Got my cruise set...

[black roadster]

Anyone else notice a huge increase in speed patrol in your area? 75 in McKinney is crawling with all sorts of radar and laser speed enforcement. Got my cruise set everyday at 65mph in the middle or right lane on my commute to work.

[channelmaniac]

Anyone else notice a huge increase in speed patrol in your area? 75 in McKinney is crawling with all sorts of radar and laser speed enforcement. Got my cruise set everyday at 65mph in the middle or right lane on my commute to work.

Nope... they must've pulled 'em from my area... I-35 has been clear... so has 190...

[youplaboom]

yep!
I've seen lot of police cars in Richardson lately and I got caught by a laser for 'speeding' at 25 instead of 20 mph on a university campus
A friend of mine told me later to be carefull because the police was in need for money...

[altiain]

Nope... they must've pulled 'em from my area... I-35 has been clear... so has 190...

Yeah, I noticed there's actually been a few less of the jackboot tax collectors on 190 the past couple of weeks. I guess it's like fishing - if you overfish a stream, then you've got to go somewhere else for awhile to let the population of fish (or speeders, in this case) build back up.

[altiain]

A friend of mine told me later to be carefull because the police was in need for money...

They're always in need of money. Why do you think Plano and Richardson (and soon Denton) are following Garland's lead and adding red-light cameras? Why do you think the camera manufacturers will often donate the cameras to the cities... in exchange for a percentage of the revenue generated? Why does the yellow light duration often decrease at intersections where red light cameras are installed? I can guarantee you that it ain't to keep you and me safer form the people around us...

[black roadster]

Regarding those red light cameras, has anyone used any of those sprays or covers on their plate or know of any that work?

I don't make a habit of running red lights but I am all about fighting the "man". That's part of the reason for my Valentine 1. I rarely speed and if I do it's usually at the flow of traffic. I just like to know where the cops are. They tend to single out little sports cars like ours.

[onething]

What costs society $44,193 a minute? Check your speedometer as you drive home.

Exceeding the posted speed limit or driving too fast for conditions is one of the most prevalent factors contributing to traffic crashes. Speed is a factor in nearly one-third of all fatal crashes. Speed related crashes cost society more than $23 billion a year.

Crash severity increases with the speed of the vehicle at impact. Inversely, the effectiveness of restraint devices like air bags and safety belts, and vehicular construction features such as crumple zones and side member beams decline as impact speed increases.

The probability of death, disfigurement, or debilitating injury grows with higher speed at impact. Such consequences double for every 10 mph over 50 mph that a vehicle travels.

Many drivers don't consider this. They slow their speeds in residential areas, or when the weather turns bad. A few miles an hour over the posted speed limit is an acceptable risk. The excuse-- other drivers do it. They believe the worst that can happen to them is receive a speeding ticket.

Drivers like this are wrong. Maybe even dead wrong, because driving too fast for conditions or exceeding the posted speed limit can kill you.

Courtesy: NHTSB

[icepenguin66]

What costs society $44,193 a minute? Check your speedometer as you drive home.

Exceeding the posted speed limit or driving too fast for conditions is one of the most prevalent factors contributing to traffic crashes. Speed is a factor in nearly one-third of all fatal crashes. Speed related crashes cost society more than $23 billion a year.

Crash severity increases with the speed of the vehicle at impact. Inversely, the effectiveness of restraint devices like air bags and safety belts, and vehicular construction features such as crumple zones and side member beams decline as impact speed increases.

The probability of death, disfigurement, or debilitating injury grows with higher speed at impact. Such consequences double for every 10 mph over 50 mph that a vehicle travels.

Many drivers don't consider this. They slow their speeds in residential areas, or when the weather turns bad. A few miles an hour over the posted speed limit is an acceptable risk. The excuse-- other drivers do it. They believe the worst that can happen to them is receive a speeding ticket.

Drivers like this are wrong. Maybe even dead wrong, because driving too fast for conditions or exceeding the posted speed limit can kill you.

Courtesy: NHTSB

Very nice, from a biased source I may add. Nevermind that Germany has a lower per capita crash percentage on the Autobahn despite the speeds. Germany also has actual drivers ed and doesn't make it cheap either. I hate when people spin a topic. Address the real issue, which is driver intelligence and ability. In a residential area, yes there is no reason for high speed limits, but on an eight lane divided tollway you have to be joking. If there is no bad weather and no traffic backup on a large highway, then it is mearly a waist of time, money and gas to have low speed limits. I fully understand the 35 and 40 mph limits on Beltline at rush hour because of the traffic flow, but having a 50 mph limit on the North Tollway is absurd. When a non-English speaking illegal can get a driver's license you have a problem and its not with the speed limits. When I got my license, I paid $70 for the home taught kit then paid $15 to get my license. All I had to do was take a 20 question quiz at the DMV that a retard could pass and that was it, not even a driving test.

*Oh yeah, as for the speed related accidents. Even if the person at fault runs a red light and nails someone who is speading by only 5mph, the accident is recorded as a speed related accident.

[billccsi]

In most all of Europe, especially the UK & Germany. it is extremely difficult to get a driver's license, and in most caes you have to me 21 to do so. Sooo, you have more mature drivers with MUCH better training than 99% (strictly a guess) of the drivers in the good 'ol USA. Couple that with the cost associated with driving, (gas, training, cost of owning a car), and that keeps a LOT of yokels off the road

I'm convinced that if we had to complete the kind of training requiired there, Autobahn type roads would be practical here. But until the states require real skills to get a license, Hal is right... speed kills.

[icepenguin66]

Hal is right... speed kills.

meh, not exactly. Stupid drivers that speed kill, not the speeding! Kinda like the old gun saying eh?

[blackzx3_13]

Regarding the average American's driving skill, I think that there should be stricter rules concerning who gets a liscense and how long they have it. The requirements to drive should be tougher, and when you renew your liscense, I think you should have to retest (driving and written) every time. You don't pass, you don't drive.

[icepenguin66]

Ya, see the driving test is what is missing. A girlfriend in highschool passed and got her license but was soo bad and scared to drive that she wouldn't even let herself drive let alone her parents! But she got her license though.

[black roadster]

The reason our driving requirements are so low is because the majority of people think driving is a right, not a priveledge. If we (as in the government and society as a whole) started treating driving as a priveledge that one has to earn we would be much better off. If we toughened requirements as mentioned above, we would likely have a multitude of unlicensed drivers, driver's license black markets, and public outcry.

Invariably the idiot lawyers of the ACLU as well as every minority group would claim racial discrimination. Congressmen would shirk against their constituants and the car companies, steel workers, etc as fewer drivers mean fewer cars sold.

Sadly, it will never happen, at least in our lifetimes.

[channelmaniac]

The reason it works over there is that they have a great public transportation infrastructure. We don't have that here.

If you can't drive you are severely limited.

[Bolix]

Stupid drivers that speed kill, not the speeding! Kinda like the old gun saying eh?

I prefer Clarkson's outlook on the matter: Speeding doesn't kill, it's the sudden decrease in speed that gets ya.