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Comment by incision | Hacker News Reader

>'That's (supposedly) because a ticket for anything less than 10mph is simply not worth it for the cops.'

Depends on your cops.

I've witnessed tickets for 5 over (40 in a 45), 4 over (49 in a 45) and a stop, thankfully without a ticket for 1 over (31 in 30).

I'm given to thinking of it as a lottery. Someone is getting pulled over, today me, tomorrow someone else. I'm just glad I haven't had a case of 'marijuana smell' for 10 years or so.

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I'm also in the "drive a little under 10 over" camp, and I totally accept that once every 10 years (or whenever), I'm going to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and get a ticket for it. I'm OK with that. It's not fair, but it's well below the bar of meaningful injustice for me to really care about it all that much.

What's not fair about getting a speeding ticket when you are driving over the speed limit?

I believe it's implied that the limit itself is unfair.

A largely-randomized system where most participants aren't punished but some are singled out for large fines is pretty unfair.

Performing a bad action does not cause someone to forfeit all arguments as to fairness.

I think it more depends on your jurisdiction. When I'm driving somewhere new, I'll make sure I'm not going faster than average (even if that's below the speed limit). In places that I'm more familiar with, I'll do 9 over.

Where are these slower roads though? If I were a cop, I'd be much more likely to pull people over for speeding in more residential areas, which tend to have these sub-55 speed limits.

I agree. Going 10 over on the freeway/highway hardly matters for the most part because it's not like that 10 mph is the difference between being able to or not able to stop if something runs out in-front of your car, you're already going at least 65 mph anyway. It's a different situation if it's a smaller road or a side-street with lots of houses around. Going 25 vs. 35 could very well be the difference between being able to stop fast enough if a kid runs out on the road.

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