Quote:
Originally Posted by BogeyBoy
Part of the responsibility of having a driver's license and operating a motor vehicle is obeying the rules of the road. If you drove for 19 or 20 years without a ticket you must agree with that or have been extremely lucky. You said that on the Saturday morning there was no traffic. Did you expect them to run out and change the signs and speed limit to 65 for your convenience? Try driving that road at 4:00 pm on a weekday. Accept the fact that you were caught speeding, pay the fine, and move on.
BTW - I'm sure many roadways were designed for a certain speed but speed limits are set lower due to traffic flow, growth in the area, number of accidents, new traffic lights, new intersecting roadways, and countless other factors that may save your life someday.
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I accepted the fact that I was ticketed. I paid my fine within a couple of days of getting the notice in the mail. The one thing I *will* say in favor of D.C. is that they made it easy for me to pay over the web and I didn't have to wonder if a mailed check got lost en-route.
And, yes, conditions changing over the years can have an impact on speed limits.
In a perfect world, that would be ALL that would affect it.
Any good cop will admit that there are what's called "cherry patches". These are places where cops who are a little too far under their quota (you usually want to be right around or a little above the average but you don't want to be knows as "the hot pencil") can easily pull over a few violators.
Like the example I used earlier - widening roads and eliminating traffic lights isn't usually a reason to lower a speed limit - especially when it's changing from a secondary road to a limited-access highway (expressway or freeway depending on your area of the country).
Why do you think red light cameras are approved when studies show that they INCREASE accidents? The vendors (who get a kickback) make all sorts of bogus claims about safety when, in fact, lengthening yellow lights has been proven to reduce accidents. Putting in a red light camera means more people slamming on their brakes at the intersection for fear of a ticket causing more rear-end collisions.
It's all about the money in THOSE cases.
Every time there's an accident, it seems that someone wants to pass a new law to prevent future occurances. Sometimes that's a good thing becuase of changing technology (like texting while driving - didn't need a law against that in 1970 but apparently today's "distracted driving" or "driving to endanger" statutes don't cover it). But we ignore what is a factor in OVER HALF the accidents in this country - alcohol. The double-standard used to be worse than it is today. I hate drunk drivers as one nearly killed my ex-wife, a friend and the friend's baby while destroying my car. But think about what the laws would be like if we went after drunk drivers the way people want to go after text-messagers.