I got nailed - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Grizzly · 07-20-2006, 04:18 PM

[QUOTE=Rail26]Ouch, I was only 14 over at 0730 in the morning on a Sunday.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brucelee

Then, when they get these turds, lets by all means give them the personal attention they deserve.QUOTE]

Damn dude, you got called a turd.

CA_Boxster · 07-20-2006, 09:24 PM

I'm with Bruce on this one. Speed, get caught, try to beat it or take the class, etc. Accepting that laws are laws and speeding is breaking one of them, I think the difference between this system and a cop with radar is that the cop will generally target cars who are moving at speeds that stand out. If all traffic is doing 75 in a 65, then everyone's OK. The joker that just has to go 85 and is changing lanes every 10 seconds is the one creating a danger and he'll be the one to get nabbed. The wires in the road take away that discretion. That's the part that I don't like.

I'm also with Bruce on not having a radar detector and not getting tickets. I don't drive slow. In fact, I always drive just a little faster than everyone else because I feel like I'm better able to know where all the cars around me are and I don't like cars coming up around me. I just don't call attention to myself. The few times I have received tickets I've been the one singled out by a cop just waiting to get any car that comes over the ridge a little too fast and I figure I'm fair game on those. "Yes, Sir. Yes it is a fun car. I'll see you in a month - have a nice evening".

eslai · 07-20-2006, 10:02 PM

Do you agree with him about automated law enforcement though? In Bruce's world, all of those 75 in a 65 people would get tickets too.

Grizzly · 07-21-2006, 03:47 AM

The sign says "Speed Limit 65", right? The sign doesn't say 65-ish. If we're going 75 we're wrong. Period. What makes the speed limit sign any different than a stop sign, yield sign, or red light for that matter? Should we view those traffic control devices as helpful suggestions as well?

I'm not claiming to be an angel at all. I speed, pretty consistently, in fact. The difference is that when I am caught, by whatever means, I recognize that I was dead wrong and take my medicine.

"Oh, I should have been caught by a real cop"

"Oh, everybody else was speeding and he singled me out because_______ (fill in the blank)"

"Oh, the fat cop didn't get his morning doughnut"

"Oh, I was going down a big hill"

"Oh, this was entrapment"

"Oh, big brother is ruining my life"

All of the above is bulls**t. If the sign said 65 and I was driving 75, I'm wrong. End of story. I don't care if they used satellite triangulation and a CIA unmanned drone to figure it out. They were right and I was wrong. I write the check.

z12358 · 07-21-2006, 04:37 AM

Here are my two cents. OK, maybe four...

I feel that I agree with all sides in this discussion. Laws, once they're made, need to be obeyed and penalties should be imposed for the ones breaking them.

However, I do question the effectiveness of the present speed-limit laws in achieving our ultimate goal of safer and more efficient road travel for all -- especially when SPEED only is considered as the largest risk factor. Half of my driving I've made in Europe and half of it in the States and in my opinion the single most dangerous behavior I've observed on the roads here is -- SLOW DRIVERS IN THE LEFT LANE (SDLL). I don't know what the laws are on this subject but I firmly believe that if the police concentrated more in weeding out and ticketing this behavior (instead of speeding) we would all get much more safety bang for our tax-dollars.

Have you noticed how traffic in the States always goes in clusters, or herds? There's a cluster, then a stretch of free road and then another cluster down the road. This pattern is caused by SDLL. Consider the rule:
"If there's space in the lane to your right and the cars in that lane are driving at your current speed or faster, do switch to that lane and give the opportunity for the drivers piled up behind you to pass." I believe that enforcing this simple rule can do magic to the nationwide accident statistics.

Some here have complained about the drivers weaving in traffic. I believe that 90% of this behavior is caused by SDLL. If you've ever driven in Germany you will know what I mean. Nobody weaves there because there simply is no need for it. And the clusters of traffic are gone too thus improving safety for all.

Just some of my thoughts.
z12358

CA_Boxster · 07-21-2006, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eslai

Do you agree with him about automated law enforcement though? In Bruce's world, all of those 75 in a 65 people would get tickets too.

I don't think he was a fan of automated enforcement. He was simply saying that there's a fixed number that is the limit and going over means you exceeded the limit and broke a law. That's true.

If the limit's 65 and I'm clocked doing 66 then the law says I can get a ticket. I can also fight it and likely win. It would suck, but if I'm over the limit then I did break a law. That's not the same as "automated". Per my explanation about cops having discretion to target more erratic drivers and leave cars just going with the flow alone, I'm an advocate of that discretion being applied. Automatically cutting a ticket for every car that goes 1 mile over the limit would be extreme and undesireable in my opinion (though I wouldn't argue against it for limited cases like school zones where it's a pretty direct safety issue). This is why there's that traditional buffer of 10mph over the limit (on a highway) where you generally won't get stopped. I've even lived in states where the fines were set by that rule of thumb. There was a set amount just for speeding for any speed up to 10mph over the limit and an incremental fine for each 1mph above that.

eslai · 07-21-2006, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CA_Boxster

I don't think he was a fan of automated enforcement. He was simply saying that there's a fixed number that is the limit and going over means you exceeded the limit and broke a law. That's true.

If the limit's 65 and I'm clocked doing 66 then the law says I can get a ticket. I can also fight it and likely win. It would suck, but if I'm over the limit then I did break a law. That's not the same as "automated". Per my explanation about cops having discretion to target more erratic drivers and leave cars just going with the flow alone, I'm an advocate of that discretion being applied. Automatically cutting a ticket for every car that goes 1 mile over the limit would be extreme and undesireable in my opinion (though I wouldn't argue against it for limited cases like school zones where it's a pretty direct safety issue). This is why there's that traditional buffer of 10mph over the limit (on a highway) where you generally won't get stopped. I've even lived in states where the fines were set by that rule of thumb. There was a set amount just for speeding for any speed up to 10mph over the limit and an incremental fine for each 1mph above that.

Hmm... that's not what I got out of this debate. I thought we were arguing over automated enforcement and everyone kept saying "YOU WOULDN'T BE COMPLAINING ABOUT IT IF YOU WEREN'T BREAKING THE LAW YOU CRIMINAL", basically. I hear no discussion about any sort of traditional buffer.

I remember getting a ticket from a cop back in high school for going 52 in a 45 (La Costa Avenue, towards Rancho Santa Fe, for those familiar with the area. Traffic usually moves 55 to 60 on that one). I didn't argue with him at all, he had me on radar after all, but it sure felt really unfair. Now if that had been a hidden ticket camera, I'd have been really ticked off about it, but then the guy that had just passed me going 60 a few seconds prior would also have received a ticket so maybe it wouldn't have been so bad.