http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3222360 Some motorists are allowed to go 10 mph above the limit before they are pulled over Associated Press WASHINGTON - Authorities patrolling U.S. highways tend to give motorists a cushion of up to 10 miles per hour above the speed limit before pulling them over, says a survey by a group of state traffic safety officials. This practice creates an unsafe comfort level at high speeds and is a potential safety hazard, according to the report being released today by the Governors Highway Safety Association. The group found that 42 states allow drivers to regularly exceed the speed limit before they are stopped. "This cushion truly exists across this country and in some cases is more than 10 mph above posted limits,'' said Jim Champagne, the association's chairman. "Law enforcement needs to be given the political will to enforce speed limits and the public must get the message that speeding will not be tolerated,'' said Champagne, who also is executive director of the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission. Since 1994, 38 states have increased their speed limit, the report said. Congress in 1995 allowed states to raise limits above 55 mph in urban areas and 65 mph on rural roads. A study released in 1999 by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimated an increase in deaths on interstates and freeways of about 15 percent in the 24 states that had raised their speed limit in late 1995 and 1996. The survey's release comes ahead of the association's forum this week on ways to address speeding. The goal is to make recommendations for states to consider. ":As a country, if we are going to reduce the carnage on our roadways, speeding must be given the same level of attention that has been given to occupant protection and impaired driving,'' Champagne said. States reported that highway patrol officers and other authorities said enforcing traffic laws has become difficult because of uncertainty in highway safety budgets, the focus on homeland security and a shortage of officers due to retirements. Nineteen states lack a statewide database to log speed-related citation data, the survey found. That makes it hard for policy-makers to reach conclusions about the effectiveness of their enforcement efforts. The survey said 10 states have some kind of aggressive driving law: Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Nevada, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Utah and Virginia.
I think cars are the most dangerous invention, ever, that mankind has come up with. More innocent lives are lost to car accidents than probably any other cause. (This might get this topic moved to D&D)..... If you really want to prevent innocent people from dying, don't worry about Gun Control, instead insist on harsher punishments for people who drive irresponsibly. How many people here know someone or have themselves been involved in a car accident (to be fair don't count "professional" drivers like race car drivers or even cops or the UPS guy)? Probably everyone here. How many people know someone who's been seriously hurt or killed in a car accident. Probably a good majority. Now, how many of you here know someone who's been seriously hurt or killed by a gun? Once again, to be fair don't count "professional" gun users like cops or soldiers - people who intentionally put themselves in positions to get shot at. Probaby not near as many people as have been involved in road accidents. For example. I know only one person who's been shot (he interupted a car theft). However, EVERYONE I know has been in a car accident and my father-in-law was killed in a car accident. A co-worker of mine's sister was killed in a car accident. My wife was injured and had to go to the hospital two weeks before our wedding because someone ran a red light and hit her car. And to be egalitarian about it, instead of fines for bad driving, how about 24-hours in jail. That way even the "rich" pay a significant price.
Is this news? I thought we all went about 8-9 over the speed limit most of the time. I thought there was just an official speed limit, and an unofficial one. (except for in this little podunk town I live in now, where everyone actually uses the one that's posted.) On the next topic - in terms of people I know personally who have died young (sorry if this sounds too creepy), I can think of four right now where a car was involved. Most of them were the one driving and did something unwise and ended up paying for it. Not to say that the accident is always the fault of the person who gets hurt the worst, but it just happens to be in the cases of the people I've known. The other one involved some horseplay and a girl who was sitting on top of a moving car and fell off and hit her head exactly the wrong way. There was one who was killed by a gun, and it was an accident (his friend was messing around with it). Lots of things can be dangerous if you don't use common sense.
Yeah, I thought it was pretty much a given that there is a 10mph grace. I really don't think driving 45 in a 35 is death defying speed. Or 55 in a 45. Or 65 in a 55. Now, 80 in a 70 might be pushing it.
Why do they sell consumer vehicles that go so damn fast if they don't want us driving that fast? Put a governer on that caps the max speed at 70.
that's how i do it. i don't go more than 5 over unless i'm on the highway or the general flow of traffic makes it comfortable to go more than 5 over (which isn't often). i figure 45 in a 35 could very easily get me pulled over while 80 in a 70 probably won't.
