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Great, so when you eventually run across a police officer who is put off by your parade grand marshal act on the left lane of the Long Island Expressway and you get cited for the same violation - make sure your schuyster traffic lawyer brings to the court's attention the landmark VTL case of People v. Ilieveski. I'm sure this groundbreaking ruling set by the Honorable Karen Morris, Justice of an all-purpose Town Court in the small Rochester suburb of Brighton, NY will bear considerable persuasive precedent in ANY court of law which hears matters pertaining to violations of the NY Vehicle and Traffic Law code. Surely Judge Morris, in her experience hearing matters of small claims, tenant/landlord disputes and hard hitting, modern Quality of Life issues such as failing to maintain aesthetic standards of property, or dealing swift justice to those who allow loud pet dogs to bark incessantly in a bustling municipality half the size of Levittown, offers a unique and compelling counterpoint to the opinion of the New York State Legislature which put these laws into effect.
Her revolutionary, though unfortunately (for your sakes) non-binding precedent is truly a marvel of the judicial process. Let's hear from the Judge herself...
ssss: Hello, Judge Morris! How are you today?
JM: "Town courts do much more than just process tickets. Judges seek to remind drivers, particularly young ones, that a car is a killing machine."
ssss: That's outstanding! Please go on...
JM: "My extrajudicial experience serving in an advisory role to several Woman's Rights and LGBT Advocacy groups gives me a unique perspective on what State governing bodies 'really meant' when they established laws with regards to the flow of traffic."
ssss: You are so right. We are all special snowflakes.
JM: "When I presided over the famous case of People v. Ilieveski, the prosecution provided copious materials of 'articles printed out from the internet' on the phenomenon of Road Rage. While I was extremely disconcerted at these shocking statistics, I ultimately was more confused as to how one law could seemingly contradict another law... and I thought it was just 'really mean' to punish someone who everyone agreed had been driving at the posted speed limit."
ssss: Thank you for your time, Judge Morris - you are a scholar and a patriot.
JM: "You're welcome. You know, I authored a book called Law Made Fun Through Harry Potter's Adventures and I am highly influenced by the philosophy of Dumbledore. When I punish the guilty in my courtroom, I typically make them write contemplative essays relative to their crimes and read them aloud between eviction hearings."
ssss: That is fascinating.
JM: "Please, call me Judge Karen - or JK for short. Just like 'JK ROWLING', LOL. Do u get it?"
ssss: Okay
So anyway, I think it's pretty fair to say that it's insanely ridiculous to believe that this piece of "Caselaw" (LOL) would have any impact on a VTL case, aside from a few chuckles, far removed from some small-time kangaroo court out in Nowhereseville West, NY. "Judge Karen" is probably a lovely and kind woman and I don't mean to sully her name, but it's just ludicrous to present something like this as a valid piece of legislation that has any relevance to the actual NYS laws, and we all know what those state very clearly. This is also traffic court we're talking about here, it's not Roe v. Wade. I'm sure that there are probably hundreds of instances of judges finding violations issued for exceeding the maximum posted speed limit lacking merit and deciding in favor of the defendant. Does that make speeding legal? Obviously not.
Probably not even worth mentioning at this point, but if anyone decides to use Judge Karen Morris' opinion as Exhibit A in their big "hogging the left lane of the road" defense, be sure to exclude these parts when presenting it before the court:
Is this just some big inside joke to screw with everyone's heads? I hope that's the case. Why not take it one step further and make your own personal speed limits 54MPH or 53MPH. Math will show that there's negligible time difference, and it's obviously inherently safer because it is a lower velocity. Maybe even go all the way down to 49MPH... I'm sure it's only something like a ~5 minute difference in travel time if you're only covering a short distance.
If only we could find some examples of people who HAVE been cited and the citation UPHELD for driving 55 in the left lane in NYS.
SSSS: A+ for the hard work put into that SNL skit (I mean it in a nice way) of a post.
Now I'm confused. I had decided I would drive 55 in the passing lane as a rule. I don't want to end up in an upstate gulag with Ilievieski. He had a close call. I might not be so lucky. I'm going back to 80+ with my lights flashing, radio blasting, eating a ham sandwich and flippin' GPS the bird. Oooo, now I sound like LIMA.
Who needs road rage? Stay in this thread and get forum rage.
I dont want to hear about the safety of today's cars. That is only relevant when you have good drivers. As everyone knows Long Islanders are impatient, aggressive and dangerous drivers.
Keep the speed limit as it is and enforce it. That will save lives.
The increase in speed limits is not necessary. We are not talking about most people driving significant multi hour commutes. For the most part during rush hour, you could not even go today's speed limits so the discussion of raising the speed limit is really not relevant to most daily commuters.
I have always said that speeders have a perception that they are really saving time by going fast...the chart below assumes you could drive at noted speed for your whole trip on the LIE (hardly likely)...and what do you save from NYCity to Riverhead...a whopping 20 minutes...and most people dont even do that distance per day.
Raising the speed limit is totally unnecessary
Increases in speed lead to more fatal accidents. We need to keep it at 55 and enforce that limit. I feel driving at 55 is my choice...I choose to obey the law and to drive safely. Its only your impatience that makes you want to drive any faster because as i have shown, time and again, you dont save any significant time. So drive slower and be safer, you will get where you are going in plenty of time.
It's very difficult to argue with speeders. They are an impatient lot. I have to stick to my principles and drive 55mph...regardless of others on the road.
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