4 ms·

> Taking someone's license away for getting caught doing 5 over a few too many times on the freeway where literally everyone is always doing 5 over and you are

by shlant 1y ago

> Taking someone's license away for getting caught doing 5 over a few too many times on the freeway where literally everyone is always doing 5 over and you are more of a danger by not going the speed of traffic doesn't in any way serve the public interest as far as I can tell. It's a death sentence for a victimless crime. What percentage of people who would be effected by this do you think match this description?

donatj 1y ago
I would imagine most. In my experience, laws intended to catch specific bad actors usually end up being enforced mostly against the easiest-to-catch mild offenders. For example: one of my neighbors speeds like an idiot through our neighborhood — easily doing 60 mph and often blowing right through the stop sign at the end of the block. He’s a real danger. The neighborhood complained to city hall. Their solution? They lowered the speed limit from 30 mph to 20 mph. It changed nothing. He still speeds. He still blows stop signs. He doesn’t get caught — there usually aren't any cops hanging around our sleepy end of town. Meanwhile, I have seen people get pulled over for doing the previously legal, entirely reasonable, 30 mph — which is still the limit for most of the city.
tmerc 1y ago
The example above is bad but not by much. In the parts of NY outside the city, we have 65mph roads (state max speed limit) between large areas and 55mph roads between smaller areas. Doing 10 over in both is common with speeds being 65 and 75 respectively. Doing 15 over in a 55 is safe in many areas that I have driven and is 70mph, which is a safe speed to most states. Now, at 71 mph, you officially trigger the 15+mph rule mentioned to be a super speeder. Based on anecdotal experience from numerous trips between NY and Ohio, I would estimate that minimum 1 in 5 cars are doing 80+ in a 65. So, at least 20% by my obviously flawed and biased observations. For an actual estimate, in 1988 during the national 55mph speed limit era, an observed 85% of drivers in NY were above the speed limit. For more context, I have paced many law enforcement vehicles (usually state troopers) doing 10 over with regular traffic.

by shlant 1y ago

donatj 1y ago

I would imagine most. In my experience, laws intended to catch specific bad actors usually end up being enforced mostly against the easiest-to-catch mild offenders. For example: one of my neighbors speeds like an idiot through our neighborhood — easily doing 60 mph and often blowing right through the stop sign at the end of the block. He’s a real danger. The neighborhood complained to city hall. Their solution? They lowered the speed limit from 30 mph to 20 mph. It changed nothing. He still speeds. He still blows stop signs. He doesn’t get caught — there usually aren't any cops hanging around our sleepy end of town. Meanwhile, I have seen people get pulled over for doing the previously legal, entirely reasonable, 30 mph — which is still the limit for most of the city.

tmerc 1y ago

The example above is bad but not by much. In the parts of NY outside the city, we have 65mph roads (state max speed limit) between large areas and 55mph roads between smaller areas. Doing 10 over in both is common with speeds being 65 and 75 respectively. Doing 15 over in a 55 is safe in many areas that I have driven and is 70mph, which is a safe speed to most states. Now, at 71 mph, you officially trigger the 15+mph rule mentioned to be a super speeder. Based on anecdotal experience from numerous trips between NY and Ohio, I would estimate that minimum 1 in 5 cars are doing 80+ in a 65. So, at least 20% by my obviously flawed and biased observations. For an actual estimate, in 1988 during the national 55mph speed limit era, an observed 85% of drivers in NY were above the speed limit. For more context, I have paced many law enforcement vehicles (usually state troopers) doing 10 over with regular traffic.