Speed Traps (Arlington, Lubbock, Muleshoe: lawyers, buying, closing)

[TexasHorseLady]

So you're owed a warning? Where in the statute is this?

No, people who are speeding are NOT usually the better drivers - they just think they are. As an old biker chick (mostly Triumphs and Nortons and Vincents and such), I'm more than a little bit aware of that. That's just an excuse by people who want to speed and don't want to take responsibility for their own decisions.

And THAT, my friend, is the most dangerous thing you can do out on the road - think it's all somebody else's fault or, at least, it's the fault of the people who don't want to break the traffic laws like you do, couldn't possibly be your own fault that you're deciding to speed.

Do I speed? Yes, I do. Do I whine and cry like a baby if I'm caught breaking the law and suffer consequences and say it's the Big Bad Cop's fault that I did something wrong and got caught? No, I do not.

That's my entire point - if you're going to speed, be an adult and accept responsibility for your own decisions and the predictable consequences. Don't say somebody else is being mean to you with no reason; there's very good reason, and you brought it on yourself.

The racers I've known personally do not speed. Why? Because they've seen up close and personal what a car wreck (or motorcycle wreck) can do to the human body, because they don't have anything to prove about how macho and what a "great" driver they are, and most importantly, because they know that they're on the road with people with vastly differing levels of expertise on the roadways and vastly different vehicles in vastly different conditions and it's just STUPID to speed on public roadways under those conditions. Sort of like a black belt is going to be more cautious in a fight (if he gets into one in the first place) than your average person who has no training or minimal training but just thinks he's all that.

[Vic 2.0]

Originally Posted by kenshi

It's because they prey on people passing through for revenue for the town like was said.

This, I have seen (and I've gotten a ticket for speeding when I wasn't as well). Twice I've been in to see the judge about a ticket. Everyone sits in the same room and just walks up to the judge's desk when called. For some reason, they always say "Your Name of Yourtown" when they call you up. The first time I went there, I noticed something was off. Seemed like half of the people were from out of town. So the next time, I counted them. Of 11 people, 4 of us were from my town. Four!

Everyone's experience is different. Mine tells me that about half the cops (and judges) are just plain crooked.

[TexasHorseLady]

Thing is, from my perspective and for the sole purpose of this discussion, it doesn't matter whether the cops and judges are crooked or not, because I'm not spending vast amounts of my time on the road with them. I AM spending vast amounts of my time on the road with people who not only speed, and who not only think THAT makes them "excellent drivers", but think that if they're caught doing something wrong it's NOT THEIR FAULT (think John Belushi in The Blues Brothers explaining why he left Princess Leia at the altar).

Those folks are the real danger on the roadways to a lot more people than cops and judges are, crooked or not, because instead of thinking about what they're doing and how it impacts their fellow drivers, they're busy stroking their ego with what a great driver they are so they should get to speed, and making up excuses for how it's not their fault if they should get caught but anybody else's, and that doesn't leave a lot of time for paying attention to their driving. Just as bad as, if not worse than, texting while driving, in my opinion.

[kenshi]

Well when you're riding about on your motorbike, go ahead and ride with the phone talkers and texters and old people who can't remember if the brake pedal is on the right or left. I'll ride amongst the speeders who are actually paying attention to what's going on around them. We'll see who survives the longest.

[Soviet]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

The latter may be a side benefit to the town, but as long as the folks getting tickets are getting them legitimately (which is to say, yes, they were speeding), then that's not the primary reason. Even if it were, it doesn't matter, because the predictable consequences of breaking the law are that you will get a ticket, at least. Crying about that and calling it revenue generation is just trying to shove the blame that you deserve onto someone else.

"Even if it were, that doesn't matter"

You just lost ANY & ALL credibility you had. The instant traffic police are motivated by revenue generation & not public safety, they and the traffic laws lose a great deal of meaning to many.

You are ignorant. Yes, you are, despite the fact that you do not believe so. Ha! Of course you wouldn't, no one would think they don't know the things they don't know yet talk & talk & talk about incessantly.

There are small towns that are speed trap towns because they have artificially low speed limits coupled with overzealous enforcement. Very few people actually drive like a bat out of hell through small towns, for the very reasons that have been mentioned on this thread, even if only a stereotype that doesn't apply to the town in question.

However, I will agree that there ARE drivers who drive inappropriately through small towns. While they are in the minority, they are there.

I've acknowledged your (somewhat valid) point. Now will you acknowledge that there are some jurisdictions out there that have inappropriate speed limits & overzealous enforcement?

[Trae713]

Originally Posted by kenshi

Well when you're riding about on your motorbike, go ahead and ride with the phone talkers and texters and old people who can't remember if the brake pedal is on the right or left. I'll ride amongst the speeders who are actually paying attention to what's going on around them. We'll see who survives the longest.

This.

The only time the left lanes get messed up is if someone who should be driving in the right lane goes into it. If you don't want to pass people, then move over.

Originally Posted by Soviet

"Even if it were, that doesn't matter"

You just lost ANY & ALL credibility you had. The instant traffic police are motivated by revenue generation & not public safety, they and the traffic laws lose a great deal of meaning to many.

You are ignorant. Yes, you are, despite the fact that you do not believe so. Ha! Of course you wouldn't, no one would think they don't know the things they don't know yet talk & talk & talk about incessantly.

There are small towns that are speed trap towns because they have artificially low speed limits coupled with overzealous enforcement. Very few people actually drive like a bat out of hell through small towns, for the very reasons that have been mentioned on this thread, even if only a stereotype that doesn't apply to the town in question.

However, I will agree that there ARE drivers who drive inappropriately through small towns. While they are in the minority, they are there.

I've acknowledged your (somewhat valid) point. Now will you acknowledge that there are some jurisdictions out there that have inappropriate speed limits & overzealous enforcement?

Even the small cities in the middle of large cities, people know not to speed through.

[Soviet]

Originally Posted by Trae713

This.

The only time the left lanes get messed up is if someone who should be driving in the right lane goes into it. If you don't want to pass people, then move over.



Even the small cities in the middle of large cities, people know not to speed through.

I was hoping that would fall under "small towns", as well.

You'd be surprised what's written about these small places in the middle of sprawling metropolises on Huge List of Speed Traps | The National Speed Trap Exchange

[TexasHorseLady]

It's hysterical to watch those who somehow think their manhood is connected to the accelerator pedal get in a froth whenever someone suggests that no matter what anyone else does, if they speed and they get caught and they get a ticket, it's primarily their fault.

The reason I said that even if revenue generation is the primary reason on the part of the police for stringent enforcement of the traffic laws, it doesn't matter (for the purposes of this discussion) is that, even if that's the case, if you're not speeding (choosing to violate the traffic laws), you won't get a ticket. The action that leads directly to you getting a ticket is entirely under your control and is entirely your own responsibility.

Soviet, in taking that tiny snippet out of context, you left out these qualifiers (intentionally? who knows?):

" . . . as long as the folks getting tickets are getting them legitimately (which is to say, yes, they were speeding), . . ."

and

" . . . it doesn't matter, because the predictable consequences of breaking the law are that you will get a ticket, at least."

See how that changes things? Taking things out of context to try to remove their point is a not uncommon, albeit sloppy and not well-though-out tactic.

Again, all of you who get tickets when you're actually speeding and then whine like a baby because the mean cop gave you that ticket are trying to push the blame that you are responsible for onto someone, anyone else. And that's the very definition of a dangerous driver, right there.

This isn't rocket science, folks. You do something wrong, you suffer consequences, it's your own fault, nobody else's.

[Trae713]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

It's hysterical to watch those who somehow think their manhood is connected to the accelerator pedal get in a froth whenever someone suggests that no matter what anyone else does, if they speed and they get caught and they get a ticket, it's primarily their fault.

The reason I said that even if revenue generation is the primary reason on the part of the police for stringent enforcement of the traffic laws, it doesn't matter (for the purposes of this discussion) is that, even if that's the case, if you're not speeding (choosing to violate the traffic laws), you won't get a ticket. The action that leads directly to you getting a ticket is entirely under your control and is entirely your own responsibility.

Soviet, in taking that tiny snippet out of context, you left out these qualifiers (intentionally? who knows?):

" . . . as long as the folks getting tickets are getting them legitimately (which is to say, yes, they were speeding), . . ."

and

" . . . it doesn't matter, because the predictable consequences of breaking the law are that you will get a ticket, at least."

See how that changes things? Taking things out of context to try to remove their point is a not uncommon, albeit sloppy and not well-though-out tactic.

Again, all of you who get tickets when you're actually speeding and then whine like a baby because the mean cop gave you that ticket are trying to push the blame that you are responsible for onto someone, anyone else. And that's the very definition of a dangerous driver, right there.

This isn't rocket science, folks. You do something wrong, you suffer consequences, it's your own fault, nobody else's.

So, if my mother is going down a steep hill and a cop pulls her over for going 3MPH above the speed limit, how is that exactly helping anything? The cop knows what he is doing by staying at the bottom of the big hill. I have know people being pulled over for going 1MPH. Meanwhile, cops fly by at 80+ on the freeway. Does the badge entitle them to being above the law? Is that why cops laugh and joke about their ticket quotas? Its revenue.

[TexasHorseLady]

You really know people who have been pulled over for 1 mph over the limit, or you're making that up to support your cause of "I should be allowed to go however the heck fast I want to with no penalties whatsoever" (which is what it appears to be based solely on your posts in various similar threads)?

Somehow, I suspect that it's the latter.