Ticketed for Passing (Houston, El Paso, Brenham: school, tax, law)

[BoydS]

Since there have been a few threads about getting tickets for infractions of the roadway laws, here's another.

A friend of mine was given a ticket for exceeding the speed limit while passing a slower moving vehicle. The speed limit on that stretch of road was 60 mph and the vehicle that was passed was only doing 45 mph. He was ticketed for speeding 10 mph over the limit. This was in a rural area outside of Houston on a 2 lane road (one lane each way) and the slower vehicle was holding up traffic. My friend passed this vehicle when there was no oncoming traffic and punched it to get around the guy as quickly as possible. It just so happened that there was a local cop that had the radar gun on him when he made that pass. And he was pulled over and given the ticket.

The cop stated that it is illegal to exceed the speed limit while passing any vehicle. Now, who is gonna argue with the cop writing you a ticket. I don't know the law on this, much less the article. But, just common sense tells me you want to pass as quickly as possible and then resume the speed limit once you have passed a slower vehicle.

I'm sure most of us have done this before, but may have not been given a ticket. Just watch out for the rural areas, because the locals are out there ready to pull you over for almost any infraction.

[travelguy_73]

IIRC my traffic code correctly, you cannot exceed the speed limit to pass. In the real world, it would usually be unsafe NOT to exceed the speed limit to get around the slow driver and back into the lane, but The Man isn't all that interested in the real world .

[tstone]

So he was speeding... Sorry but that's the end of the story. Sounds like defensive driving is the next step.

BTW, high-end radar detectors are your friend's friend.

[astrohip]

Originally Posted by BoydS

The cop stated that it is illegal to exceed the speed limit while passing any vehicle.

And he's right.

I don't know anyone who doesn't punch it to pass. And punch it means you're gonna speed. But I do remember being taught that you can't exceed the speed limit to pass. Almost seems like an oxymoron.

Tough way to get a ticket. I agree with tstone; I have a Valentine One radar detector. Worth its weight in gold. I drive back & forth to Brenham every weekend, and it routinely finds every cop along the way.

[XodoX]

I got a radar detector too. I got the Beltronics STi Driver. Although it was 500 bucks, I think it was money well spent. However, none of them is flawless. You'll still get plenty of false alarms. That's because some security systems ( CVS is a very good example ) and the radar detectors operate on the same frequency. I was stopped for going 9 miles over the limit. Used to think they don't really care about <10, but looks like I was wrong. Well, might not be the case in rural areas.

When I drove back and forth from L.A and Houston, I was so glad I had mine. It did find them all.

Btw. Of course it is illegal to pass people by going over the speed limit. You can't do that. But look at the freeways in Houston.... 95% of the people do exceed the speed limit. Gotta say that I was stopped in Van Horn, which is a town right before El Paso. It's a tiny city and they needed the money, I guess.

[desertsun41]

Doesn't anyone want to blame the slow poke? Doesn't anyone question why the Donut munching connoisseur let the slow poke go when he indeed was in violation of driving at such a slow speed as to impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic? Technically if there are no mimimum speed limit signs, and I never seen one in Texas, then the slow poke broke no laws. But that does not mean the Domestic Terrorists can not find some violation in their ol trusty book of laws that will apply if they really want to give the slow poke an extortion notice.

There is no money in pulling over slow pokes. Society does not even frown on slow pokes. But general opinions on those exceeding the artificially low speed limits differ and there is good money to be extorted, oops I mean made by raping those exceeding those limits.

"Failure to keep right" is a ticketable violation as well as "keep right except to pass", but you said this was a one lane road so they will not apply.

I found this in the general Texas revised code:
That a person following a vehicle driving at less than the legal maximum speed and desiring to pass such vehicle may exceed the speed limit, subject to the provisions of said code on highways having only one lane of traffic in each direction, at only such a speed and for only such a distance as is necessary to complete the pass with a reasonable margin of safety.

Your friend should cite this code in front of a Judge. Sounds like it might be a rare chance to beat the crooked corrupt system. If not then I feel for you having to feed a crooked corrupt system that gives quotas to the oink oinks to collect tax revenue to run their dirty system.

[Andreams]

The exact same thing happened to me. It sucks, but when you are technically speeding, you are speeding....even if it is the safest option.

Tell your friend to take traffic school, and not pass unless a cop isn't there

[chad.roper]

if you look at the driving book it is illegal to exceed the speed limit to pass.

[eranical]

Originally Posted by desertsun41

.....
"Failure to keep right" is a ticketable violation as well as "keep right except to pass", but you said this was a one lane road so they will not apply.

......

Wow! I thought that is not a rule here... Some people just love to stay in the left lane! & what I find most annoying is when 2 vehicles are racing neck to neck at 45 in a 60 zone on a 2 lane highway....

[astrohip]

Originally Posted by desertsun41

I found this in the general Texas revised code:
That a person following a vehicle driving at less than the legal maximum speed and desiring to pass such vehicle may exceed the speed limit, subject to the provisions of said code on highways having only one lane of traffic in each direction, at only such a speed and for only such a distance as is necessary to complete the pass with a reasonable margin of safety.

Your friend should cite this code in front of a Judge.

Could you cite the code? I've searched and not found anything. That would be the exact opposite of everything I've known for 40 years of driving here. And would, as you say, allow a defense in front of a judge.