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That might work if speed limits were set appropriately - but whose to say what is appropriate ? At one point in time the Government thought 55 Mph was appropriate. Now you can find 75 Mph on two lane roads (Utah).
Many Hwy Patrol departments have never really gotten out of their double-nickel mentality. Here in VA the highest speed limit is 70 Mph and there are many roads set at this level yet if you get caught going 80 or above you are frequently charged with Reckless Driving (8 points) and must hire a lawyer. The system is feeding on itself
Reasonable and Prudent. Don't have any digit speed limits on interstates anywhere. Focus traffic enforcement on people driving unreasonably fast for conditions. Mostly drivers driving significantly faster then everyone else is. Those are the people who are likely to cause an accident.
What's amazing is that 70 mph (the rural interstate speed limit in Georgia) is just too slow for some people. Hell, you can bump it to 75 mph - very, very rarely will a patrol bother anyone for that - and even up to 10 mph over the speed limit they usually don't bother, and when they do the odds are overwhelming that they'll choose some other fish in the sea of traffic. And so 80 mph just isn't fast enough?
What's more amazing is that 80 mph is too slow for some people.
State law prohibits local and county police from issuing tickets for 10 mph over or less on the basis of radar. GSP is allowed to issue them, but they never do (or very rarely). If the speed limit is 70, no one is going to bother you until you are doing at least 80.
I sure hope the OP wasn't doing more than 85 or he is in for a really rude surprise when he discovers he has to pay a "super speeder" fine on top of the regular fine.
As others have said, using radar to clock speeders and issue tickets is, on its own, not a speed trap. A speed trap would be clocking speeders at the bottom of a steep hill, just after a speed limit sign that's hidden by shrubbery, a speed limit reduction without a warning sign, etc. Those are traps. Getting a ticket for doing 85 on a freeway is not a speed trap, its just a flagrant disregard for the rules of the road.
They target out of state cars because they know that 99% of out of state drivers won't do something stupid, like go to court and challenge the ticket. So it cuts down the time they need to be in court, and gives them more time to be out on the interstate raising more revenue.
The GSP that ticketed me on I-75 sure wasn't targeting out of state drivers. I wish he had been as it might have saved me some cash.
Now that we technically got into legal or not discussion, is it legal for SAME sheriff to pull over EIGHT cars in a row, line them up on the side and ticket each driver? As I was in the middle of this thing. We were going in a pack, you know what I'm talking about. Even with radar detectors he positioned himself so that when detector blew all the whistles, you already were straight into his face.
So we all slowed down to the right, he took off and drove to each of us side and hand pointed to pull over. Btw, he had a backup about 2 miles down the road in case of someone trying to escape. Was about 3 miles away from state line.
So legal or not?
Now that we technically got into legal or not discussion, is it legal for SAME sheriff to pull over EIGHT cars in a row, line them up on the side and ticket each driver? As I was in the middle of this thing. We were going in a pack, you know what I'm talking about. Even with radar detectors he positioned himself so that when detector blew all the whistles, you already were straight into his face.
So we all slowed down to the right, he took off and drove to each of us side and hand pointed to pull over. Btw, he had a backup about 2 miles down the road in case of someone trying to escape. Was about 3 miles away from state line.
So legal or not?
Interesting question. I have another one. Was driving over the speed limit legal or not?
Now that we technically got into legal or not discussion, is it legal for SAME sheriff to pull over EIGHT cars in a row, line them up on the side and ticket each driver? As I was in the middle of this thing. We were going in a pack, you know what I'm talking about. Even with radar detectors he positioned himself so that when detector blew all the whistles, you already were straight into his face.
So we all slowed down to the right, he took off and drove to each of us side and hand pointed to pull over. Btw, he had a backup about 2 miles down the road in case of someone trying to escape. Was about 3 miles away from state line.
So legal or not?
Why wouldn't it be?
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