Double standard BS

[VTEC_Inside]

Ontario

No one takes you seriously with those silly 100 km/h speed limits...

Which brings up another problem. NO ONE DRIVES 100kph!!! Most people drive 120kph and stick to it, some highway sections 130kph and 140kph are normal traffic flow speeds.

50kph over is in essence a 30kph over and in extremes a 10kph over law.

I'd have no problem with the 50kph over law if the speed limits were 120kph on the highways. I've seldom ever exceeded 170kph and would not find it outrageous to keep under THAT speed.

At 150kph I'm over at least twice a day when driving the RSX, it makes merging easier :P Other than that I'm content driving 120-130kph and seldom cruise any higher.

[Lazerous]

The problem is that the robot part is built right into this law. 50+ over = pretty much automatic tow regardless, hence this old fucker...

I'm sure the cop that ticketed him knew it would get publicity which is why he didn't knock it down right then and there.

Which leads to another problem, this law puts too much power in the hands of the police IMO. You are punished prior to being able to argue (stand trial) on your behalf. I believe thats how a similar BS law was overturned in Florida, or so I've heard.

That isn't entirely a problem. The robot part should be initially implemented to all, in my opinion. You know just to make an example.

However, you began to talk about the law itself and how you feel like it gives too much power to the police. This is when my stance on the argument switches over and I agree with you 103.5287%.

[TheIntrepid]

At 150kph I'm over at least twice a day when driving the RSX, it makes merging easier :P Other than that I'm content driving 120-130kph and seldom cruise any higher.

Yup. I was on the 403 yesterday and at one point I looked at my speedo and saw 155. Normally I'd have been like "Meh", but now that I know about this damn law I slowed down to 145.

[dazzleman]

Yup. I was on the 403 yesterday and at one point I looked at my speedo and saw 155. Normally I'd have been like "Meh", but now that I know about this damn law I slowed down to 145.

So in other words, the law's working as intended.

[dsred]

So in other words, the law's working as intended.

Yep....it's slowing people down for reasons unrelated to safety and common sense.

[dazzleman]

Yep....it's slowing people down for reasons unrelated to safety and common sense.

Not necessarily true.  And not everybody cares about safety, or has common sense.  So sometimes, other reasons will have to suffice, since those two things would never motivate them to do the right thing.

I'm not saying I agree with this particular law, but 50 km/hr above the speed limit is quite a bit over.

[VTEC_Inside]

Not necessarily true.  And not everybody cares about safety, or has common sense.  So sometimes, other reasons will have to suffice, since those two things would never motivate them to do the right thing.

I'm not saying I agree with this particular law, but 50 km/hr above the speed limit is quite a bit over.

See my post about the limit vs what people actually drive.

I've even had a cop tell me that he would have ignored me if I had been going 20 over, then he wrote me up for 35 over. Well, technically I was only going 15 over what he deemed a reasonable limit to be so should the ticket have been for 15 over?

Shit like that is what gets on my nerves. In that sense I like the 50 over law, no f'in around.

[dazzleman]

See my post about the limit vs what people actually drive.

I've even had a cop tell me that he would have ignored me if I had been going 20 over, then he wrote me up for 35 over. Well, technically I was only going 15 over what he deemed a reasonable limit to be so should the ticket have been for 15 over?

Shit like that is what gets on my nerves. In that sense I like the 50 over law, no f'in around.

I disagree with the philosophy of deliberately setting speed limits lower than reasonable on the assumption that people will always go a certain amount above it, so the lower the better.

I think this creates the types of situations that we've been talking about, and breeds disrespect for the law.

My town has a great fondness for 25 mph speed limits on through streets that aren't major highways.  It's simply painful to drive at that speed, and nobody does.

When I went on a ride-along with my local PD, they had the problem that when they got behind somebody, the person of course slowed down to the speed limit.  It used to drive them crazy because even they didn't want to drive that slowly.  In fairness, they rarely ticket people for going under 40 mph on those roads, but this ridiculously low speed limit is still there.

[hounddog]

Somehow I thought this discussion was going to be more...well...more.

[Lazerous]

Somehow I thought this discussion was going to be more...well...more.

What more do you want? I think we've just about discussed every angle of this law including substituting, where appropriate, race, gender, color, age, attire, ghetto-thug-life, preppy kids and everything in between.

[hounddog]

I thought it would be some blazing debate about cops getting and giving breaks to cops, or something of the such. 

Just dissapointed.

[Raza]

You really should get over your persecution complex.  It doesn't wear well on a 20-year-old who drives a Porsche.

[Northlands]

I think the problem here is that there is too much discretion given on a law that has such a severe penalty in comparison to its old version.

I guess no one wants to see an old man get a huge fine,  and lose his license, but why should it be easier to swallow if some 33 yr old has those things happen to him in very similar circumstances. http://www.wheels.ca/article/32623.

Speeding is speeding though. It's not the fact that they were speeding I have an issue with, its the implementation of punishing the offenders. When there's a case of two people obviously racing each other, then yeah, the law is doing exactly what its supposed to do. In these cases, there should be a variation of punishment when they are just driving fast alone. The penalty should not be the exact same as what two guys racing each other would get.

As for the old man's " I was trying to get to my doctor's appointment" excuse : Rubbish. Leave earlier. I'm sure every cop on this board has heard every excuse used in the human mind's capacity for storytelling. If he doesn't get hammered by the full extent of the punishment this law suggests, neither should some 33 yr old or 42 yr old , 22 yr old, 19 yr old with relatively clean driving records either. I believe in discretion, but it has to be applied in an intelligent manner.

[dazzleman]

I think the problem here is that there is too much discretion given on a law that has such a severe penalty in comparison to its old version.

I guess no one wants to see an old man get a huge fine,  and lose his license, but why should it be easier to swallow if some 33 yr old has those things happen to him in very similar circumstances. http://www.wheels.ca/article/32623.

Speeding is speeding though. It's not the fact that they were speeding I have an issue with, its the implementation of punishing the offenders. When there's a case of two people obviously racing each other, then yeah, the law is doing exactly what its supposed to do. In these cases, there should be a variation of punishment when they are just driving fast alone. The penalty should not be the exact same as what two guys racing each other would get.

As for the old man's " I was trying to get to my doctor's appointment" excuse : Rubbish. Leave earlier. I'm sure every cop on this board has heard every excuse used in the human mind's capacity for storytelling. If he doesn't get hammered by the full extent of the punishment this law suggests, neither should some 33 yr old or 42 yr old , 22 yr old, 19 yr old with relatively clean driving records either. I believe in discretion, but it has to be applied in an intelligent manner.

I have to translate this into mph to really understand it.

100 KM/hr = about 62 mph.  150 KM/hr = about 93 mph.

93 mph is pretty fast on a regular highway.  In Connecticut, the police can charge you with reckless driving for doing 85 mph or above.  So looked at from that angle, the law is not that revolutionary.

The issue as mentioned, though, is consistency of enforcement.  I found it surprising that 84% of the people nabbed under this law have been male.  I would have expected those nabbed to be greater than 50% male, maybe even up to about 65%, but I was surprised that it was 84%.

I wonder if there's a common incidence of police catching people at 150 km/hr+, but writing them down for less so they don't run afoul of this new law.

What I get from this article is that many people really don't particularly mind getting a ticket, and the prospect of one isn't going to meaningfully slow them down.  They are shocked and appalled at the stronger penalties when they do get busted.  This isn't necessarily wrong, as long as the bar is set high enough, and it is consistently enforced, with discretion used for good reason.

[saxonyron]

I thought it would be some blazing debate about cops getting and giving breaks to cops, or something of the such. 

Just dissapointed.

Just what are you implying Hounddog??  There is no corroboration of any of those scurrilous stories of cops giving breaks to other cops.  Are you kidding?  (The fact that my 4 cop brothers in law might disagree doesn't come into this equation at all, BTW!  )

[sparkplug]

They need to stop electronically limit cars to 90. Wreck at 90 and your dead anyway. Most of the time.