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Comment by alain94040 | Hacker News Reader

Can we agree to only fight the tickets that we don't deserve?

I suppose. But also can we agree to raise the ridiculous speed limits and actually enforce them? 55 and 65 mph is too low and nobody drives that slow. See https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1npuah/til_t...

In my mind if you are doing 110 in a 65, sure, you get a ticket. But I distinctly remember being in a car driving through Virginia (speed limit 70 mph) in a large number of cars all following each other all doing 72-75. It was a straight bit of road, everyone was mostly in the right lane (sign said to keep right unless to pass). Out of nowhere a state trooper pulls up on the left, passes, gets in front of our car and pulls over the guy in front of us. I should mention that the car in front of us was from out of state. Now, it is possible that that guy was getting pulled over for something other than speeding, but as anyone that's driven through VA can tell you, the state troopers there are very eager to give out speeding tickets, so chances are it was for speeding. Why did that guy arbitrarily get pulled over instead of our car, or any of the two dozen around us, all doing the same speed? Probably because it was a nice car with an out of state license plate. 75 mph is not an unreasonable speed on a straight road during daytime with good visibility and weather. It's basically left to the police to determine what the real speed limit is, which seems wrong.

</rant>

Virginia is different than most states.

http://jalopnik.com/what-every-driver-should-know-about-spee...

Right. The real speed limit in VA is close to 80 mph (though you can get pulled over for doing less, presumably if "driving while black" [1]). So why aren't there signs that read "SPEED LIMIT 80"? Why is it up to the officer's discretion to decide if today it's 80, 78, 75, etc.? (I know why: federal government, funding, etc.)

I am in no way against speed limits being enforced, I just don't like the idea of them being set by the officer's mood and zeal on any given day. I'd rather know what the speed limit really is rather than trying to guess it.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_While_Black

Federal funding is no longer tied to speed enforcement. Highway speed limits are set artificially low because it's convenient and profitable for the police. (Given that statistics do not reliably support the usual contention that higher speed limits are more dangerous, the burden of proof falls on those who would argue otherwise.)

Maybe you're not speeding, but rest assured, there's some other attribute of your driving or your car's condition that will allow law enforcement to pull you over if they want. This isn't a coincidence. For better or worse, the police will tell you that they catch a lot of genuine bad actors this way.

It's not that they want to be able to stop everyone... it's that they want to be able to stop anyone.

Near me in VA there is a highway with two signs quite close together. One says "Speed Limit 55" and the other says (I won't have the words exactly right), "Trucks slower than 55mph must stay in right lane." The combination of signs seems to acknowledge that most traffic is exceeding the speed limit.

I've seen this. You don't want some log truck lumbering along at 53 mph in the center or left lane. Also it would be very surprising to be hassled for going 60 mph here.

They can, and do, issue citations for not obeying road signs like this, and I am glad for it.

That's exactly the issue. You should not be surprised when you are hassled. Currently, you can be pulled over for doing 59 in a 55. As far as I can tell nobody does 55, unless it is in a 45. You shouldn't have to guess what is acceptable in each county or town. You should know what the real speed limit is.

Is there a 4 mph "forgiveness" in the law somewhere? I thought that technically it was an infraction to travel 56 in a 55, which is equally ridiculous as being ticketed for going 59 in the same spot.

I own a car that encourages the driver to go fast (think Autobahn speeds) with its power and ride comfort. I am still going slower than 60 in the 55 zones.

It's not unreasonable no. So why not stick to the speed limit and actually lobby your local government to change the limits.

</rant>

I obey all speed limits in part because if speed limits can be written on signs without meaning anything, then they will become more and more absurd. If I'm in a neighborhood where the posted limit is 25 but the residents drive 35, they're all going to have to face the contradiction as I pass though. And I do pull over sometimes because I'm pretty sure slow traffic ought to yield.

This is such an unreasonable standard. There is literally no action I could take that would change the law beyond spending the vast majority of my time on it. I can't do this. Expecting people to drive 55 on an 8 lane fucking highway is insane. You support this is more insane. Stop.

I live in Virginia and I find it difficult to believe that a driver was pulled over for traveling 75 mph in a 70 mph zone. You usually have a 10% or 10 mph buffer between the speed limit and the cop being grassed enough to think that you are worth the trouble. They have plenty of other things to issue tickets for, and they are also engaging in 'profiling' in the hope of finding drugs or money which means more cash or a nice car for their department.

Instead of looking at the law as it limits your freedom to make a judgment call about how you operate the car, look at it instead as supporting your freedom to not have yourself and your family killed on the highway.

You're spending 2-3 hours driving across the state, so why is the 15 minutes you'd save going 75 mph so important? Just set your cruise at 70: I can almost guarantee that you won't get a ticket, and if you do, you will be able to get a speedometer calibration certificate for court.

There are some times where your guilt and the law are ambiguous, and so who's to say that you do or don't deserve a ticket? Also, you're welcome to pay your tickets and not fight them, often the cost of hiring a lawyer is more than the fine anyway.

If you're asking the kind of people who have no consideration for others, and thus break parking and traffic laws, to be considerate to others, I think you're going to be sorely disappointed.

No. We can't agree. Accidents for instance happen, and even if you're at fault it should be your choice to get a lawyer to help reduce your costs.

Of course. The idea is for clients to be able to input their ticket info and immediately see the legal fee of the available law firm(s) to fight the ticket. The user may choose to research the law firm(s) further or hire the law firm, but it is always the decision of the user whether or not to hire a law firm to fight their ticket.

Why would you hire a firm to fight a ticket?

Send a letter and you'll get it auto-reduced, except if you want to get out of the ticket.

agreed

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