more bucks.
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Old 03-31-2010, 04:51 AM   #6
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I believe that a officer of the law on most parts of exceeding the posted speed limit, can usual judge if you are a careless driver, and see if you need to slow down, his attitude also, did he get his donut and coffee? did he have a bad night with the wife? or did that person just keep going over the speed limit and snuff the officers presance. I believe more money could be made giving tickets to Cell phone users while under way that where they could make money inforcing that law.
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Old 03-31-2010, 05:07 AM   #7
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If you think you won't get a ticket speeding up from 35 to 55 BEFORE reaching the sign, think again. I was stopped in Alaska for doing just this out of Seward, I think they did this to help with city finances. I told the nice officer that I was speeding up to meet the next posted speed, he said that was wrong, that you speed up AFTER passing the higher speed sign. I agree with the cities needing the extra revenue and traffic fines seem to be a good way to do that. It is funny here in SoCal, the folks will be speeding about 10 over until they see a cop, then every brake light in town comes on. I also agree with the cell phone comment, that is downright dangerous, so is eating, drinking, reading a book, putting on make-up, combing ones hair and many other things that keep us from paying attention. But alot of us do it.
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Old 03-31-2010, 05:23 AM   #8
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by Sky

Ozz, is this in just one state/town or all states/towns? There always seemed to be an unwritten rule that 10 mph was safe and I heard that ever since I was a kid many many years ago. Then one day I became a police officer and found that "unwritten rule" was false and it depended on the police officer running the radar
unit and the latitude he felt like giving someone at that paticular location that he was running the radar unit. Of course you have to take into consideration the weather,road condition, location, day time or night time, etc, etc....Of course you can get an officer that sees no gray area, only black and would give his mother a ticket for doin 1//2 mph over the limit. By the way there is usually a plus or minus 2mph error factor given the radar unit for error. But the main factor is the man running the radar unit- at least that is what I found durning the 25 years as a police officer.
and what he feels is fair.
This brings to mind a story, my oldest son living in Wyoming at the time got pulled over, and given a ticket for 82 in a 75, seven over, heres what I like about the story, after getting handed the ticket my son asked him what is the speed limit, and you can pretty much guess what the reply was ,75 MPH. I am not sure what my son was thinking he was going to hear, but it wasn't going to be anything but what was posted. I don't think anyone should live by the 10 MPH rule they may be disappointed.
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Old 03-31-2010, 05:36 AM   #9
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Let me tell you how picky some of them are getting. I was with a couple of friends up by Clearlake Ca on Sunday when we came across someone doing about 45mph in a 55mph zone. It was a 2-lane road with a long straight away. My friend decided to pass and when he was almost around the car a Hwy Patrol Car was come around the corner in the opposite direction. He apparently had his radar on and turned around to pull us over. My friend got a ticket for doing 65 in a 55. So what was he suppose to do while passing, 55. I told him to fight it because we all thought it was BS.
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Old 03-31-2010, 07:06 AM   #10
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by PapaBeav

Let me tell you how picky some of them are getting. I was with a couple of friends up by Clearlake Ca on Sunday when we came across someone doing about 45mph in a 55mph zone. It was a 2-lane road with a long straight away. My friend decided to pass and when he was almost around the car a Hwy Patrol Car was come around the corner in the opposite direction. He apparently had his radar on and turned around to pull us over. My friend got a ticket for doing 65 in a 55. So what was he suppose to do while passing, 55. I told him to fight it because we all thought it was BS.
From what I have heard passing or not you cannot exceed the speed limit, may be wrong ,but heard it somewhere
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Old 03-31-2010, 07:08 AM   #11
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Many highways in California have posted signs of 65 & 70. However, right after them are posted signs that trailers can only be towed at 55.

That sucks because when I am towing at 55 mph my RPMs average 2200 to 2400 at that speed. But if I drive at 61-63MPH my RPMs are 1700 to 1900 RPMs because the overdrive gear kicked in. The savings in fuel will easily pay for the "speeding" ticket. And since I have NEVER gotten a speeding ticket I am way ahead.
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Old 03-31-2010, 10:56 AM   #12
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by PapaBeav

Let me tell you how picky some of them are getting. I was with a couple of friends up by Clearlake Ca on Sunday when we came across someone doing about 45mph in a 55mph zone. It was a 2-lane road with a long straight away. My friend decided to pass and when he was almost around the car a Hwy Patrol Car was come around the corner in the opposite direction. He apparently had his radar on and turned around to pull us over. My friend got a ticket for doing 65 in a 55. So what was he suppose to do while passing, 55. I told him to fight it because we all thought it was BS.
What would be the problem passing a car at 55 when the car you're passing is only doing 45,you're still with in the speed limit of 55. The officer was right,65 would be speeding!
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Old 03-31-2010, 11:15 AM   #13
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by Ozz

I can,and do. I hear the 5 MPH 'grace' is being slimmed down, as city government's revenue is down, there will be an increase in traffic tickets. Better get used to going 35 in a 35. You will get glared at, tail-gated and the occasional 1-finer salute, but they will not be in court paying the ticket for you.
Human nature; I get far fewer of these impolite actions when in my big truck, as when I am in the Ford Escape.
I got a ticket for driving to slow in Jackson, CA in 1985... I was going the speed limit to... pulling over every time I had 3-4 cars behind me all the way down Hwy 88. Hit this little town and slowed down to 40MPH the speed limit. Some guy way behind me with 15 cars behind him hit town and didn't slow down... ended up on my tail about 2/3 of the way thru town, with no where to pull over and let them go by.
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Old 03-31-2010, 11:38 AM   #14
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by Sky
... Of course you can get an officer that sees no gray area, only black and would give his mother a ticket for doin 1//2 mph over the limit...
In Georgia only State Trooper can get you for 1/2 mph over speed limit. All others, county or city police departments have to get you going 7 or 8 mph over (except residential areas 25 is 25). It appears there was state law passed because of cities and counties setting up speed traps, and Georgia was getting a un-visitor friendly rap.

When we first moved to Georgia, we were in a caravan of folks going to a pinewood derby. We were going 60 MPH on a 55 posted road. They came up on a county police car going 55 MPH, and I watched in disbelief as they passed him. Needless to say I didn't.
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Old 03-31-2010, 12:13 PM   #15
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by 7.3Ford

Quote:
quote:Originally posted by Sky
... Of course you can get an officer that sees no gray area, only black and would give his mother a ticket for doin 1//2 mph over the limit...
In Georgia only State Trooper can get you for 1/2 mph over speed limit. All others, county or city police departments have to get you going 7 or 8 mph over (except residential areas 25 is 25). It appears there was state law passed because of cities and counties setting up speed traps, and Georgia was getting a un-visitor friendly rap.

When we first moved to Georgia, we were in a caravan of folks going to a pinewood derby. We were going 60 MPH on a 55 posted road. They came up on a county police car going 55 MPH, and I watched in disbelief as they passed him. Needless to say I didn't.

I’m with you on that one!
Why push your luck on something like that. A co-worker of mine was going to work one day riding in a car pool. He came upon a state trooper that was apparently going a little slower than the posted speed limit. As he passed he told the other people riding with him “now you are my witnesses I’m not speeding.” Sure enough he got pulled over. Not for speeding though his tags was expired.

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Old 03-31-2010, 01:39 PM   #16
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I got a ticket a few years back for speeding in the 25mph zone. I could see the 45mph sign. but the officer pointed out the error in my ways. two years is a long time to watch your speed really close.
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Old 03-31-2010, 03:35 PM   #17
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Phil,
I wish I could remember the exact state I was in when it happened, but the judge ruled in favor of the motorist. It came about that the judge ruled because as you are going down the highway and see a traffic sign you instinctively will follow the sign (most law abiding citizens. So if you are traveling at 35 mpg and see a sign that says 55 mph, you automatically start to increase your speed. Since precedence has been set, a good lawyer should be able to get you out of a ticket like that. I would probably ask for a court date.
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Old 03-31-2010, 04:02 PM   #18
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This was about 10 years ago Wayne. I still wait until I pass the sign.......
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Old 03-31-2010, 05:31 PM   #19
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After reading all the responses to what I have said earlier and other statements it really boils down on what state you are in. Each state has different laws in
reference to speeding which is their right. In my state no matter how many tickets a city or town police officer issues, the state, not the city/town gets all the
money from the fines. Where the city/town receives all or a percentage of the fine then I would say yes there is a good chance that the enforcement for speeding
will increase to help finance the city/town. But no matter how much you complain about receiving a speeding ticket - Most likely you were speeding and you deserve
the ticket. No matter how much you hear it said and still pay no attention to it - SPEED DOES KILL - and I have been to enough fatal accidents to say that. That is why there are speed limits and that is why those laws are monitored by the police. Again, every state has their own statute on speeding laws so every state is
different and enforces those laws different.
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Old 03-31-2010, 05:49 PM   #20
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quote:Originally posted by Art-n-Marge

Many highways in California have posted signs of 65 & 70. However, right after them are posted signs that trailers can only be towed at 55.

That sucks because when I am towing at 55 mph my RPMs average 2200 to 2400 at that speed. But if I drive at 61-63MPH my RPMs are 1700 to 1900 RPMs because the overdrive gear kicked in. The savings in fuel will easily pay for the "speeding" ticket. And since I have NEVER gotten a speeding ticket I am way ahead.
Art,

That is why I put the US Gears Dual Range Aux Transmission in. Ford's 4 speed automatic suck. To bad US Gears stop making the transmission. Gear Vendors still makes one, but can't be used with exhaust brake or when in 4-wheel drive. US Gears doesn't have any limitations.
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