And I'm the one who gets a ticket?

[Monkeyleg]

I was driving southbound on one of the major thoroughfares in our city when I spotted a Jeep heading toward me...literally toward me.

It was an open Jeep, and the driver had a double-size bale of hay in the back, and then had strapped another double-size bale to the hood. He couldn't see over it, to the right of it, through it, and could only see to the left of it by leaning out the driver's side door. And he's doing 40 in moderately heavy traffic. 

[TommyGunn]

   So what did you do that merited a ticket?

[Monkeyleg]

Oh, I got a speeding ticket a few days ago.

[Perd Hapley]

I was driving southbound on one of the major thoroughfares in our city when I spotted a Jeep heading toward me...literally toward me.

It was an open Jeep, and the driver had a double-size bale of hay in the back, and then had strapped another double-size bale to the hood. He couldn't see over it, to the right of it, through it, and could only see to the left of it by leaning out the driver's side door. And he's doing 40 in moderately heavy traffic. 

1. Welcome to Dixieland. 

2. Cops are never there when you need them.



Actually, I shouldn't say number 2. I once had the pleasure of seeing a cop turn on his lights and siren, and go tearing after some guy who just cut me off at an intersection. 

[MrsSmith]

Monkeyleg gets a ticket? Well there's a surprise!

At least he didn't get me doing 130 mph over the Tennessee River bridge on I-65 as I usually do.

I'm just sayin'.

[Tallpine]

could only see to the left of it by leaning out the driver's side door

Probably had his seat belt on so it was okay 

[Monkeyleg]

Monkeyleg gets a ticket? Well there's a surprise!

I'm just sayin'.

Oh, I know. The thing is, I don't speed if I think there's a chance there's cops present. In my example of 130 over the TN River, there's no place for a cop to hide. There's another good stretch on the interstate where there's nothing but trees, and they're so far off the highway a squad couldn't hide there, and there's a ditch too deep and steeply pitched for a squad to sit. Perfect place to punch the throttle.

The rest of the time, I obey the speed limit. Always, and especially when there's other cars around. Contrast this with my wife, who routinely does 55-60 in 35 zones, and has never even been stopped.

But this guy with the Jeep wasn't just begging for a ticket, he was a rolling bundle of citations (hopefully not after he'd injured someone else).

Edited to add "Dick's Theory". I suspect that drivers of flashy performance cars are more likely to be ticketed when stopped, as the officer knows that if the driver was doing 10 or 20 over in the officer's speed presence, the driver most likely has done (or routinely does) 50-100 over somewhere else.

[Hawkmoon]

Oh, I know. The thing is, I don't speed if I think there's a chance there's cops present.

Is this supposed to somehow make it okay? The speed limit only applies when there's a cop present?

In my younger days, one of my racing buddies told us about "trying out" his car on the morning of New Years day -- running up state route 10 at 125 MPH. He, like you, thought it was okay because he hadn't gotten a ticket. Then we pointed out that the speed limit is 40 MPH and he was going three times that fast, and there are cross streets about every half or 3/4 of a mile, as well as driveways every couple of hundred feet.

"But it was straight, they could see me."

He obviously failed Physics. We had to explain to him that if he was going 125 and they expected him to be going 40 (or a bit over, say 50), when they saw him they would (rightly) expect to have 'X' seconds to pull out before he got there. But if he was going three times the speed limit, then the actual time to pull out without a collision becomes 'X/3'

He hadn't thought about that.

[Monkeyleg]

Hawkmoon, if you've read my posts about this, you've read that I only punch it when I'm on the interstate (no cross streets) with no cars around (if I screw up, nobody else gets hurt). I don't speed where there are cross streets or other cars nearby.

The exception to the above is on Highway 50 in Nevada ("The Lonely 50"). There are stretches of several miles where there are no cross roads, no curves and you can see everything--vehicles included--for a mile or more. I've taken my motorcycle up to about 115 on those stretches. I've also been buzzed on those same stretches by F16's flying a couple hundred feet off the ground, doing probably mach 1 or close to it.

I'm not going to endanger someone, unlike the guy with the hay bales (or my wife).

[MrsSmith]

Is this supposed to somehow make it okay? The speed limit only applies when there's a cop present?

No, the speed limit only applies when there's no potential for danger to others. Straight stretches, deserted roads with no drives or exits, wide open terrain so anything/anyone approaching is plainly visible well in advance. Which Monkeyleg stated.

[Fly320s]

Same thing with traffic lights at 2am.

[RoadKingLarry]

Same thing with traffic lights at 2am.

I work nights and do quite a bit of driving to and from small towns. Every once in a while I'll brain cramp and do a stop sign stop at a stop light. A few months ago I did that in a little one one light town and the local Barny Fife was hiding behind the 4H/FFA sign. He flashed his lights then waved me on.

[Monkeyleg]

I work nights and do quite a bit of driving to and from small towns. Every once in a while I'll brain cramp and do a stop sign stop at a stop light. A few months ago I did that in a little one one light town and the local Barny Fife was hiding behind the 4H/FFA sign. He flashed his lights then waved me on.

Most of my jobs were driving jobs until I began my career as a photographer. I drove for the Milwaukee Sentinel doing box deliveries, which consisted of removing the old newspapers from the vending box, putting in the fresh ones, and taking the coins from the lockbox.

The job paid $5.86 an hour for an eight hour shift, from 11 pm until 7 am. It didn't matter if you finished your shift at 3 am or 8 am, you were still paid for eight hours. So, of course, the drivers drove as fast as they could to finish quickly. We ran stoplights, drove 60 mph in 30 zones, drove on the wrong side of the streets...whatever.

The police never ticketed us, in part because they understood the nature of our work hours, but more importantly the entire Milwaukee Police Department got free newspapers from the drivers. They were delivered in bundles to each district station.

That ended when a local TV station exposed the arrangement, and the drivers started getting tickets left and right. One of the department heads worked things out with the MPD so that we'd leave the bundles in the company garage, and a few officers would pick them up and handle distribution to the district stations. After that the tickets stopped.

BTW, we may have driven like maniacs, steered with our knees while we counted papers, filled out paperwork as we drove, but we never strapped bundles of papers to the hoods of our trucks.

[Hawkmoon]

...............

Still looking for the exception in the Motor Vehicle Code that says speed limits don't apply when the driver thinks it's safe to exceed the posted limit.

Not finding it.

[lupinus]

...............

Still looking for the exception in the Motor Vehicle Code that says speed limits don't apply when the driver thinks it's safe to exceed the posted limit.

Not finding it.

So you drive at the posted speed limit or below? Always? Never exceed it?

[Monkeyleg]

...............

Still looking for the exception in the Motor Vehicle Code that says speed limits don't apply when the driver thinks it's safe to exceed the posted limit.

Not finding it.

Like, duh! You're not going to find it. That's why I got a ticket.

Edited to add: also, it would have been perfectly safe to exceed the posted limit there, as the regular speed limit is 50 (the speed I was clocked at). It was posted 25 because it was a construction zone, but the only workers there were the two cops clocking cars for exceeding the posted speed limits in an area where there are construction workers.

[Hawkmoon]

So you drive at the posted speed limit or below? Always? Never exceed it?

Yeppers.

Best way to avoid speeding tickets is to not speed. I used to race on real race tracks -- I've seen how quickly things turn from fun to excrement, and the faster you're going the faster it happens.

[Pharmacology]

Saw a guy riding a harley today-


with his two pre-teen daughters clinging to his back

[Monkeyleg]

Saw a guy riding a harley today-


with his two pre-teen daughters clinging to his back

Definitely putting someone other than himself in harms way.

[Tallpine]

...............

Still looking for the exception in the Motor Vehicle Code that says speed limits don't apply when the driver thinks it's safe to exceed the posted limit.

Not finding it.

In Montana, emergency vehicles and volunteers responding to fires in POVs are authorized to drive up to 10mph over when conditions allow. 

[Monkeyleg]

In Montana, emergency vehicles and volunteers responding to fires in POVs are authorized to drive up to 10mph over when conditions allow.

I remember several years back when Montana eliminated the speed limits on a lot of highways. That was interesting.

[Pharmacology]

Definitely putting someone other than himself in harms way.

Those poor girls looked like they were gonna pop right off every time he hit a bump.

I slowed down, and once I was able to, I passed him with 30 yards of cushion between us.

[Tallpine]

I remember several years back when Montana eliminated the speed limits on a lot of highways. That was interesting.

It's not that way anymore and hasn't been for 10 years or so.   

Some supposed amateur racecar drive took a ticket all the way to the state supreme court - said "with his experience" that driving 120mph on a narrow 2-lane road was "reasonable and prudent."  The court ruled that the state could not enforce such a vague standard. 

Some dumb ass always has to ruin it for everyone else 

[Hawkmoon]

Give the guy credit ... he scored when he should have scored.

I've always figured I'd use that if I were ticketed for driving the speed limit in snow. The cops around here love to give out tickets for "too fast for conditions." My view is, if I'm on the road and not in a ditch, I wasn't going too fast for the conditions.

[Monkeyleg]

I've always figured I'd use that if I were ticketed for driving the speed limit in snow. The cops around here love to give out tickets for "too fast for conditions." My view is, if I'm on the road and not in a ditch, I wasn't going too fast for the conditions.

My last ticket was in Indiana in 1995. I was maybe an hour north of Indianapolis. It was snowing lightly. My assistant and I had left Milwaukee early that morning, and wanted to get at least to TN so we could be in Birmingham the next morning.

A trooper headed northbound clocked me at 85 in a 65. He pulled me over, then read me the riot act.

"You're doing 85 in this kind of weather?!!!"

I looked around. "What kind of weather?"

"This blizzard," he said. "The expressway is closed in Indianapolis because the plows can't keep up."

"I'm from Wisconsin," I said. "We get this amount of snow every day or two in the winter."

That didn't change his mind about the ticket. It didn't open the interstate in Indianapolis, either. We had to overnight it there when we could have easily kept driving several more hours.