UPDATE: 2-0 on tickets

[Rupert]

That's a far cry from saying women shouldn't be allowed to drive as fast as men.

[2o6]

OMG THE CAR IS TOO FAST THE ESTROGEN IS MAKING ME FOCUS ON MY BREASTS IM GOING TO CRASH

[2o6]

You're really going to tell me you haven't noticed that female drivers are generally worse drivers than male drivers?

So we should have a sex-oriented speed limit?

[Laconian]

OMG THE CAR IS TOO FAST THE ESTROGEN IS MAKING ME FOCUS ON MY BREASTS IM GOING TO CRASH

[Rupert]

OMG THE CAR IS TOO FAST THE ESTROGEN IS MAKING ME FOCUS ON MY BREASTS IM GOING TO CRASH

Well, those titties do get in the way of the wheel...

[Raza]

55mph limits must just be locational.  All of ours except for some very urban areas such as Detroit and US-131 in Grand Rapids, MI, are all 70mph zones.  Or are you specifically talking about urban areas?

55mph was the national speed limit at one time, and many highways still have that.  Much of I95 in the northeast, for example has a 55mph speed limit.  My old 50+ mile stretch between my house and office was 55mph.  Actually, I think it's 55mph in all of Pennsylvania.  And much of the PA turnpike is 55mph as well, but partly because it's under money wasting construction quite a bit.

I would be OK with them being raised to 80, but, then you have people like most women and young drivers, which neither should be going that fast as a general rule, hitting speeds many would normally be uncomfortable with.  

Teenagers and women are already driving that fast.  I was doing 90-100 everywhere I could when I was a teenager.  Even still I brush three digits when the conditions permit.

I will say this, the one thing I noticed when speeds were changed from 55 to 70 here, the big fear was people would end up doing 80 as the norm but that never really panned out.  Most folks were, and still seem to be, happy just to be able to hit 70.

I imagine this would be the case, or possibly the opposite.  There's road in my old town that had a 45mph limit and was a standard 60-70mph road.  They raised the limit to 55mph (it's a four lane divided highway that's sort of between limited and unlimited access) and it seems like people started to drive slower after the limit raised.  Seems like 55mph is hard to reach most of the times.  Could be population change that I'm not accounting for, or gas prices, because it seems like everyone slowed down once the prices crept over $3.00.

I have often wondered if that happens to be a speed most are simply comfortable with or what might be the reason.  As a traffic enforcement I noticed that the % of speeders went down drastically from just about everyone to maybe 1:10.  ???

I believe this is the basis of the 85th percentile theory.  People drive at the speeds they are comfortable, mostly without regard to the speed limit.

[Raza]

Holy gay jesus, I didn't even catch that. 0_0

I decided to just leave it alone.

[Byteme]

You're really going to tell me you haven't noticed that female drivers are generally worse drivers than male drivers?

Actually it's just the oppposite.

http://www.sirc.org/publik/driving.pdf

Wanna' be a better driver?  Have a sex reassignment operation.   

[GoCougs]

As to the "safe" aspect of being a "good" driver, women are better than men. They didn't evolve to be (as) aggressive beings as men.

As to the "control" aspect of being a "good" driver, women are worse than men. They didn't evolve to be (as) visual, spacial beings as men.

[Rich]

I think without a speed limit... the speed most are comfortable with is what speed the rest of traffic is going. 

Without speed limits or other traffic I'd be cruising at about 50mph in the Miata and about 100mph in the Mustang.

[dazzleman]

As to the "safe" aspect of being a "good" driver, women are better than men. They didn't evolve to be (as) aggressive beings as men.

As to the "control" aspect of being a "good" driver, women are worse than men. They didn't evolve to be (as) visual, spacial beings as men.

I think this is true.

[Eye of the Tiger]

What if you're MtF, so you have the natural visual spacial abilities of a man, but you have transformed to act as a passive female?

[Laconian]

What if you're MtF, so you have the natural visual spacial abilities of a man, but you have transformed to act as a passive female?

The boobs would be a novelty and therefore distracting.

[Eye of the Tiger]

The boobs would be a novelty and therefore distracting.

Yeah, but... yeah.

[Byteme]

The boobs would be a novelty and therefore distracting.

Cleavage would be a great place to stick the cell phone when you weren't yakking away on it.   

[hounddog]

Actually it's just the oppposite.

http://www.sirc.org/publik/driving.pdf

Wanna' be a better driver?  Have a sex reassignment operation.   

This is not entirely representative of drivers in the US because it is based on drivers in the UK. 

I believe that we have been seeing a steady rise in women at fault crashes across the country for roughly a decade.  Remember, that men do crash more, however, they also drive far more miles thusly increasing the chances of being involved in crashes.

I was not, by the way, saying all women are poor drivers since I used the word "most".

However, how many women who are out there driving today do you believe would be safe drivers at 100 or 150mph?  We already know that young drivers cause the majority of crashes, that is not in dispute.  I was just saying that most women would not be safe drivers at high speeds. 

That a couple of you locked onto that one point is laughable. 

[hounddog]

55mph was the national speed limit at one time, and many highways still have that.  Much of I95 in the northeast, for example has a 55mph speed limit.  My old 50+ mile stretch between my house and office was 55mph.  Actually, I think it's 55mph in all of Pennsylvania.  And much of the PA turnpike is 55mph as well, but partly because it's under money wasting construction quite a bit.

Appreciate this BFO part of your post.

Teenagers and women are already driving that fast.  I was doing 90-100 everywhere I could when I was a teenager.  Even still I brush three digits when the conditions permit.

Teens, yes. 

But, I drive a fair bit and I rarely see women traveling more than maybe 10mph over the limit.  Yes, I realize it happens, but not terribly often because most are just uncomfortable with high speed. 

I believe this is the basis of the 85th percentile theory.  People drive at the speeds they are comfortable, mostly without regard to the speed limit.

That and 70ish is still a fairly economical speed for most cars, much faster then that and they start going backwards. 

[Byteme]

This is not entirely representative of drivers in the US because it is based on drivers in the UK. 

I believe that we have been seeing a steady rise in women at fault crashes across the country for roughly a decade.  Remember, that men do crash more, however, they also drive far more miles thusly increasing the chances of being involved in crashes.

I was not, by the way, saying all women are poor drivers since I used the word "most".

However, how many women who are out there driving today do you believe would be safe drivers at 100 or 150mph?  We already know that young drivers cause the majority of crashes, that is not in dispute.  I was just saying that most women would not be safe drivers at high speeds. 

That a couple of you locked onto that one point is laughable. 

I can still see my wife the first time she dove the E-type, shifting from third to fourth as she ran past 80 mph on the ramp entering the interstate between Dallas and Houston. She turned to me with a huge smile and exclaimed "I really like this car".  So, overall I can think of one woman who could probably outdrive half the guys on this forum.   

[hounddog]

Well, thats one....

[Byteme]

Well, thats one....

One's all I need.   

[Rupert]

This is not entirely representative of drivers in the US because it is based on drivers in the UK. 

I believe that we have been seeing a steady rise in women at fault crashes across the country for roughly a decade.  Remember, that men do crash more, however, they also drive far more miles thusly increasing the chances of being involved in crashes.

I was not, by the way, saying all women are poor drivers since I used the word "most".

However, how many women who are out there driving today do you believe would be safe drivers at 100 or 150mph?  We already know that young drivers cause the majority of crashes, that is not in dispute.  I was just saying that most women would not be safe drivers at high speeds. 

That a couple of you locked onto that one point is laughable. 

Wow dude. This is a ridiculous post. Usually you try to backtrack in these situations, but here you've pretty much gone for the nose dive. Even in the face of objective evidence, UK or not.

To answer your question, about as many as there are men who would be safe drivers at 100-150 mph, duh.

[hounddog]

Wow dude. This is a ridiculous post. Usually you try to backtrack in these situations, but here you've pretty much gone for the nose dive. Even in the face of objective evidence, UK or not.

To answer your question, about as many as there are men who would be safe drivers at 100-150 mph, duh.

What is ridiculous is that you and a couple others locked onto one single phrase out of an entire post. 

And, love your objectivity. 

Seek medical help immediately. 

[Rupert]

Your once phrase was ridiculous.

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^ Pretty much your post.

[TurboDan]

I don't think women are worse at driving, but I think females may be more apt to be "distracted drivers."

[Byteme]

I don't think women are worse at driving, but I think females may be more apt to be "distracted drivers."

I'd agree after thinking about the number of women I see every morning "putting on their face" while on the freeway.

[rohan]

Every person who gets a speeding ticket is a victim of an unjust system that favors revenue generation over actual traffic safety.

Not true.  Our department is utilizing a enforcement system which is not based on revenue generation but on safety- I'm not going to repost what we're doing because I already spent a good deal of time on it in another thread in the D&L section.  We're still working the kinks out but we're moving towards a safety minded proactive traffic enforcement model and we're adapting it for regular patrol as well.   Well that's the goal anyway.

[TurboDan]

Traffic enforcement is not a particularly lucrative exercise. Between salaries, OT, court staff, and ancillary costs such as vehicle maintenance and equipment, it's probably a money-loser. At least in my state, about 80 percent of the fines go to the state anyway. The local police department does not materially benefit from giving out moving violations whatsoever.

Revenue is generated through things like parking tickets and nonmoving violations. And even then, it's not THAT much.

[GoCougs]

I don't really buy, and have never really bought, the revenue generation motive for traffic enforcement either. The mechanics simply say there is no "profit" motive. The reality is more complicated and much harder to redress - misplaced political emphasis, overly powerful police unions and over-funded LE departments, being the chief reasons.

[bing_oh]

I don't really buy, and have never really bought, the revenue generation motive for traffic enforcement either. The mechanics simply say there is no "profit" motive. The reality is more complicated and much harder to redress - misplaced political emphasis, overly powerful police unions and over-funded LE departments, being the chief reasons.

What do police unions have to do with traffic enforcement? My union has absolutely zero say about how or when we do traffic enforcement. And the concept of "over-funded LE departments" in this day and age is a huge joke...we're in the longest stretch of LE budget cuts and layoffs in this country in recent memory. Many departments have been lucky to just keep minimum staffing levels in the last 5-7 years. You're talking out of your ass on this, Cougs.

[TurboDan]

What do police unions have to do with traffic enforcement? My union has absolutely zero say about how or when we do traffic enforcement. And the concept of "over-funded LE departments" in this day and age is a huge joke...we're in the longest stretch of LE budget cuts and layoffs in this country in recent memory. Many departments have been lucky to just keep minimum staffing levels in the last 5-7 years. You're talking out of your ass on this, Cougs.

It's a stretch, but the police unions have gotten a number of state legislatures to mandate a police officer and marked car do details at road jobs. Granted, it's under the guise of "safety" but the unions love it because they get a piece of the action from the OT payments (at least in NJ).