4 ms·

There's a difference between legal and enforced. Going over the speed limit is not legal, but no officer will pull you over at +1, unless you piss them off for

by bdamm 5y ago

There's a difference between legal and enforced. Going over the speed limit is not legal, but no officer will pull you over at +1, unless you piss them off for some other reason, like by being black in a white community, for example. Racial biases aside, this is actually a really good thing. If every law was enforced perfectly today, everyone would be arrested, fined, or jailed tomorrow.

kelnos 5y ago
> There's a difference between legal and enforced. I think the parent knows that, and was being a bit tongue-in-cheek ;)
walrus01 5y ago
realistically everywhere on I-5 between Seattle and the border, people do +5 over, and often 10 over. I'd wager it's near impossible to get pulled over for doing 65 in the 60 zone north of Seattle, and when the speed limit changes to 70, for doing 75 in the 70 zone on cruise control. Usually when I have cruise control set to exactly 75 and I'm in the right lane, I'm very often passed by people who are probably doing 80 to 82 mph.
- gen220 5y ago
  In New York, the highway norm is 13-15 over for the "I want to go fast but not get a ticket" crowd. (i.e. 80 in a 65). AFAICT, the reason is that there's a big jump in the median fine if you're going >15mph over the speed limit vs <= 15mph over. Economically-speaking, it's not worth the police officer's time to pull somebody over who's "merely" 10 over, because somebody going 16+ over will appear in a few more minutes of waiting. Interestingly, the state website says the official "maximum" fine bump occurs at 11+ mph over. I suspect they wait for 15mph to rule out the plausible cover stories "I was only going that fast to overtake the other car" or "new here, I didn't realize the incline was so sharply downhill with nobody in front of me". You probably wouldn't get pulled over for going 80-82 in Washington (i.e. they people passing you probably have their cruise controls set for 80), but it might be less enjoyable of a drive. You have to pay more frequent, closer attention, because you're overtaking people more frequently. Ironically, California dives deep into "low fines for speeds under 15 over". the under-15-over fine base is a meager $35! For 16-25, it jumps to $70, which is still paltry.
  - mh- 5y ago
    Those California fees aren't correct. Or at least, don't include most of the fees assessed when you get a citation for speeding. It's more like $300-800 depending on how much you are over the limit. There's a bunch of extra fees they toss in. Googling it doesn't bring up any kind of official source, but several websites for law firms that corroborate that range.
  - throwaway48375 5y ago
    https://www.occourts.org/directory/collections/How_is_Your_Fine_Determined.pdf https://www.occourts.org/directory/collections/How_is_Your_F...

by bdamm 5y ago

kelnos 5y ago

> There's a difference between legal and enforced. I think the parent knows that, and was being a bit tongue-in-cheek ;)

walrus01 5y ago

realistically everywhere on I-5 between Seattle and the border, people do +5 over, and often 10 over. I'd wager it's near impossible to get pulled over for doing 65 in the 60 zone north of Seattle, and when the speed limit changes to 70, for doing 75 in the 70 zone on cruise control. Usually when I have cruise control set to exactly 75 and I'm in the right lane, I'm very often passed by people who are probably doing 80 to 82 mph.

gen220 5y ago
In New York, the highway norm is 13-15 over for the "I want to go fast but not get a ticket" crowd. (i.e. 80 in a 65). AFAICT, the reason is that there's a big jump in the median fine if you're going >15mph over the speed limit vs <= 15mph over. Economically-speaking, it's not worth the police officer's time to pull somebody over who's "merely" 10 over, because somebody going 16+ over will appear in a few more minutes of waiting. Interestingly, the state website says the official "maximum" fine bump occurs at 11+ mph over. I suspect they wait for 15mph to rule out the plausible cover stories "I was only going that fast to overtake the other car" or "new here, I didn't realize the incline was so sharply downhill with nobody in front of me". You probably wouldn't get pulled over for going 80-82 in Washington (i.e. they people passing you probably have their cruise controls set for 80), but it might be less enjoyable of a drive. You have to pay more frequent, closer attention, because you're overtaking people more frequently. Ironically, California dives deep into "low fines for speeds under 15 over". the under-15-over fine base is a meager $35! For 16-25, it jumps to $70, which is still paltry.
- mh- 5y ago
  Those California fees aren't correct. Or at least, don't include most of the fees assessed when you get a citation for speeding. It's more like $300-800 depending on how much you are over the limit. There's a bunch of extra fees they toss in. Googling it doesn't bring up any kind of official source, but several websites for law firms that corroborate that range.
- throwaway48375 5y ago
  https://www.occourts.org/directory/collections/How_is_Your_Fine_Determined.pdf https://www.occourts.org/directory/collections/How_is_Your_F...