If you come to the UK and drive, stick to the speed limits or no more than plus 10% - even if there are loads of people overtaking you.
We have fixed cameras and cops with speed guns all over the place. If you get caught you get an automatic £100 fine and three points. No big deal if you don’t get pulled up as you will be back home before a ticket can be processed. If you get stopped however, you have to pay on the spot. If you object, you can appeal after the event.
Legally it also depends on the operators manual of the speed device. If the manual says the device is accurate +/-1mph then I couldn’t write for 1 mile over. Someone could subpoena the manual in discovery and have me testify to it. How could I write a 56 in a 55 when the manual says the unit is accurate plus or minus 1mph?
Some of the newer laser units claim to be+/-.5mph. None of them I’ve used show anything but whole miles per hour..
When I got on the job in '82 the manuals for radar guns said they were accurate +/-4mph. That’s where the entire “giving 5 over” thing started.
FYI, when the freeway speed limit in Wisconsin was 65 everyone was writing cites @ 80. Now that the limit is 70 everyone (Sheriffs deps, state patrol, etc) writes at:
80. Nothings changed except how fast you can go legally. But regardless of your speed stay the fuck out of the left lane!:mad:
Thank you!!!
Does Wisconsin have a keep-right-except-to-pass law? How many tickets are written for that?
Perhaps it’s easy to say, but if I were a cop, I’d write up as many tickets as I could to left-lane-campers rather than speeders.
See, that’s what I was talking about. The cop, who pulled me over 20 years ago for going 56 in a 55 zone and then lied and put “65” on the ticket, did so not because I was breaking the law but because I was ANNOYING him. He flat out told me that he didn’t like the way I was driving because I should have merged earlier. If you ask me, that’s terrible behavior for a cop. Enforce the laws, not take revenge on people who annoy you.
Hypothetically, if the speed limit says 65 and I’m behind a truck which is going 63, there is absolutely nothing illegal about me getting into the left lane going 64, passing the truck, and then getting back over into the right lane after I’ve completed the pass. It might annoy you that I’m not completing the pass quickly enough to suit you, but that’s no excuse for pulling me over to write me a ticket and then lying about how fast I was going.
It’s a “slower drivers keep right” law. If you are going slower than traffic coming up behind you (even if you are at or above the speed limit) you are required to move to the right on multi-lane highways.
It’s not enforced strictly by county sheriffs. I can’t speak to how many tickets state patrol writes on it.
I wonder if courts would accept Tesla driving logs as evidence.
The thing is, someone has to testify as to the accuracy of a device. Just showing a print out of something won’t fly. This is why at a speeding trial an officer can be made to testify to his training and experience using the speed device, whether he tested it before use, etc..
BUT I only have to raise reasonable doubt. YOU (theoretically) have to prove your case. In my experience the difference is up to the whims of the Judge.*
Like the time I was in traffic court. Since I couldn’t prove I didn’t roll through the stop sign and despite impeaching the officer’s observation of the incident (e.g. he didn’t know if there was a limit line at the intersection) just the fact he wrote the ticket was “proof beyond a reasonable doubt”.
That won’t get a GPS log into defense evidence. Unless someone can testify to accuracy of it, or at least present it in a way that lends credibility to it the judge will toss it as hearsay. Having a piece of paper and saying my GPS said I was going slower doesn’t mean squat.
Actually, Wisconsin law says that, if you’re going slower than the “normal speed of traffic”, you must keep right unless overtaking and passing. It also says that if there’s “normal and reasonable” traffic coming up behind you while you’re passing you should increase your speed, up to the posted speed limit.
Wisconsin 346.05(3) states:
Any vehicle proceeding upon a roadway at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall be driven in the right-hand lane then available for traffic, or as close as practicable to the right-hand edge or curb of the roadway, except when overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction or when preparing for a left turn or U-turn at an intersection or a left turn into a private road or driveway, and except as provided in s. 346.072.
… and 346.59 states:
(1) No person shall drive a motor vehicle at a speed so slow as to impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic except when reduced speed is necessary for safe operation or is necessary to comply with the law.
(2) The operator of a vehicle moving at a speed so slow as to impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic shall, if practicable, yield the roadway to an overtaking vehicle and shall move at a reasonably increased speed or yield the roadway to overtaking vehicles when directed to do so by a traffic officer.
Notice that part 346.59(1) says that impeding traffic is LEGAL if doing so is necessary to comply with the law, and 346.59(2) says you only have to speed up to the “normal and reasonable movement of traffic” if it is reasonable and practicable for you to do so. Also notice that the part about yielding the roadway only applies if a traffic officer directs you to do so.
Now look at 346.57(5): Zoned and posted limits. In addition to complying with the speed restrictions imposed by subs. (2) and (3), no person shall drive a vehicle in excess of any speed limit established pursuant to law by state or local authorities and indicated by official signs.
Notice there’s no exception in there which says you’re allowed to exceed the posted speed limit if it’s the “normal and reasonable movement of traffic”.
So, let’s put these four subs together. Suppose you’re on a road where the posted speed limit is 65 mph and 95% of the traffic is going 75. For the sake of argument, let’s call that “normal and reasonable”. Suppose you are driving a motor home at 62 mph. 346.05(3) says you should be in the right lane. So far so good. Now suppose you come up behind a truck which is going 60 and you want to pass it. 346.05(3) says you don’t have to stay in the right lane if you’re overtaking and passing. You put on your left turn signal and move into the passing lane. At your current speed, you should complete your pass in about 1 minute. But there are cars behind you trying to go 75. 346.59(2) says you have to speed up, if practicable. But by how much? 346.57(5) says you can’t go faster than 65, period, because that’s the posted speed limit. And 346.59(1) says that going 65 in this situation would be legal. So you should speed up to 65 while you are passing the truck. You are not required to speed up to 75; doing so would violate 346.57(5). There is no law that would require you to move to the right lane while you are overtaking and passing the truck. As soon as you complete the pass, 346.05(3) says you must move over to the right lane. At 65 mph, it will take you about 30 seconds to complete the pass.
Notice that nowhere in any of these laws does it give a time limit about how quickly you must overtake the truck and complete your pass. If it takes 10 seconds or 2 minutes, that’s irrelevant as far as the law is concerned.
The problem with that scenario is where the vehicle being passed speeds up, and delays or even prevents you from completing the pass. I’ve had that happen to me far too many times to count.
I agree, that’s annoying. And in Wisconsin it’s also illegal. 346.07(3) states Except when overtaking and passing on the right is permitted, the operator of an overtaken vehicle shall give way to the right in favor of the overtaking vehicle and shall not increase the speed of the vehicle until completely passed by the overtaking vehicle.