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Comments
Actually, I have, and, off the record, they agree that driving above the speed limit on a limited access highway is no big deal.
And I've followed off-duty state and local police officers while they are driving on local limited access highways. They have not activated their emergency lights, so they are obviously not responding to an emergency call. Most of them drive at least 75 mph. My favorite was the marked police car from a town in Virginia traveling at 85 mph along I-81 in Pennsylvania (posted speed limit - 65 mph). I did enjoy the high-speed police escort.
As they say, actions speak louder than words...
Last I heard, a cop who murders someone gets arrested. A cop who beats his wife gets arrested.
Being a cop is no excuse for breaking the law.
You specifically asked me what a police officer would say in regards to my post that exceeding the speed limit on a limited access highway is hardly dangerous. I responded by showing what they DO, which completely rebuts the point you were trying to make. It also provides graphic proof of their views on the dangers of exceeding the speed limit on a limited access highway. As I said, actions speak louder than words...
And, yes, it's perfectly okay to exceed the limit on a limited access highway (conditions permitting), and if the people charged with enforcing said limit do it while off duty, too, then it's even more okay. Informed drivers understand this.
larsb: Last I heard, a cop who murders someone gets arrested. A cop who beats his wife gets arrested.
Apples to apples, please. Murdering someone and spousal abuse are bad because someone is either killed (murder) or seriously injured (spousal abuse). Driving 85 mph in the 65 mph does neither...which is why police officers, and lots of other people, do it every day.
Incidentally, many posts back, I noted that the response, "it's the law," is an insufficient reason as to why the speed limit must be rigidly obeyed. After all, I showed that various laws have different penalties for violations, which proves that they are not all accorded the same weight. You scoffed and said that you know the difference between murder and exceeding the speed limit. Yet, here you are trying to make that very connection - attempting to equate murder (not to mention spousal abuse) to exceeding two numbers on a sign.
You got the last word, which you obviously cannot live without. Now for the sake of the other forum users, just drop it.
I just meant that neither of us will change our views, so his picking and choosing which of my arguments to attack is just wasting everyone's space.
But Steve, as Host, if you don't care that two people go back and forth forever with no chance of anyone changing anyone else's mind, them I'm willing to do that, as time permits.
I thought the goal of long-winded over-and-over discussions were to get enough facts out there to finally convince the "wrong" person that they are indeed "wrong."
With the two of us, we are never going to see eye-to-eye on this issue.
In a "topic-related" flashback:
There was another Letter to the Editor in today's Arizona Republic which contests your assertion that "Even the radar cameras will just slow them down for a day."
Reader writes that she got a ticket and got the message. She now drives slower to avoid tickets. "It's a deterrent to speeding and anybody who disagrees with this is just not being honest."
Here is the link to her letter.
That's a realistic, grown-up response. Shows maturity.
People who say "WAAH WAAH they used a camera to catch me speeding NO FAIR!" are the ones who are childish and immature and reacting like people who think breaking the law is OK.
There's a silver lining in everything.
And the letter writer appears to be a woman. And she's married to the regional distributor for Redflex.
(Ok, no she's not - just kidding).
We need a few more of those !!!
Imagine how much safer and friendly our roads would be if more people did whatchoMomma did !!!!
I don't think its too hard to come up with a list of laws that don't make sense, are stupid, or otherwise irrelevant. Some are even immoral. I think that is why people in the US don't blindly follow legislation if they don't agree with it.
Dumb Laws by State
Speed limits, in most cases, fall under the same heading. Reasonable and prudent is still the maximum speed law on the books in most places with federal highway funds requiring additional, silly laws.
One law that is on the books is slower traffic must stay to the right unless passing. I think America would be a much better place if people would follow this law. Its one of my personal favorites.
I think most of those dumb law sites are either apocryphal or they make sense in context. It's not dumb to forbid sweeping litter into the street or keeping bikes off the sidewalks in the city core.
Obviously, some laws are outdated and put on books for conditions that no longer exist. Maybe "Stupid" part of Obama/Congress Stimulus program could allot billions to give to communities across the US to employ contractors, not government employees to find obscure and out-of-date laws and give to legislatures to take action to rescind.
Saw another law for someplace in Illinois in that it was illegal to drink beer from a pail on the curb. I think that this made sense years ago. I recall some years ago an instance when a super old senior relative was reminiscing to me. She said that when she was a pre-teen child, her drunkard father would have her take a small bucket to a tavern down the block for a cold bucket of beer and bring it "BACK" to house so he could get drunk at home. She said this was common back then and drunkard fathers had set up accounts/tabs at neighboorhood taverns to have their young kids fetch cold beer.
He probably didn't want the photo radar to snap a picture of him driving home from the bar with a pail on his head.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
about photo radar specifically:
is there any photo radar in the northeast? on an engineering basis i'm interested in the device's envelope of operation.
can it get a usable photo of the plate on a ZR1 idling by at 160MPH?
if the driver were to do a 180 and flip the bird at exactly the right moment as he passed the photo-radar, the camera would photograph the side of his car, and the bird, and no license plate. also the additional doppler-shift on the incident radar due to vehicular rotation could increase the speed-radar's reading considerably, yet another bonus.
so anyway.... is mythbusters hiring?
At one end of it, they sometimes park a Photo Radar van. It was there this morning.
Ahead of me about 3/4 a mile, I saw a flash and knew the van was there.
After I passed it (going 55 MPH, the posted limit) I saw another flash in a group of cars about 3/4 a mile behind me.
Two drivers in about 30 seconds, each going at least 11 MPH over the limit.
Their day did not start out so good. They should have left home 5 minutes earlier and drove the limit !!!!!!
And speeding up to certain speeds does transform it into a criminal law case. People have been arrested for speeding.
Getting tired of paying speeding tickets and tired of shelling out $125 and four hours for a defensive driving class, combined with maturity, is what got me to stop speeding.
I did a lot of speeding in my younger years. I was one of the Evil-Doers.
The last ticket I got was in 2000, for speeding on an on-ramp when merging, and after that I decided "enough of giving my hard-earned money to the state" and I reformed my ways.
Getting tickets CAN reform people's attitudes. I'm living proof of that.
It's called obeying the law.
People who refuse to be "coerced" can just keep paying the fines.
I exceeded the limit on my drive to work this morning. I will do the same on my way home. I did the same yesterday and I will do the same tomorrow. I have very little worry of getting a ticket or creating any kind of dangerous situation, as it simply is not a true evil.
Blind submission to laws does not create progress. Nothing but blind submission to laws created by overpaid underworked irresponsible cronies, the US wouldn't exist.
Drive 11+ MPH over the limit in photo radar areas all you want. Just pay the fine willingly and speed on, pardner.
You'll do what you're told, and you'll like it. You love the idea, admit it.
Helpful to us all? Maybe self-righteous hybrid driving bicyclists shouldn't be making such judgments. Helpful to those who lack the facilities to handle driving at speeds deemed appropriate by the rest of the first world, and helpful to greedy mulicipalities and cowardly camera company operators, maybe.
Still no reasoning of why 11+ is some magical number...other than the powers that be have determined it to be the boundary, and what they say goes. A proper attitude...
It all comes back to "you can't even run your own life..."
That just proves that they are not taking car of their own financial houses and are not caring about the safety of themselves, their passengers, and other people.
Selfish. Drivers who get snapped are nothing if not Selfish.
"I want to drive as as fast I want to drive, and every other consideration be darned" is what they are saying.
Convince me it's not a selfish attitude. My mind is open to your discussion points.......
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/second-arizona-jurisdiction-rejects-speed-camer- a-tickets/
"In December, Arrowhead Justice Court Judge John C. Keegan issued an order declaring the state’s freeway photo radar program unconstitutional."
All he wants is the fines to be the same in the Photo Radar as if it were a "live human-issued" ticket.
I see nothing wrong with that concept either.
If it was all about safety, nobody would be going over 40 or so. Your dream world!
I'm not here to convince you, I don't often try to persuade brick walls :P
We have a right to be secure in our persons against unreasonable searches and seizures. These rights cannot be violated but upon probable cause.
Quite a simple but powerful concept really, but ignored by many for their own ulterior motives to the detriment of our great nation. Witness the gut wrenching issues related to the use of torture in the name of keeping us safe, and you may see the analogy.
Slippery slopes indeed!
I merely agreed that the judge can say "the fine should be the same" regardless of photo radar or human-operated radar.
What other ridiculous statement are you accusing me of now?
Camera zones in Arizona are all marked. Everyone should know they are there if you are paying attention to road signs.
I've already said in previous posts that I'm OK with Photo Radar being a "money grab" too.
If it slows people down, which is DOES, then that's good too. But making money for the state on people who refuse to abide by laws is fine with me.
Just admit it is a cash grab masquerading as safety...and keep right.
That boils down my entire argument.
Cheating the law...it's almost like a joke. Laws are not just in and of themselves. Laws are only worth as much as those who create and allow them.
Just keep to the right.
To violate rules deliberately = cheating
Maybe better a cheater than a sheep.
Yes, I'm a sheep. BAAA BAAA. Shear me and make me drive the speed limit !!!
Just keep right.
Speed limits are initially designed by traffic engineers who use science and educated judgments to recommend the safe speed on a road.
If there are speed limits in your town you disagree with, go to City Council meetings and complain.
I will complain where I please, but really, thanks for the advice.
Do it somewhere it might help, if you care that much about it.