High Speed Chase at 40/42 last night

I do not blame you for fighting the reckless charge. I would too. I am just telling you that whatever radar clocks you at is under what you are actually going, not higher. There is no way because of angles. Trust me on this one.

 

hahaha..Good luck..I do agree that the reckless is BS and hopefully you get out of it. I agree that reckless should not be based solely on speed but the totality of the circumstances.

 

I guess my thing is, the people that die in speed related crashes thought they could handle the speed they were travelling also. Looks like they were wrong. If 100% of the time it was only a one car accident and only the driver was the one killed then I would say have at it, but it's not. The speeding driver is making a decision on other peoples safety (lives) at the same time and I don't agree with that.

 

Ok, in Ken's defense as a native Virginian, if you are on 29 or parts of 95, there are well known speed traps and my Uncle, a state trooper always told me that they only allow 8miles over the speed limit before pulling you but they are so much stricter on the limits over that. VA has been known for years for being a speed trap due to the higher speed limits in NC and MD and for whatever reason i have yet to figure out they target some cars while letting others fly past:?

 

do they plead tickets down in va like they do in nc? if so, if you go to court, there's almost no way you'll get convicted of what they gave you a ticket for. hell, i got a 70 in a 55 last year and before i could even open my mouth they offered me 64...

 

extremely modified for racing, the berlinetta was a POS camaro

 

i had mine reduced from 24 over to 14 over, my cost 110 court cost and 35 fine BUT an increase of 2349872384728740809872387$ per month for insurance

 

We are native Virginians, and certainly not in DH's experience, LOL.................he had a string of tickets pretty close together and it got really ugly! Came awfully close to losing his license for having too many, too close together. But he was working full time and going to school full time, was always hurrying from one to the other. He had to take a class to keep it. We don't want to talk about how expensive the car insurance got for a while. :shock: :shock: :shock:

 

Nope, not in the experience of several friends and family growing up.

 

But does that make it acceptable? Is speeding not speeding ?

Don't they generally pick the one they targeted with the radar?

Could be like the animal kingdom where they pick the weakest of the pack for an easier takedown .

 

I was told by a cop that radar takes an instant to reach the car they are targeting. If someone is close behind the car they are targeting it will get the next car.

 

McIver's responses to Ken are a textbook example of the flaws in our current system of promoting highway safety. Numerous studies have shown that speed limits should be set at the 85th percentile of what most people would drive if allowed to choose their own speed. Most speed limits are kept well below this percentile to generate revenue and provide a pretext for law enforcement to violate the 4th amendment. Fighting to have speed limits corrected and end this revenue game is like trying to get the tax code changed. Its not going to happen. Separating the government from a revenue stream is almost impossible, so contempt for the laws just continues to grow.

Yes. Thus adding to the confusion and contempt for speed limits. Do you know that most people on 70 HWY aren't going 55 MPH? By keeping the speed limits artificially low, most everyone on the highway is guilty of something, so the government retains control over them. Its all about power and control.

Its just a fact of life that driving is dangerous. Should we then reduce all speed limits to 5 MPH so the fatalities are near zero? Which is higher: 1. the number of people who speed and don't have accidents, or 2. the number of people who speed and do have accidents? If speed kills, how are there any drivers left at all? Most highway fatalities involve some kind of careless driving ...even inadequate defensive driving ...and speed is just a contributing factor.

But if he was trying to maintain a safe distance from the cars around him until he had an opportunity to move over, isn't that safer than tapping his brakes to avoid going over the speed limit? Isn't keeping his eyes on the road more important than looking to see if he is 2 MPH over the limit? That's the problem with your view of speed limits. You act as if they are the only factor in highway safety. Dash-mounted radar has caused law enforcement to lose all perspective on highway safety. I would like to see all radar devices removed from police vehicles. They instead should have high quality video cameras with automatic pan, wide-angle views, etc and let the officers write tickets for reckless driving - to include obvious speeding - but speeding should not be the primary focus.

 

:shock:

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

ladies and gentlemen of the forum, i nominate the honorable josey wales for the next head of the department of transportation. all in favor, say "aye"

aye

 

Mr. Wales this is one mans opinion. You make some valid points but if you look at the NTSA statistics you will see the higher the speed the higher the fatality rate. Speed kills and it will be enforced. Our opinions do not mean crap if you get caught by the radar and the cop that gets you. Keep your opinion and keep speeding and see if that will get you out of a ticket. One more thing, I challenge anyone to tell me how radar and the operator works. It is quite obvious that you do not know what you are talking about when it comes to officer priorities and focus.

 

nay

 

No doubt. So why not reduce speed limits all the way down to 35 MPH so less people are killed? The 85th percentile has been shown to keep accidents at a minimum, but is not used because it doesn't provide enough control over motorists.

I'm sure it won't. Most everyone on the highway will eventually get a ticket. Its just a cost of driving, like gasoline, oil, taxes, inspections, etc. Speed limits are designed to be a random highway tax. The majority of people on the highways are going over the posted limits, so its like shooting fish in a barrel for law enforcement. When most of the people on the highways are criminals, and police don't enforce the posted limits (or do so arbitrarily), it creates an environment of distrust and contempt between police and average citizens. Respectable law enforcement officers should not want to be in that position. They should be fighting to have the laws changed.

Even if you think radar needs to be in every patrol car, then it should be used in addition to video to prove "reckless driving". To suppose that a sign with a single speed limit should apply for all hours, under all weather and traffic conditions, for all ages and all vehicles is just ridiculous, and underscores the fact that the signs are not really about "speed" at all.

 

OK, I see you are disgruntled about something because if you really knew the law then you would know that police can give speedingtickets for driving under the speed limit if certain conditions are met, ie. like weather. But you have sour grapes for some reason. By the way when the speed was reduced to 55 nationally it was to save gas. Suppose you are wrong about the single speed limit at all hours under whatever you were trying to say. LOL You trip me out!

 

Exactly! So why have the signs, the speed limits, and radar then? Just let the police write tickets for exceeding a safe speed (reckless driving). Roll the video and let's see it in court.

Yes I do, because we have speed limits that are unenforceable, in the name of "safety" ...which every driver on the road knows is a lie. Imagine what would happen if police started enforcing 55 MPH on Hwy 70 or 45 MPH on Hwy 42...writing tickets for everyone going 1 MPH over. The public backlash would be so strong the laws would change immediately. But if you're just one of the thousands of fish in the barrel who happens to get shot, the other fish just look at you and keep on swimming ...and the guy with the gun eats as many fish as he wants and gets fatter and fatter.

And it only saved 1%, but reduced the productivity of the economy by more than it saved in gas ...and made everyone on I-95 a criminal. Another example of why liberty is the best policy. That's really what this whole issue boils down to for me. Liberty. That's the sour grapes. When our government creates a law that can be used to stop anyone and everyone going about their daily business, something is wrong.

http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/1902374/
Here's a recent story about the fight over red light cameras. Municipalities tell us its all about "safety", but take the money away and they turn them off. It seems the cameras are only about safety as long as they're making money. Some cities have been caught reducing the yellow light cycle in order to increase tickets.

McIver, I don't have any kind of animosity towards law enforcement. They are extremely under appreciated, but these kind of tactics are so transparent and don't do anything but hurt their relationship with average ordinary citizens. That's why they should be stopped.

 

Also, if you're on a truck and the tail gate is down the red light camera can't sees the tags... Or so I hear. :mrgreen: