# Speeding ticket **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 12, 2001, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speeding-ticket/92892 "2001-11-12T06:53:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Myrr21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Myrr21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrr21)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speeding-ticket/92892/21 "2001-11-14T15:28:25Z")
> [@](#): > > By saying “I got away with it,” I mean it’s the officer’s job to stop me on the spot and inform me of my crime. Otherwise, the officer has failed to perform their duty. In that case, I don’t feel I owe them anything. Does this apply to other crimes, or just speeding? 'Cause I’ve got this body, and the cop just saw it, and well…umm…I’m hoping not to get called on it 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![occ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@occ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/occ)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speeding-ticket/92892/22 "2001-11-14T18:15:49Z")
The police approach the system of traffic enforcement with extreme pragmatism. They set up periodic speed traps; they ticket people from time to time. The presumed outcome is that, in general, people will keep their speeds under control. When you get a speeding ticket, its often because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, weren’t being as alert to trap locations as you generally are, that kind of thing. When you receive a typical speeding ticket (say, 72 in a 55 zone), the officer is unlikely to feel any strong revulsion towards your decision to speed. They may be stern with you, but that’s the nature of the beast. Most police probably engage in the amount of speeding that the average person does as well; since its a law that most people routinely break (yes, really), it doesn’t have much social stigma attached to it. When I receive a ticket for a moving violation, I plead “not guilty”. Do I truly believe I am “not guilty” of the violation in question? Typically, no. However, I approach the system with the same pragmatism that the police do. I know that, from past experience, the traffic court will downgrade the charge, remove the points from the record, or something similar. Why are they so lenient in this area? To be perfectly honest, its all about volume. There just aren’t time and resources to organize a “real” trial when it comes to moving violations. It’s a system, plain and simple. You choose how you want to approach it. ---
**Author:** ![naughtysiggie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c4cdca/32.png) [@naughtysiggie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naughtysiggie)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speeding-ticket/92892/23 "2001-11-15T05:16:24Z")
Agreed. People that were speeding shouldn’t bitch about it. Instead, just obey the speed limit. That simple. ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speeding-ticket/92892/24 "2001-11-15T10:41:38Z")
Whatever happened to “it’s a fair cop, guv”? I indulge in speeding fairly frequently, though I try to keep below 30mph in a 30 zone. A lot of the speed limits seems silly - especially on our motorways. But I always view any tickets I may get (not that I’ve ever had one so far) as a surcharge for breaking the rules. Don’t do the crime if you can’t… er… pay the fine. pan ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speeding-ticket/92892/25 "2001-11-15T16:29:16Z")
> [@](#): > > Whatever happened to “it’s a fair cop, guv”? If . . . if she weighs as much as a duck, then she’s made of wood . . . ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speeding-ticket/92892/26 "2001-11-15T16:57:45Z")
yo, Civil Defense! basicly you are saying “it ain’t ilegal if you don’t get caught!”, which i find sort of contradictory to your opening statements of “if you do it, you should fess up”. so which is it? and can i ask, how many tickets have you gotten in that hot camaro of yours? (or your dads, as so many others like to think) ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speeding-ticket/92892/27 "2001-11-15T19:06:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Asylum \* > \*\*Well what if you think the speed limits are a pile of crap? > > I’ve gotten one ticket in my life (70 in a 55) and while I didn’t argue or whine about it (hey, I knew what would happen if I got caught) I still felt that the whole situation was bullshit. Everyone else was doing 70 and to go slower would be making yourself a traffic hazard. Not to mention that where the speed trap was set up was about 200 yards away from a merge area with another highway where the speedlimit goes up to 65. I went to court and paid the ticket, but honestly, if I had a surefire way out of the ticket that wouldn’t have made me look like an asshole (or at least more than I already do) than I would’ve taken it.\*\* I don’t know your circumstances, but from my driving education courses, and the defensive driving course I took once(believe it or not, for insurance reduction purposes), the law in my state is to “go with the flow”. If the majority of traffic was indeed going 70 in a 55, you were speeding, but it was not a ticketable offense. I have a friend who successfully argued this in a city which is notorious for being a speed trap. There were about five cars on the highway, it was night and the speed limit was down to 65. Five police cars came out of speed traps and they pulled EVERYONE over. These cars were all going approximately 75 MPH. So in this case, they were all “going with the flow” but the cops busted the entire flow. My friend still got his ticket dismissed though. Steven [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speeding-ticket/92892.md?page=1)