So I'm driving today, highway, speeding but moving with traffic, and I get pulled over. I couldn't find my registration at first because I was looking in the glove compartment, when it was in my wallet, so the officer went back to his car to write me up. He came back with a ticket for failing to provide my registration and by that point I had realized where it was and had it for him. Handed it to him. Still got the ticket, which I'm contesting (I produced it on demand, just not as quickly as the cop would have liked), but got nothing for speeding. He said not to go to court otherwise he'd tell the judge what else I was doing. So he tells the judge that I speed... and then what? Why no speeding ticket then? I'll get off from the ticket I got because I gave him the registration before he gave me the ticket, and I won't get a speeding ticket because that's just not how traffic court works. Between the parking ticket I sortof got out of (guilty with explanation, $250 ticket reduced to $20 court fine), the "driving faster than reasonable" ticket I got from the accident (it was raining, I lost control when I hit a puddle, court date in August) when the cop showed up well after the fact --- and told me to contest ---, and this, I'm going to know the Montgomery County traffic court pretty well. And if all goes as planned, I won't be nailed that badly for anything since my only speeding ticket from over 3 years ago. Even when I get a ticket I'm lucky.
Still, this is why I love my bike.
9 comments:
You know, if you didn't speed, getting tickets wouldn't be an issue.
Studies have shown that if everybody else on the road is speeding, it's safer to drive with traffic than to go the posted speed limit. Yes, not speeding would result in fewer tickets, but at the cost of safety... not a real option, if you ask me. Usually cops aren't jerks and don't pull somebody over if they are moving with the rest of traffic.
I've driven with you and you don't just speed to keep up with the safe speed of traffic, you speed with all the other idiots who drive too fast. And if you were really going with the speed of traffic, then it's really hard for a cop to pull you over in the middle of a group all going the same speed.
Just because a few people do it (speed excessively), doesn't make it right.
Also, if everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you do it, too?
Sometimes, yes, I drive faster than other people. This time, however, I wasn't. I've been much better about driving slowly since my accident.
And since when is driving with traffic for safety like following everybody off a bridge? That's a horrible analogy because I'd be safer by NOT jumping off the bridge. Of course I wouldn't jump.
Finally, most highway speed limits (not residential) aren't there for safety; they're there for revenue for the police. Studies (I wish I could find them now, I hate citing "studies") have shown that until you start setting speed limits upwards of 65 to 75, they have little impact on road safety. I was going slower than 50 when I got pulled over.
Just because it is the law doesn't make it right.
Were you driving on a residental road where you could have hit things like people and animals? Because the only places that have speed limits less than 50 are those with commercial buildings or houses next to the road. Those places have lower speed limits because you might have to stop very quickly on them.
I was on new hampshire where all the houses "on" the road are actually on parallel roads just off the main road (and were all on the other side of the road, my side was undeveloped), and I was in the left lane. I'm aware of the dangers of speeding in residential areas, and don't do it. (My cousin was recently hit while biking, and is still in the hospital. I've also been hit while biking, though with less serious consequences.)
It was between there and the shopping center right before the beltway. Speed limit was 35. (I was heading north at the time)
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