Here in the Land of Cheese many of us notice that cars with Illinois license plates are always driving well above the speed limit. What gives? The highway limit in Illinois is the same as here (65) so they can’t be used to higher limits, and I know Wisconsin DOT reports traffic violations back to a drivers home state. Don’t out of state tickets count down there or what? I’m on the freeway alot, and the average flatlander is going at least 85! We have a huge State Patrol presence here, but that doesn’t seem to matter. How come?
Hey, how come all you cheeseheads don’t seem to understand that there’s a reason God made all those numbers on the right of the speedometer? What, you thought they were just there for decoration? Henry Ford, God rest his soul, put those numbers there for a reason, bub, and just because a lot of Socialist bathroom fixture manufacturers and cow-milkin’, paper pulp processin’, bratwurst-eatin’ Krauts who changed their name from “Schmitz” to “Smith” during the Great War can’t get their Hupmobiles to go faster than a smartish 40 is no reason to insist that the rest of the human race toddle along with them.
It’s flat here, buddy, and you can go real fast when it’s flat. We all grow up driving like Madonna humps–smooth, fast, and easy. Come down here and give real driving a whirl some time, why doncha? And, hey, lose the cheesehead hats, OK? You don’t see US all walkin’ around with Abe Lincoln top hats on, do ya?
Okay then.
P.S. Your “you know I’m just kidding” disclaimer is in the mail.
Illinoisians also speed when they’re in Illinois… try goin’ out US 88 sometime, past DeKalb. The only place they speed LESS is on highways thru Chicago, usually because the traffic don’t permit it.
Cause we drive fast here…why change when we go there?
Anyways, I wish they’d raise the fucking speed limit here. No one ever gets pulled over for less than 10 over, and having the high speed limit just makes it easier to ticket the others with obscene fines beyond the severity of the crime. 70 mph limits work wonderfully in Michigan, and I only ask that they move up to 70-75 in the rural areas, leave the congested city limits as they are if you must.
That the speed limit should be at LEAST 70-75, and that’s with the cops still giving 10 over! The speed limit here was 70 before the Feds forced that 55 bullshit on us for 22 years. Now that they “let” states set their own limits (ever heard of the 10th Amendment, Uncle Sam?) the sissy majority in the State Senate (i.e. the Democrats)defeated a bill to raise the limit to 70. So Wimpsconsin is stuck at 55/65.
I would love to cruise the super-slab as God intended…at 70+mph, but I don’t want to have road side conversations with an armed revenue agent collecting the radar tax, thus putting my license and insurance rates in peril. So I stay out of the left lane and watch the FIBS have all the fun. (Just kidding about the FIB thing Ducky).
But I reiterate my question: Why do illinois drive like tickets don’t count? Do they go on your record down there? Can you loose your Illinois license from too many out of stat tickets? Or do you just pay the fine and walk? If that’s the case, hell, I’d drive that fast too!
WHY DO PEOPLE HAVE TO USE SCREAMING CAPITALS IN THEIR THREAD TITLES?
This thread may explain why I was flipped off on I-94 outside Racine a few weeks ago on vacation by an angry Wisconsinite. I was driving my rental car with Illinois plates and the driver of a pickup and I had a disagreement of some sort of the nature of lane changes. He followed me for three miles before pulling aside me to flip me off as I exited I-94.
I took heart in knowing the fact that the person who flipped me off would still be living in Wisconsin. 
If you had managed to escape Illinois, wouldn’t you try to get as far away as fast as possible?
“We’re free! We’re free! Now let’s get as far away as we can! They might make us move back to Chicago, if they can catch us.”
(I have lived in both Chicago & Wisconsin , & I know whereof I speak.)
Yeah, it sucks. Sorta got used to it after a while in Illinois. Nothing like taking a 6hr trip to St. Louis from Chicago going 55-60mph.
Moved to Omaha, and guess what? Speed limit is still 55 in most spots (or at least the roads I take). I-80 has it I think 65 in spots within city limits, but ah well.
Just got back from a week of storm chasing in Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma. Now THERE are some smart people.
Oklahoma, speed limits from 70-75 on the interstates.
Kansas, speed limit of 70, south of Wichita, 75 on the turnpike toward KC.
Texas, 75 on virtually all rural roads during the day, 70 at night.
Course, most of this was done in the sparsely populated areas, but still.
Fuck it, make the limit 80. We all know that on long, straight roads you arent putting anyone in danger driving 80. What, is hitting someone head-on at 65 going to do substantially less damage than 80? My state FINALLY authorized a 65 mph limit in most areas (although in-town tends to still be 55). Now, I understand that raising it to 80mph might make people think “Hmm, so I can drive 100 now, right?”, so maybe this isn’t the best solution. Bottom line: Use a good radar detector and fight your speeding tickets. Lets stop pretending those that drive over the speed limit while still maintaining complete vehicle control are criminals.
Of course tickets count, theres no formal points system but you don’t want more than a few tickets a year. Every out of state ticket gets reported to the Secretary of State’s office.
Does the speeding really surprise you, the speed limits are arbitrarily slow here as anywhere else thanks to Uncle Sam’s value-added highway funds.
If you’re concerned about points against your license, neighboring states do tend to share information with each other, and distant states tend not to (especially distant states that are both small). I happen to know Texas and California share information, but what I tried to find (and failed) was a chart showing what states shares with what other states.
If you’re worried about your insurance rates going up, be afraid. Be very afraid. Just about every insurance company in the country gets information from every state’s database.
What I don’t know is how it works if a Canadian is stopped in the US. The last time I was on the New York State Thruway, I noticed that most of the fastest cars (except mine) had Ontario plates.
What we need to do is scrap the entire static speed limit idea.
Install a few sensors along each road to monitor the average speed of traffic. Let it be a violation to fall outside of (faster OR slower) N standard deviations of that average (or perhaps by percentage, I don’t know which is better/easier just now). The system can broadcast the current boundaries to cops (and motorists too), who only radar the suspicious ones anyway.
This would let everyone drive however they feel is safe, and the speed limits would reach a natural equilibrium. Plus, late at night, you could drive however the hell fast you wanted to, if the road’s empty. 
I’m touched. You opened this thread solely because of your concern that my “moved threads” thread might drop to page three, and you wanted to give me something to put in it.
Right?
RIGHT?
Off to, I dunno, it’s kind of a dumb topic to begin with and I feel embarrassed to send it anywhere. MPSIMS, I guess.
Sorry, stone sober (iced tea) but this struck me as hilarious. It’s great to see Manhattan rear up on his hind legs over something–but especially on this thread. I mean, I mean, the average speed in Manhattan is 25 mph, max, and that’s on the sidewalk and through red lights.
::chokes back unseemly laughter::
Anyway, there’s a one-word answer to the OP: habit.
Yep, habit. Driving becomes pretty automatic, and details about fines, etc. don’t register. “Hey, it’s just driving, right, and I always drive this way!” (Hint: never, never ride as passenger with a native of Rome with an international license.)
Being a Wisconsinite, don’t tell me you don’t have plenty of jokes/putdowns about Iowans, too. They drive too slow because their tractors won’t go faster, etc.
Out-of-staters drive the way they always do. They see interstate, or any road, and react like Pavlov’s dogs without waiting for the bell. Hey, it’s a road, I’ve driven for years, so?
Just a WAG.
Veb
Listen CheddarHeads,
We FIB’rs have seen enough of you guys to know that the glazed over look in your eyes is contagious. Never slow down, 'cuz you never know who’s got you in their sights. You who hail from the land of the blaze orange, two-footed, upright-walking deer ought to know better that to think we’ll slow down enough to let you get a bead on us. I swear I saw a former Illinoisian stuffed and mounted and hanging on a bar wall somewhere near Wautoma and I will NEVER let that happen to me. The poor guy still had that hopeful and bright-eyed look upon his face before one of you guys tattoed “Yah, Hey-dere” across his forehead with Buckshot. (One of my favorite times of the year is when hunting season starts and you start thinning your own herd. At least a week straight of Darwin Award material every year.)
You guys live in mortal fear of your mighty State Patrol and the DNR. Who do you think funds most of that? Certainly not you guys, check the state tax roll vs. out of state revenue and tell me I’m wrong. You all want to live in a bygone era and drive the family truckster at 55…be my guest. But at least have the courtesy to let the paying customers go by. Yes, I’ve been hooked in CheeseLand for various infractions. But the one I was scared the worst about (damn close to DUI at Alpine Valley) never appeared on my driving record. Funny, the only one who heard about it was my Uncle Visa. Perhaps that has changed in the past few years (I’ve been a good boy…) but in my experience, all the state wants is the revenue. And I’m still willing to pay the price of admission.
C Ya.
I drive fast through Wisconsin because I spent a lot of time in Milwaukee and don’t need to see it any more, and spent a lot of time in the Wisconsin Dells and don’t need to see it any more, and the rest is empty. Just Chi to Minneapples for me, non-stop and without regrets.
Bibliophage: The states that share ticket information are part of the “Traffic Violation Compact” I believe is what it’s called. You can get the information on who belongs and who doesn’t from http://www.motorists.org
–Tim
I lived in Wisconsin for a few years, and I knew a couple of state troopers (actually they were buddies with my father, but that’s close enough) who once told me that they went out of their way to pull over people with IL plates, even if they’re driving the same way as someone with WI plates.
Seems fair, eh?
Anytime I go up north now, I try to borrow my dad’s car, which still has WI plates – then no one bothers me.
To get on topic a little bit.
As much as the FIBs annoy us at times they have a reason to go fast. It’s a long ways to their cabin in Minocqua from the border. And God knows when you get down to 2 lanes by Tomahawk you are going to slow down, especially on a “big” weekend.(4th of July, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Opening Weekend of Deer Season etc.)
Long ways to go and a short time to get there. Watch ol’ FIBBER run!