How much over the speed limit is too much?

[Lyman]

Originally Posted by Chris142
Originally Posted by Blkstanger
I have a class B and try not to speed at all

I have a class A and the CHP came to a safety meeting and told us to run 10 over the limit to try to get the flow of traffic closer together.

Good way to lose your license if you run into the wrong cop that wants to throw the book at you. I would have contested him if he had told me that.
Cops are just people and some are not so smart.

 

[knerml]

5 MPH in Ohio, 3 in PA

 

[SeaJay]

Minimal enforcement of speed limits by me (NYC Metro). The limited access highways have a 55MPH limit. I think you have to be well over 75MPH, or less than that but driving recklessly to get a ticket. Have passed many a speed trap at 15-20MPH over.

 

[SZR48207]

The law in OK changed recently so that the left lane is only for passing. Yes this is an implied rule everywhere, but it is a primary offense now that can get you ticketed.

So I no longer know what speed limits are acceptable because the left lane law clashes with it.

Let's say it's a 2 lane road with posted limit of 60. The person in front of you, in the right lane is doing 59. You are doing 60 and inching on his bumper.

So you move to the left lane to pass, but then someone is coming from behind you in the left lane at 65.

You shouldn't be impeding the left lane, so you speed up to 66 or faster to pass the guy doing 59. Did you break any laws? Does the left lane law cancel out your speeding so that you don't block traffic flow?

 

[oldhp]

55 on two lane roads. I drive with the traffic on the interstate. Anybody been through Atlanta or Dallas? You drive the posted speed limit there........you take your life in your own hands. It's stupid.

 

[irv]

Originally Posted by FlyingVan
Most of the time I drive under the speed limit. Yes, even out west where the speed limit is 85 I drive at MY speed limit of 65. Works for me. I've been doing it for close to a million miles. I was once young and stupid and drove like a madman, but now the stress level has gone down tremendously. I arrive where I am going maybe half an hour later than if I sped, but I am more relaxed and my vehicles love me.


Have you ever been ticketed for driving under the speed limit? I believe, but not likely in all States or Provinces that driving under the speed limit is also worthy of a fine.
When driving 20 under, do you have/use your 4 way flashers? I believe that is also a law but again, I assume that is State or Province law rather than country wide?

 

[nap]

Interesting article:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/glo...se-maximum-speed-limits/article18785514/

 

[irv]

Originally Posted by StevieC
I never do the speed limit except in school zones or when weather conditions don't permit going faster. I'm pretty good avoiding radars and know the usual spots in the areas I travel frequently for work. I also don't do obscene speeds like 50 KPH over the limit (30 MPH). I haven't had any accidents and I find that I'm more engaged in driving at a slightly faster speed than the really low boring speeds that are posted. 100 KPH (60 MPH) is too slow for highways IMO.

I would be happier if police would go after the turkeys in the left lane creating traffic congestion as this creates road rage with some drivers and accidents can happen as a result. It should be law here that if you aren't going faster than the lane to the right of you then you shouldn't be in that left lane. PERIOD. Don't get me started on the trucks that use the left lane to pass other trucks when they are clearly not allowed to be in that lane to start with. (Yes I have my class "A" license)


I agree with everything you say, Stevie.

 

[StevieC]

Nap, also this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BKdbxX1pDw

 

[finmile]

Police officer will tell you when you're driving too fast!

I drive the fastest I can without getting a speeding ticket: About 10 km/h (6 MPH) over the speed limit in town, 15 km/h (9 MPH) over the speed limit on highway.

 

[jeepman3071]

Dependent on traffic and conditions.

I'm usually 5-10 over around town, and go with the flow of traffic on the highway. On some of the highways here I can be doing 80 in the center lane and will be getting consistently passed like I'm standing still.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted by Shannow
Ahhh, Grampi questions....

I break the law, but I consider it OK, as there are other people breaking it worse than me...

"It's only wrong if you get caught."

 

[Eddie]

I hold to the speed limit in town. On a 4 lane HW I do 4 over. Ed

 

[Pew]

Depends where I'm at. Here, locally I know I can generally do up to 10mph over and be fine. I do 5mph in town/village downtown areas or out of state towns.

Highway I can do 70mph (55-65MPH until you get to the countryside). Sometimes 75 if the cop doesn't care. However, if I'm on an out-of-state highway I do 65mph in a 55mph zone, or 70-75 if the speed limit is 60+.

In the city of Chicago, they don't care about speeders. I passed a CPD cop doing 30mph over one and they didn't even bat an eye.

 

[Tom NJ]

Police officers with radar are watching car after car exceed the limit and they can't chase all of them. I believe each officer has a number in his mind each day at which he will pursue a car depending on the speed limit, road conditions, and his mood, and on a freeway that number is probably 10-15 mpg over the limit, and lower in a town.. They would rather wait for a really bad speeder and take the worse offenders off the road than chase every minor offender.

I have made a 500 mile run from NJ to VA some 65 times in the past six years, 95% freeway and passing through five states in the process. Assuming an officer will not bother with someone up to 10 mph over the limit on the freeways, I always set my cruise control to 8 mph over the limit and have passed countless radars without ever getting pulled over. That said my maximum is 75 in a 70 zone as faster just feels unsafe. In towns I stay within 3 mpg over.

From a safety standpoint, doing the limit or less will attract a constant trail of tailgaters and road raged drivers, which is not as safe as just going a reasonable amount over the posted limit. Keeping up with traffic is the safest, within limits.

 

[maxdustington]

I drive in the city, usually 10 over 60kph limit. There are streets that have hilariously low speed limits (wide lanes, no schools and 40 kph limit) that people use to commute, and a single person doing the speed limit during rush hour on a single lane road can hold up 20-50 people (I call them goody-two-shoes). I think it honestly depends if they cops have a good spot to set up at. Some streets seem invulnerable, some seem to be where cops go to get their quotas. A long, flat street without any bends or dips to hide behind are hard to conceal a radar trap. Here it's always the top of a hill or around a bend, under a overpass, etc. There's a few streets that I will do 60 in a 40 without thinking about it (Mortimer, Gerrard east of Victoria Park).

I got a ticket for 5 over once, I was on a bridge and changed lanes and pinned it in my 115hp VW Golf and I got a 5 kph over "reduced" (so you cannot fight it).There was no radar, I'm almost certain the cop saw me passing slow traffic in a reduced speed zone and could not pass up the opportunity. I was late for my Doctor's appointment, that villain!

EDIT: Friend does 20 over on surface streets, no tickets. I'm not that brave. Highway speed limit is 100 here, most people do 120, I do 110 for improved fuel economy without being a slow nuisance for other drivers.

 

[Nederlander75]

As fast as your vehicle and skill set can handle that you can get away without getting noticed by law enforcement or as fast as your wallet can support with the first two still being requisite.

 

[zorobabel]

Originally Posted by hatt

"Traffic Engineers" LOL. You mean the job the mayor/etc got his nephew Bubba. Around here speed limits typically have no rhyme or reason. 2 lane roads with houses on both sides might have a 60 sign. 4 lane divided limited access road can have 30-40. Guess where the cops hang out. I also love the nonsense where they talk about how the limits are set by what most drivers would typically drive but on the actual road with posted limit 90% of the drivers are speeding.

I'm with you, "trafic engineers" - hillarious; speed trap engineers - that's more like it. If it were up to me, I'd even have some of the people responsible for freeway designs around here shot.

 

[MCompact]

Back in the dark days of the incredibly moronic 55 mph NMSL I ran a 1st generation Escort detector and a Cobra CB. I kept within 5 mph of the posted limit everywhere but rural interstates, where I generally kept my cruise speed at 75-80(well, there was that one time I crossed PA on a drizzly Sunday morning in my 1973 Bavaria at @100 mph). These days my maximum cruise on a rural interstate is still @80 mph. I rarely run my V1 or a CB and have yet to be stopped- never mind issued a citation.

And, as I stated in another topic, when I was a judge in traffic court I was the toughest on the defendants who were speeding in active school zones or construction zones, as well as congested residential streets. That said, I didn't think a guy going 100 mph on a deserted interstate at 3:00 AM was any big deal.
My chief traffic prosecutor-who shared my philosophy-had a Mustang GT and an extremely heavy right foot; she also wound up being elected judge. She replaced a guy who thought that you risked certain death if you drove 1 mph over 55(he drove a ratty Malibu wagon and a grungy Cavalier, so he may have had good reason for that belief).
And she and I both believed that anyone caught camping out in the left lane should be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
At a minimum.

 

[FCD]

There is a long 4-5km a few kilometers north of my house, just outside the city, it's a rural area, there are no cameras and have never seen police there.

I've driven 185 Km/h ( 110mph ) there, the limit is 60, 100 km/h.

The highway speed limit is 120 km/h here, 80mph, i can usually do 130 or 140 km/h and very rarely get tickets tbh.
In town i drive very conservatively and i'm careful and very aware of other drivers.