When I was in graduate school, one of my roommates asserted that he planned to go through life without getting a speeding ticket. I met him a couple of months ago, and I asked him how he was doing on that plan. He had got one speeding ticket! Amazingly, even though I had never made my intentions public, I also planned to go through life without getting a parking ticket. Yet, despite my best intentions, I too got a ticket a few years ago.
I know what you are thinking. Clearly, both my friend and I should have been more careful sticking to the posted signs on the limits. And for the most part, we do. The trouble is that there is no well-defined boundary about where we are breaking the law. It is more like a gray area. If the posted speed limit is 60 mph, then the boundary lies at 60mph. If you go faster than 60mph, you are speeding and must get a parking ticket. The trouble is that most of the traffic travels at a speed greater than 60 (typically somewhere between 65 and 70mph – the “accepted” 5-10mph above the limit), making it an illegal-but-acceptable zone of 5-10mph.
This zone exists for a variety of reasons. First and foremost is the technicality of the margin of error of speed checking guns or various other devices, the calibration errors. etc. Smart lawyers try to get their clients off based on such technicalities. So, the police try to catch people outside this range of error. But this is not always so. Sometimes, the cops will catch you even if you are going only 4 mph above the posted limit (say 64 in a 60 zone). Why this discrepancy?
One way to deal with this is to always follow the posted speed limit. If the general traffic is going faster, then not only will you be the slowest car on the road, but you might also be holding up some traffic, thereby causing a more potentially dangerous situation. Furthermore, if you were following the posted limit, why should you be the one to be punished by having to spend more time for the same task that everyone else does in a shorter period of time? Law-abiding citizens should be rewarded, and not disadvantaged. If someone is traveling above the posted limit, it is the duty of the police officer in charge to issue a ticket. Every time the police officer neglects to perform his duty, he is abetting a misdoing.
I have been asking all my friends who have been driving for more than 5 years, and so far, every single one has got a speeding ticket. Some people are habitual speeders, but even the more cautious, gentler drivers have managed to be caught speeding at least once.
Do you know anyone who has been driving for a long time without ever getting a speeding ticket? Please add it in the comments, I would love to know.
Information Overload 