In CA they can give you a ticket for driving exactly the limit in the “fast lane”, IF you are causing cars to pile up behind you and cause problems when they pass. But, usually, your speedomter is slightly fast, so when you think you’re doing 55, you are actually doing 52 or 53.
And emergency vehicles going code 2 or 3, can disregard the speed limit.
Here in the UK, someone flashing their headlights at you from behind usually means that the guy flashing his lights is an asshole in a new Merc who thinks he owns the road and that 85mph on the motorway (speed limit 70mph) just isn’t enough.
I’ve talked to several cops about the 5mph over the limit is okay rule, and they all say it’s a pile of BS. They say generally they will not pull over someone for only going five over, but there always is that dick of a cop who will catch you for just 1 over, so take your chances as you will.
If it’s sleeting or even raining heavily, you bet your ass you can get a ticket for driving the speed limit in any lane. Not only a speeding ticket, but a reckless op ticket. As Distopos indicated, the speed limit is a maximum for good conditions. But that is always superceded by what speed is safe during the conditions you’re driving in.
Of course, a cop can give you a ticket for picking your nose if he so chooses. The question is, will it stand under the scrutiny of the courts? So while you could conceivably get a ticket for going 65 in a 65 limit on a clear day, I’d bet you have a really, really good chance of getting out of it in court. The only drag is that you have to take time off work to go fight your case.
Basically, though, the rules of the highway are pretty much the same as the rules of life: Try not to be an asshole. Don’t block traffic by cruising in the passing lane and don’t barrel through at 85, either.
Yeah, but if you get a ticket for 58 (or even 60) in a 55, and plead not guilty, the judge will laugh it right out of the courtroom. You can easily make a case for something like a slight miscalibration of radar equipment in this situation. In practice (here in my state, anyway), you can drive 10-15 over (although it really comes down to a judgement call on your part, how fast others are going, whether your car is visible, your lane, etc etc etc). I support an 80mph limit, myself. Sign my petition here. Heh.
I’d be surprised if the judge just laughs it out of the courtroom, especially if he’s dealing with a long-standing law enforcement officer. The lasers (I don’t know about radars) are amazingly well-calibrated and constantly checked, so it’s pretty difficult to get that much of a miscalibration.
Like I said before, the thing is most cops will not ticket you for going 5 or even 10 over, but, at the end of the day, what you are doing is still illegal, and they can and sometimes do ticket people doing only 5 over. I’ve been ticketed for as little as 7 over the limit (in Indiana.)
This was on an open highway, with no traffic. What can I say? On the other hand, I’ve done 135 in a 65 zone, and luckily no one clocked me. What can I say; it ain’t fair, but if you’re over, you’re over and the cops are in full accordance with the law to issue a ticket.
I used to think that. I tried arguing that very thing (58 in a 55 zone). I was passing a slow moving semi going up hill on a narrow Illinois highway. The judge laughed, alright - at me. It would have been cheaper to just pay the ticket!
I also got a ticket in Texas for driving 55 in a 55 zone, of course the cop swore that his radar said I was doing 80. I was not, but the car that had just passed me probably was. The cop didn’t listen and neither did the judge. Another expensive lesson.
I heard that the speed limits set on any roads are 85% of the safe speed for that road. This is to accomodate those who just can’t drive the limit so that they’re not endangering themselves unduly.
With rounding, this gives 75 for the safe speed for 65 MPH roads, which agrees with the 75-80 figure I’ve read for design maximums.
It works too for school zones, which are 25 MPH. This gives a 100% speed of 30. And really, who can drive 25 if they’re in 3rd gear?
sounds reasonable, AWB, but on straightaways what is 85% of a safe speed? if this were true, you’d see straightaways with 110 mph speed limits on them. look at certain stretches of autobahn in germany which are speed limitless under good driving conditions. from what i can tell the standards of their roads are similar to the states, so why don’t we have speedlimitless stretches of road (montana excluded.)
I’ve also heard this rule applied to curves, and it makes a little more sense in that application, but I don’t think it’s true.
As far as the school zone goes, the speed limit is there to protect the kids, and not you, and if you’re caught even slightly over the limit on a school day, there ain’t a judge in the USA that’ll take pity on you.
It was about a year ago that Montana imposed speed limits (daytime- 75 on interstate, 70 on most other roads). Prior to that, the speed limit was “reasonable and prudent”, which was not the same as “limitless”. For example, a convoy of Mercedes doing around 100mph all got ticketed near Billings because they didn’t understand that.
The problem was that the definition of “reasonable and prudent” was entirely up to the officer in the field, and you wouldn’t/couldn’t know that your speed was unreasonable or imprudent until the officer pulled you over. The state courts ruled that this lead to arbitrary enforcement, and not equal protection.
Necessity and the Greater Harm Doctrine are common-law defenses to any crime, to include speeding. The general idea is that you may be ‘forced’ to commit a small crime to avoid some greater harm, or some worse crime, that will occur if you don’t. You can break a window to get to a phone to report a fire, perhaps.
Presumably this defense would be available to a driver with an “emergency situation,” even without the law above. Some jurisdictions don’t allow Greater Harm, of course, so your mileage (no pun intended) may vary.
Just as an interlude to an ambulance breaking traffic laws, atleast in NM:
Code 2 (only lights) is not allowed in NM by law, but that gets ingored all the time
Any ambulance going code 3 can violate the speed limit by upto 15 MPH (again not enforced), may run red lights and stop signs after coming to a complete stop (occasionally not followed.)
Any accident envolving an emergency vec. is at the fault of the emergency vec. operator. Thats correct – if an ambulance is in an accident while going code 3 it is the drivers fault. dosent matter if the other guy is drunk off his keyster. The operator of the emergency vec is responsible both for the emergency vec and all other drivers on the road.
Daniel… sez:
Are you sure about disregarding speed during code 2? I just spoke with my brother and several of my friends, all of whom are police officers and all of them disagreed with you. The law does not allow you to go over the speed limit during a code 2. In practice, it is of course ignored, but according to the law, code 3 is the only one that allows you to go over the speed limit.
Code 2 by the way is no lights and sirens, it just means to get there ASAP. Ususally domestic calls, stuff like that. Code 3 is for stuff in progress and of course, officer down and shots fired.
Slight correction – Code 2 is reguarded, atleast in NM, at lights, no siren, and is frowned upon.
Actually, the ‘85th percentile rule’ presumes that 85% of the people driving on a given road are traveling at or below the maximum safe speed for that road. The folks that set speed limits are supposed to survey the traffic on the road during optimum driving conditions (clear, dry, etc.), find the 85th percentile, speed-wise, then round to the nearest 5 MPH increment.
This is the methodology prescribed by the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials in their traffic manuals distributed to state highway departments. I think most states have adopted the AASHTO standard as their own.
Well, you're wrong. I didn't want to post something purely based on my own experience as an ambulance driver. So, I called the local NY State Trooper Barracks. There is NO Speed Limit for an ambulance. Having said that, the Trooper reminded me that, of course, due diligence is required. The law is the law. Emergency vehicles ( in THIS state ) are not bound to the speed limitin the State of New York. Thank god-----because----
----- I once drove to the hospital of choice at over 90 Mph. It was a clear day, not a lot of traffic, and the lady was in active labor. While my EMT and I could have delivered the baby at the side of the NYS Thruway, it would have been bad for the baby to have done so. It was a birth complicated by a miconium release (sp?) – feces released in utero. Dealing with that in an ambulance would have been daunting. I got to the hospital, with security guards holding both elevators waiting on us.
We RAN her up on the stretcher, to the Maternity floor. By our clock, she delivered the baby less than 4 MINUTES after we arrived on that floor.
I drove incredibly fast on the Highway, and fast but with my usual caution on the streets. I also remember the basic rule- for every 10 MPH, you have to have one car length in front of you free. Using the siren on Squeal, and full lights pretty much guaranteed that. No red lights blown, nothing dangerous. But, I got her to a proper delivery suite in time.
CartooniversAWB:
That really doesn’t make much sense. The maximum safe speed for a Volkwagen is different than the maximum safe speed for a Volvo…
*JoeyBlades: AWB: That really doesn’t make much sense. The maximum safe speed for a Volkwagen is different than the maximum safe speed for a Volvo… *
It means the physically safe speed for an auto-sized object rolling on tire-grade rubber on the particular surface, given its grade (steepness), curve radius, etc.
I supposed it also takes into consideration that there are cars out there that can’t go the maximum speed, or even the 85 percentile speed. If a Volkswagen starts to shimmy at 60 MPH and a Volvo at 110, then the VW shouldn’t try to go faster than that and the Volvo should slow down so it doesn’t plow into any 60 MPH VW’s.