# Which law is most commonly flouted? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 28, 2022, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485 "2022-08-28T21:12:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485/22 "2022-08-28T23:20:42Z")
Canadian police officers tend not to bother with speeding which is below the limit plus 8-13 mph. They might not be so lenient in school zones or at all times. They _definitely_ do not like it if an officer is driving at the limit on a highway followed by a long line of cars driving suspiciously slowly (at the limit), and you drive the usual speed and pass the officer. If the consensus is speeding than alternative answers are welcomed. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485/23 "2022-08-28T23:33:20Z")
> [@Kropotkin](#): > > The law against indecent exposure. Cite: see the thread on cargo shorts. Harsh! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485/24 "2022-08-28T23:33:54Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > What _is_ "proper Smarties protocol "?? "When you eat your Smarties, Do you eat the red ones last?!?| ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485/25 "2022-08-28T23:38:43Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > They _definitely_ do not like it if an officer is driving at the limit on a highway followed by a long line of cars driving suspiciously slowly (at the limit), and you drive the usual speed and pass the officer. Yes, they pull you over for being stupid. The unwritten law in most countries is to NEVER pass a marked police car driving at the speed limit. The only exception to this universial truth that I ever observed was in Italy when the corporate executive (in a Maybach) I was following passed a cop at 100 mph while the cop was doing 90. He waited for me at the toll both and told me that speeding tickets were for the little people. I told him that I thought that an Americans driving in a rented Audi A8 was considered little people. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485/26 "2022-08-28T23:51:05Z")
At one time I would have said pot laws, but with it legal pretty much everywhere now (in the USA), I’d probably go with video piracy. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485/27 "2022-08-29T00:02:26Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Not even close. Anyone who drives to work speeds at least twice a day. Not many people drink nearly that much. I didn’t when I lived a mile from work with 2 turns and a light between me and work. I didn’t have time to get up to speed before I had to start to slow down again. Had it not been in Florida, I would have walked to work a lot more than I did. Also, being in America, the computer on my Prius wanted to warm up the car for the entire ride which meant that I would not be able to use the electric and thus get horrible mileage. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485/28 "2022-08-29T00:17:20Z")
Violation of the Flag Code (4 U.S. Code § 8). By freaking **everybody!** ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485/29 "2022-08-29T00:20:27Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Violation of the Flag Code (4 U.S. Code § 8). By freaking **everybody** A lot of us don’t own a flag. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485/30 "2022-08-29T01:09:28Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Easily speeding. Yeah, pretty much without a doubt. I was going to make a snarky comment about impeding the flow of traffic by folks hanging out in the left hand lane, but then I remembered that most of them are speeding, too. > [@pkbites](#): > > Not only is it flouted by motorists, it’s ignored to an extent by us enforcers. In reality a cite could be issued at just 1 over but with only a few exceptions the rule is 5-10 over. Around here it’s 13 over. The prosecutor isn’t going to charge less than that and a judge isn’t going to convict on less that. Heh, I have actually had a 76 in a 75 MPH zone stick once. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have gotten pulled over, but it was a slow day on I-35W when the Cowboys were playing a playoff game. He honestly seemed more interested in the plastic skulls I had hanging from my rear view mirror than anything else. Zero cars passed us while we were having our conversation and I was issued the ticket. I really can’t fault the judge or the officer, I was going 1 MPH over the limit, I knew it. It was a fair cop and a cheap ticket. Plus, he had to be really bored. When I reflected on my trip later, I realized I maybe saw three cars on the stretch of I-35 between Denton and Ft. Worth that day. But yeah, even my mostly straight laced mom sped often. Her comfortable speed was about 48 MPH, and she’d do that almost everywhere. She’d also kind of default to that on the freeway, which was terrifying in its own right. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485/31 "2022-08-29T01:31:22Z")
But fair… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485/32 "2022-08-29T01:41:30Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > At one time I would have said pot laws, but with it legal pretty much everywhere now (in the USA), I’d probably go with video piracy. Pot is still illegal everywhere in the USA. This law is often flouted, even by the governments of the various states, but it’s still on the books. That said, the proportion of people who use marijuana, in any form, is surely less than the number of speeders. Speeding also makes for a convenient answer when my students ask me if I’ve ever broken the law. “Why yes, just this morning I did 38 in a 35 zone.”. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485/33 "2022-08-29T01:43:43Z")
Red Smarties? In the U.S. it’s damn hard to tell any flavor difference in Smarties except for the yellow (pineapple). I’m guessing your Smarties ain’t ours! ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485/34 "2022-08-29T02:32:40Z")
I don’t think in Canada the different coloured Smarties had different tastes. I ate a ton of them as a kid/young adult. The commercial about “eating the red ones last” just referred to the colour difference. “When you eat your Smarties, do you eat the red ones last? Do you suck them very slowly or crunch them very fast? Eat that candy-coated chocolate, but tell me when I ask, When you eat your Smarties, do you eat the red ones last?” The tune is fromfrom the chorus of Lonnie Donnegan’s “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour On The Bedpost Overnight?” itself a variant of the 1924 “Does The Spearmint Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?” hit. The Smarties ad ran for years, at least from the early 1970s, maybe earlier. ETA: found a cite/site that says it first appeared in 1967. I remember that version; the actor in it, playing a Colonel Blimp character, was Jack Creley, who had roles in Dr. Strangelove and Videodrome, among other stuff ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485/35 "2022-08-29T02:46:12Z")
I wonder if the author of _Mutual Aid_ would have eaten the red Smarties at all? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485/36 "2022-08-29T02:49:40Z")
I wonder if more people speed or more people slide through stop signs when traffic is low. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485/37 "2022-08-29T02:50:26Z")
I see this more with bikers than cars. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485/38 "2022-08-29T03:08:35Z")
Smart(ie) ass! ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485/39 "2022-08-29T03:13:41Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > > [@pkbites](#): > > > > Easily speeding. > > Yeah, pretty much without a doubt. I was going to make a snarky comment about impeding the flow of traffic by folks hanging out in the left hand lane, but then I remembered that most of them are speeding, too. > > > [@pkbites](#): > > > > Not only is it flouted by motorists, it’s ignored to an extent by us enforcers. In reality a cite could be issued at just 1 over but with only a few exceptions the rule is 5-10 over. Around here it’s 13 over. The prosecutor isn’t going to charge less than that and a judge isn’t going to convict on less that. > > Heh, I have actually had a 76 in a 75 MPH zone stick once. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have gotten pulled over, but it was a slow day on I-35W when the Cowboys were playing a playoff game. He honestly seemed more interested in the plastic skulls I had hanging from my rear view mirror than anything else. Zero cars passed us while we were having our conversation and I was issued the ticket. I really can’t fault the judge or the officer, I was going 1 MPH over the limit, I knew it. It was a fair cop and a cheap ticket. Plus, he had to be really bored. When I reflected on my trip later, I realized I maybe saw three cars on the stretch of I-35 between Denton and Ft. Worth that day. > > But yeah, even my mostly straight laced mom sped often. Her comfortable speed was about 48 MPH, and she’d do that almost everywhere. She’d also kind of default to that on the freeway, which was terrifying in its own right. Wait a minute. Did you just pay it and walk or did you go to court and have a judge/jury convict you? ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485/40 "2022-08-29T03:26:33Z")
Well, it was a state trooper who wrote the ticket. As far as I understand it, in rural jurisdictions in TX, you’ve got to at least go talk to the judge or their clerk on or before the day noted on the ticket. This particular building didn’t seem to have a clerk, and everyone got to talk to the judge directly. Yes, he made me feel dumb for wasting his time with such a petty offense. And well, I was a nitwit kid who had plastic skulls hanging by elastic bands from his rear view mirror who was representing himself. So I was going to pay the fine, but it was actually quite reasonable. I think less than $100. But it was handled in an aboveboard manner, if that’s what you’re asking. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485/41 "2022-08-29T03:29:46Z")
> [@Kropotkin](#): > > Eat that candy-coated chocolate, but tell me when I ask, When you eat your Smarties, do you eat the red ones last? OK, so what Canadians call Smarties sounds a lot like USian M&Ms. US Smarties are powdery tablets, commonly found in vaguely citrus flavors. Not horrible. > **[The Untold Truth Of Smarties Candies - Mashed](https://www.mashed.com/192309/the-untold-truth-of-smarties-candies/)** > > Smarties Candy Company is one of the longest-running family-run candy companies. We're taking a deep look into Smarties candies to find out more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-law-is-most-commonly-flouted/970485.md?page=3)