^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

While I truely hope no one was hurt, I do however feel good when I hear things like this.

Two words. That's all one need to know, except if you drive in DC or VA:

Valentine One

www.speedtrap.org
 

Globaliser, Thanks for a great suggestion! My huband and I both are going to take defensive driving together and enjoy the insurance discount it reaps. ^

Dan Burgess, Thanks for the encouragement! I did a little research about deferred adjudication (DA) in Texas despite what Ben Franklin said about a fool being his own lawyer. If I'm reading the criteria correctly, I wouldn't be a DA candidate because you cannot qualify for DA if you could first qualify for defensive driving (DD). Since I haven't taken DD during the past 12 months and my speed didn't equal/exceed 25 mph over the limit, I'm eligible to take DD to dismiss the ticket. I called the court clerk who told me to just send a letter requesting DD along with $90 fee and I would get a letter advising me I had 90 days to complete DD and get certificate back to the court. This is contrary to what www.speedtrap.org advocates but I honestly believe I could fight this all the way to the end and still have the same outcome given other's experiences and information contained in the speedtrap.org website. :rolleyes:

Ozzie, You're right, getting down to the brass tacks of it, I was speeding. I'll stop whining. I would appreciate your take after reading the speedtrap.org website and that of so many other FT posters here. As one poster noted earlier in his locale, fatalities are up while speeding went down so I believe much of this is just propaganda and paradigm. Oh yeah, let's not forget the cash cow for insurance companies and municipality coffers. ;)

No More Whining In The Fog, :D

mrspilot

Surprised?
 

Analise, Out of all the places I shouldn't have been surprised, it's Selma! :rolleyes: Our son got his first and only speeding ticket 7 years ago coming home from a family dinner party through Marion on a Sunday evening. Everyone who lives in Marion (it's a small town; 69 seniors in his graduating class) knows there's a cop running radar on Highway 78 every Sunday evening. Yet, where did he get his ticket? That was it! Now I have to confess getting one in Selma. My family and friends have been brutal: "Of all the places you should know...Selma."

Small Towns Everywhere In The Fog,

mrspilot

Credit where credit's due - I think that was percussionking's suggestion!It would be a great argument - if accidents caused by speeding only affected the driver. Unfortunately, they almost always don't, even in a single-occupant single-vehicle accident.

For example, what about the public costs of police attendance and attention and other publicly-funded costs like medical costs (in many countries)? What about the other adverse effects of an accident, like a simple traffic jam that builds up, leading to higher fuel costs, wasted time, missed appointments and general aggravation for those caught up in it through no fault of their own?

This makes the "immoral law" argument pretty pointless in the case of road traffic.

On the other hand, I'm all for the argument that petty or too-stringent laws about speeding are pointless in themselves because they don't actually promoting safety - or even degrade safety.

So do I, and we were nervous the entire rest of the way (our trip had just started).

Today it does give me a sense of satisfaction that the trooper wanted to get us so badly he broke a traffic rule or two himself to try to get us. I'll bet he had a lot of explaining to do ;).

In the town where my father lives, the police especially at night, hide behind bushes in church parking lots awaiting for someone to speed.

There's an article in this morning's WSJ about new tactics to catch speeders, such as cops with a speed gun posing as the homeless... :eek:

It's all about money... :mad:

Another arguement Against
 

there is the arguement that these revenue cops (as opposed to the highway patrol who clock you for some distance) hiding in bushes, behind parked cars, behind fences, posing as construction workers etc.. cause people to be looking out for the cops and therebye taking there attention off their driving.. all for someone doing ten miles over the speed limit and on a 55 mph zone.. that difference probably makes little headway in the way of safety.. I'd much rather have the cops do real cop work than collect additional taxes for the local coffers..

and as for the cop who got hit pulling out to give someone a ticket.. thats part of the risk he/she takes by doing this type of BS

I have no problem that it's all about money; let's face it, those of us who speed ARE breaking the law. If they can get revenue in a way which won't raise my local taxes, I'm all for it. And every time I've been stopped, I've been speeding. C'mon, I have to be honest about that. Now the question remains....what kinds of things have you done to get out of a ticket? I think I'll ask that in Omni.

In the US you are lucky, they need to pull you over for speeding, in Europe the cops just plant a camera/radar unit in the bushes and lie back in their care raking in the cash, like this:

http://www.tt-c.nl/fotos/fotorepo.php?welke=524

or this one:

http://www.tt-c.nl/fotos/fotorepo.php?welke=522

In some cases the police pulling someone over is dangerous in itself,more so then the actual speeding,lookie loo`s,

Actually, in this country it is. If you choose to not carry your own health insurance, then decide to wrap your car around a telephone pole, the rest of us have to pay to glue you back together.

Since we certainly can't pass a law to require people to take care of their own health insurance needs, I have no problem with speed limits, motorcycle helmet laws, seat belt laws, blood-alcohol limits for driving, etc.

The speed trap in Waldo, Florida is so bad that AAA bought a billboard to announce it to motorists approaching the city:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald...ws/6528905.htm