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I think you need to ask this question on a geographic basis. There is no "standard" for this. In Texas, it is my experience that a state trooper will give you 10 MPH on a highway unless he has another reason to pull you over. But in cities and neighborhoods, the allowance is probably less. And sometimes a community will strictly enforce the speed limit.
In California, 10 mph seems to be the consensus among most (but not all) cops.
That's exactly what I was told by the cop last time I got pulled over many years ago (i.e. "I recommend you don't go more than 10 over if you don't want another ticket.").. and similar spiels given to my friends who had gotten tickets.
I don't personally know of anyone who has gotten a ticket for doing less than 10 over in California although I do hear of it from strangers.
Although lately, I may not always follow the speed limit, but I've rarely found any reason to go 10 over (or even anything more than 5 over).
I think you need to ask this question on a geographic basis..
Good point.
I'm in Las Vegas Nevada.
I heard a story yesterday about a guy that got a ticket for doing 68 in a 65. Technically it IS speeding but still.....
I will vary quite a bit but 5 is usually safe, 9 on the edge, and anything higher a clear ticket unless the officer is got something else on his mind. There are exceptions, I have seen 3 over in a school zone ticketed, and 20 over on the highway a pass, and of course if there is not a clean clocking you might get a pass on almost many speeds... then again a cop can write a ticket for anything at anytime and put you on the spot to defend yourself.
About 10-12 mph over, however I have blown a speed trap on Interstate 75 in Southern Georgia and I was over by 15-20 and the officer did not even look at me.
This will only lead to disappointment. "Everyone on the interwebs said I could drive 10 MPH over the limit and I got a ticket for only being 5 MPH over the limit. I got screwed".
This will only lead to disappointment. "Everyone on the interwebs said I could drive 10 MPH over the limit and I got a ticket for only being 5 MPH over the limit. I got screwed".
LOL Yeah, that's about right. Apart from where (and sometimes the where goes down to localities not just states) this also varies by speed. In a school zone or 25 MPH zone, getting stopped for less than 10 over would be more likely I would think. 10 over out in a 65 MPH zone doesn't seem to elicit any interest from the many state troopers I've passed over the last, eh, 15 years roughly. That's around the last time I got a ticket on the highway, and I was doing 78 in the 65, in the dark, with no other traffic (I even had a radar detector back then, but it was instant on with no other traffic). It was so late at night he probably stopped me just to make sure I wasn't under the influence, and then at 13 over that was enough to write the ticket. Actually, I might be remembering wrong. The damn speed limit might have been 55 in that section back then, thus a 23 over ticket, that is sounding more likely now....
I keep hearing from some corners that in Connecticut they're more likely to stop you for less than 10 over, but I've driven through there a number of times in the last few years, at my same typical 75 MPH speed, and I haven't been stopped, and I always see plenty of cops. I'm also careful, though, try not to be the fastest car around, pay attention to what the rest of the traffic is doing, etc.
Now once the speed limit goes up from 65, I think you'll get less leeway. I'm not sure about the 70 MPH states. Ohio just moved to that, I still go my same 75-ish speed generally. I figure that's safe. When I drove in New Mexico a few years ago where the limit is 75, I certainly didn't feel like I should be doing 85, but 80 seemed common and safe enough most of the time. I did have a hard time maintaining the rental Camry at 80 in some spots, just a tick faster than felt comfortable sometimes. Not everywhere I was driving was straight and flat, and yet the speed limit remained that in some of those places.
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