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I realize the safety issues with speed limits, but have you tried driving 25mph (and not one mph over) for any extended period of time? It's downright painful/agonizing, not to mention dangerous for yourself because you'll most likely have people tailgating you.
Yep, do it all the time, in school zones. And, yes, it is difficult (especially in my Dodge pickup because I almost have to brake to keep it down that slow), but that doesn't change either the law (which I don't get to decide all on my own isn't for me and I don't have to obey it) or the necessity (the areas that have such slow speed limits generally have them for a good reason), and it would be a lot MORE painful for me to hit and perhaps kill a child - I've seen a child hit by a car going 30 mph one lane over from me, and even though I wasn't driving and the child survived, it's nothing I'd ever want to experience myself just in order to save, what, a few seconds?
Enough with the excuses! If you sped, and got a speeding ticket, own up and admit that you were doing something wrong and accept responsibility for the consequences of your own actions.
Isn't the speed limit on Robert E. Lee where it goes past the park and through a residential neighborhood (where someone could run out in front of you at any time - that's why the limit is so low - something like 30-35? That would mean that you were going 40-45, or approximately 30% over the limit. I suspect that the nice officers were there because people had been ignoring the speed limit, deciding that they should decide whether or not it was an appropriate speed limit on their own, and you and the other driver happened to be the ones who were caught simply because they didn't have enough officers to pull over everybody - them's the breaks.
Yes, that's excessive speeding, FAR different from, say, 10 miles over in a 70. Yes, you were speeding. Yes, you're suffering the consequences of your own actions.
As said, we all speed. However, grown-ups don't pretend that it's someone else's fault when they get caught.
IMO there are bigger fish to fry than giving out speeding tickets to people going 10 miles over the speed limit.
To clear the congestion on MoPac and I-35, they should start giving less than 15 MPH below the posted limit tickets out..*grumble*
And if it were illegal to do that, they might do it at some point. However, the question really becomes, why are all those cars going so much below the limit? Could there possibly be a reason up ahead that you can't see, beyond everyone just taking it into their head to do so?
If it REALLY drives you nuts, figure out an alternate route - there are a bunch of them. But don't speed when you do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Naomi Manischewitz
IMO there are bigger fish to fry than giving out speeding tickets to people going 10 miles over the speed limit.
Looking back at the OP's post, she was going 40 in a 25.
That's more than 50% over the speed limit. Or the equivalent of someone going 88 in a 55 mph zone, or 112 in a 70 mph zone.
That's a significant amount over the speed limit, in other words.
I repeat - if you break the law by speeding, and you get caught and get a ticket, QUIT WHINING! Grow up and accept that YOU DID SOMETHING WRONG (however much you might not want it to be) and get on with your life.
Or does it take watching a child hit by a car (or, worse, hitting one yourself) to get that across?
And if it were illegal to do that, they might do it at some point. However, the question really becomes, why are all those cars going so much below the limit? Could there possibly be a reason up ahead that you can't see, beyond everyone just taking it into their head to do so?
If it REALLY drives you nuts, figure out an alternate route - there are a bunch of them. But don't speed when you do.
Looking back at the OP's post, she was going 40 in a 25.
That's more than 50% over the speed limit. Or the equivalent of someone going 88 in a 55 mph zone, or 112 in a 70 mph zone.
That's a significant amount over the speed limit, in other words.
I repeat - if you break the law by speeding, and you get caught and get a ticket, QUIT WHINING! Grow up and accept that YOU DID SOMETHING WRONG (however much you might not want it to be) and get on with your life.
Or does it take watching a child hit by a car (or, worse, hitting one yourself) to get that across?
I am merely sharing my experience. I think time and money shouldn't be spend on minor speeding violations. 10 miles over in many states is not considered "reckless" driving. I got a ticket, I paid for it, I moved on. There is a grey area with how fast or slow to go in traffic. The general rule of thumb is to follow the flow of traffic. Many drivers do not go at the legal speed limit, but 5-10 miles over. Hence if I am going slower than the drivers sharing the road with me, I am more of a danger to them and myself than if I was actually going with how fast (or slow) as they were going on the road.
Like someone mentioned, I actually think much slower drivers are more likely to cause accidents on the road than those that are going at the speed limit or somewhat over. If someone sees a slow driver, they speed up fast, and do lane switching. They might even weave in and out of lane. The best way to drive is to be a defensive driver.
In any case, when I move to TX I will go EXACTLY at the speed limit because I noticed there were cops all over from Austin down to San Antonio pulling people over for things I wouldn't consider a threat to other drivers or pedestrians. I am not used to being somewhere where you actually do get pulled over for going 10 miles over, and I need to realize that.
Just the other day I drove to the last U.S. stop off the 5 and since it was empty with good road conditions, I went 70-75 instead of 65. People that were behind it actually switched to the other lane and some even decided to switch and then go in front of me because that was too slow. There were motorcycle cops hiding. Most of us didn't get tickets even the ones that were going much higher than the posted limit. While this flies here, it obviously won't fly everywhere. Whether a driver is going 1 mile over or 40, it is still going over the limit.
I am merely sharing my experience. I think time and money shouldn't be spend on minor speeding violations. 10 miles over in many states is not considered "reckless" driving. I got a ticket, I paid for it, I moved on. There is a grey area with how fast or slow to go in traffic. The general rule of thumb is to follow the flow of traffic. Many drivers do not go at the legal speed limit, but 5-10 miles over. Hence if I am going slower than the drivers sharing the road with me, I am more of a danger to them and myself than if I was actually going with how fast (or slow) as they were going on the road.
Like someone mentioned, I actually think much slower drivers are more likely to cause accidents on the road than those that are going at the speed limit or somewhat over. If someone sees a slow driver, they speed up fast, and do lane switching. They might even weave in and out of lane. The best way to drive is to be a defensive driver.
In any case, when I move to TX I will go EXACTLY at the speed limit because I noticed there were cops all over from Austin down to San Antonio pulling people over for things I wouldn't consider a threat to other drivers or pedestrians. I am not used to being somewhere where you actually do get pulled over for going 10 miles over, and I need to realize that.
Just the other day I drove to the last U.S. stop off the 5 and since it was empty with good road conditions, I went 70-75 instead of 65. People that were behind it actually switched to the other lane and some even decided to switch and then go in front of me because that was too slow. There were motorcycle cops hiding. Most of us didn't get tickets even the ones that were going much higher than the posted limit. While this flies here, it obviously won't fly everywhere. Whether a driver is going 1 mile over or 40, it is still going over the limit.
And the above makes the slower driver the problem? I speed, I acknowledge it whether or not I get caught, and I acknowledge that I'm doing something wrong. But I would never try to blame someone who is not exceeding the speed limit for my own bad driving or that of others, which is what this appears to do - again, failing to take responsibility for the consequences of my own actions if that should be to "speed up fast, and do lane switching" or to weave in and out of lanes, all of which are bad driving and NOT the fault of the person not speeding, but the fault of the person who simply cannot, cannot, CANNOT be held back from going however fast the heck they want to go, it's just wroooonnnnggggg, Mommy!
This drives me nuts, this "but it's not my fault, it's everyone else's fault that I just HAVE to drive wrecklessly if they won't hurry up!" No, it's not their fault, it's your fault. Period.
And the above makes the slower driver the problem? I speed, I acknowledge it whether or not I get caught, and I acknowledge that I'm doing something wrong. But I would never try to blame someone who is not exceeding the speed limit for my own bad driving or that of others, which is what this appears to do - again, failing to take responsibility for the consequences of my own actions if that should be to "speed up fast, and do lane switching" or to weave in and out of lanes, all of which are bad driving and NOT the fault of the person not speeding, but the fault of the person who simply cannot, cannot, CANNOT be held back from going however fast the heck they want to go, it's just wroooonnnnggggg, Mommy!
This drives me nuts, this "but it's not my fault, it's everyone else's fault that I just HAVE to drive wrecklessly if they won't hurry up!" No, it's not their fault, it's your fault. Period.
Yep, do it all the time, in school zones. And, yes, it is difficult (especially in my Dodge pickup because I almost have to brake to keep it down that slow), but that doesn't change either the law (which I don't get to decide all on my own isn't for me and I don't have to obey it) or the necessity (the areas that have such slow speed limits generally have them for a good reason), and it would be a lot MORE painful for me to hit and perhaps kill a child - I've seen a child hit by a car going 30 mph one lane over from me, and even though I wasn't driving and the child survived, it's nothing I'd ever want to experience myself just in order to save, what, a few seconds?
Enough with the excuses! If you sped, and got a speeding ticket, own up and admit that you were doing something wrong and accept responsibility for the consequences of your own actions.
Hardly me point. Speed limits in school zone are justified and I don't think driving through school zones qualify as an extended period of time. Also, I don't think the OP made any mention of school zones, so why inject it into the thread?
Hardly me point. Speed limits in school zone are justified and I don't think driving through school zones qualify as an extended period of time. Also, I don't think the OP made any mention of school zones, so why inject it into the thread?
The OP's post was three years ago (2007). The thread experienced a resurgence and the post I was responding to mentioned Robert E. Lee. Close examination indicates there are no public schools along Robert E. Lee (didn't check for private ones), but I do know that that stretch of road goes right by the park and some playing fields/picnic areas, with people walking along the roadside/crossing the road to get to the Umlauf Sculpture Gardens or to nearby neighborhoods, plus there are houses whose driveway entrances are hard to see that are right on that street, thus justifying as much as a school a lower speed limit. (Just as Barton Springs Road has a lower speed limit through the park proper than it does on those parts that aren't in the park.)
However, the mention of school zones was actually in response to the person talking about Robert E. Lee asking if I'd ever had to drive 25 mph for an "extended period of time" (Robert E. Lee is only a few blocks long, though most of it is by the park), and I addressed that by mentioning school zones. However, as it happens, we lived off of Barton Skyway and I frequently drove Robert E. Lee over a period of some eight years, so a better answer to that poster would have been, yes, I often drove that speed for exactly the extended period that you would have had to if you'd actually driven the speed limit.
People go 40+ down mystreet because they just CAN'T be held back by the lights on 79. I hate it and wish the city would do something about it. People couldn't care less they are speeding through a neighborhood full of small kids as long as they don't have to be slowed down by a stoplight.
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