I Can't Drive 65.....from NBC Washington

With the Henry Louis Gates arrest and this MD Ticket crap, this is shaping up to be a great week for police!

 

I think I have to agree. Even I know what Gates looks like , having seen him on TV on multiple ocaisions before his arrest. And I am 750 miles away from Cambridge, MA, and I am not african-american. The fact that a Cambridge cop did not recognise him is incredible. I can only charitable-to-the-cop conclusion is this was some sort of sub-concious racism. My actual opinion is not so charitable. The cop needs to go on desk duty for awhile and consider his actions...

 

Hi All,

As to the 58 in a 65 ticket, the only way its legitamite is if the guy had a line of cars behind him in the fast lane, and the lane to his right was moving at 65 mph, and there were no left exits for the next mile.

In which case, there is another cop who needs to go on desk duty to consider his actions.

 

Sdtundra, I'm sure you've heard about this, but maybe others around here haven't. Wonder if the MD troopers are related to those in OK?

 

The trooper probably issued a ticket for impeding the flow of traffic, but the 58 in a 65 spin makes it more newsworthy.

 

Last October, at 10:30 PM on a weekday evening, I was pulled over for driving 35 in a 45 zone, in the Prius. It was a 4-lane "suburban / moderate-commercial' type road with traffic lights about every 3/4 mile. I was in the right lane with little traffic, pulsing & gliding, maximizing my mpg's.

The officer did his nervous "stand-at-the-rear-of-the-perp's-front-door" in case I jumped out with a water pistol. Once my paperwork checked out, he said that my steady driving made him think that I might be drunk, and doing my best to stay within the lines (! ! !)No ticket, no hassle, but disturbing.

Apparently, "normal" driving is the erratic, switch-lanes, speed-up & short-stop method. But careful driving arouses suspicion.

 

Traffic tickets are not about enforcing the law, or about safety. They're a revenue generation method for the community that issues them. Because of the current depression revenues are down, so many communities are issuing any tickets they can come up with to fill the public coffers. There are enough laws on the books for them to find SOMETHING to generate revenue from every car they see, and some areas are attempting just that.

 

There may be more than this story.
If the traffic flow is really at 75 and driving at 58 in the fast lane, then it is impeding the traffic. In California, 65 mens 75+.

 

Driving the speed limit can never be impeding traffic. Cops can write bad tickets, but that doesn't mean that they will stand up to a true test in court, assuming someone wants to go through the time and expense of a trial and appeals.

Tom

 

You are correct that cops write bad ticket and they don't care. My friend is cited for "slow stop" at a stop sign, he paid the $350 fine even thought he knew he had stop completely but took off quickly because he is not going to take a day off to go to trial. It will cost him more.

No true, it can be impeding "flow" of traffic even it is at speed limit or similarly driving at speed limit in bad weather condition, you can be ticketed. That is why it is required to move to the slow lane if there is more then three cars behind you in the fast lane even you are at the speed limit.

 

You can be ticket for anything, which was my point about bad tickets. As for blocking traffic in the fast lane, by law you are required to drive in the right lane and only use the left lanes to pass. This is unrelated to speed, other than not being able to pass if you aren't going faster than the other traffic. It's not a function of speed, but a function of not passing.

Many states also have laws requiring a driver to pull over if more than X number of vehicles are stuck behind. I suspect none of these laws are enforceable if the vehicle in question is driving the speed limit, but to prove the law invalid would require a large investment in time and money.

Tom