More on Texas' 85-mph speed limit

[krw]

"Wait a minute, I'm just about done with the text message."

[Harry K]

I fight the frustration on my current driving of being held up by a slow driver (i.e., one going a few miles slower than the normal 'flow speed'. Honest evalution is that instead of driving the normal 64, 65, I am stuck behind someone going 60. Since the normal trip is only 14 miles it really doesn't make one bit of difference but I still bitch about it :).

Hawrry K

[Harry K]

??? I suppose if you mean Rhode Island it is possible but I doubt it applies to more than a coiouple states. When I was dispatching I discovered that Texas has a very large amount of counties...as in over

300 (I forget the actual number. I also lived in the San Antonio and San Angelo areas for many years and one didn't drive very many miles in any direction before crossing a county border - usually marked by a liquor store when crossing from a dry to a wet county ;)

Harry K

[Harry K]

Yep, I read it backwards. I realized that right after I sent it.

Harry K

[Harry K]

I have never gotten an itemized bill listing travel _time_. When I was building a couple houses there were mileage charges for delivery of material but that was it. All others were billed as "service call" which was standard no matter what the mileage was, i.e., customer 5 miles away paid same fee as one 30 miles.

Harry K

[Harry K]

Exactly!!

Harry K

[gfretwell]

Brewster County Texas (~6100 sq/mi) is bigger than DC, Rhode Island, Delaware or Connecticut.

[Stormin Mormon]

Sounds like the one time I went out west, to visit Salt Lake City. Nebraska was like that. A town about ever 50 miles, and nothing but sand in between. Beautifully maintained asphalt roads in between.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

For most people who live in places with long drives it is just the time out of their lives that they want back. This may not make sense to people in the North East who have never driven much in the West. They can't even comprehend a place where towns are 50 miles apart and a whole lot of nothing in between.

[krw]

I think Clinton plays a saxophone.

[krw]

Drive left handed.

[krw]

A friend of my brothers was tagged at 170+ in his Shelby Cobra, on I74. As they explained to him, just after he rolled into his driveway, "you can outrun us, but you can't outrun our radio".

[krw]

Or you're driving 1000 miles. At 85MPH, it's a one day trip but too long at 70, so costs a hotel room and meals (and two days vacation). The national 55MPH speed limit was a _real_ drag.

[krw]

The only thing speed limits do is screw up that flow.

[Sky King]

If I gotta go 1000 mi I just rent the club's Mooney.

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per [e-mail]:

The most stressful driving I've ever encountered was in the state of Maryland when they were writing tickets for either 56 or 61 (I can't recall which). Traffic was backed up in these tight little peletons where everybody was afraid to stretch it out a little and, for reasons I don't claim to know, nobody slowed down to get out of the pack. It was *really* bad.

OTOH, since people started driving a lot faster around here (Southeastern Penna, Southern New Jersey), I find driving tb significantly less stressful than it was before bc now I can cruise the right lane for long periods of time at 70 without overtaking anybody - whereas before, it was matter of repeated lane changes to get past the people doing 60 in the right lane yet stay out of the way of people going beyond my comfort level in the left lane.

[Jim Elbrecht]

Zactly-- When we were guarding the nukes in Yorktown we were not allowed to go over 30[40?] MPH to catch the OOD. He could go as fast as he wanted-- and he was on our radio frequency. But we could still trap him in a few minutes.

Capt. Curtis was a slippery SOB-- but he kept us on our toes.

Jim

[gfretwell]

Yup, it is the same way I roll the windows down.

[gfretwell]

I lived there then. It was 61 in a 55. One point $40. The worst part was the average speed on the beltway was 66 or so and the cops (10-15 at a time) would just jump out in the road and pull cars over 30 at a time. The whole pack got a ticket. There would be a traffic jam with 30 cars on the median or the shoulder waiting for their ticket. Then when they were all gone, everyone got back to 66, rinse, repeat.

I knew a state cop at the time and he said they were all just burned out from sitting on the side of the road writing tickets. He said if he wanted to be a meter maid he would have gone for that job. He didn't like me calling him a "speeder maid" tho.

The court system was overloaded too because the policy was, if you showed up, it was half the fine and maybe no points. (1 point for a 2 point ticket). There was also a computer game you could play to delay your points from hitting the DMV record.

It was only for the revenue. They wanted you on the road.

[gfretwell]

Unless the cop can radio your tag number the rule "lose sight, no cite" applies. You go to court and ask to see the radio transcript. He can't just say stop that red Cobra and show up a few minutes later to write the ticket. If the cop that stopped you did not see and somehow measure your illegal speed, he can't write the ticket. The cop who arrived late knows he saw SOME red Cobra speeding but it is hard to prove it was your red Cobra. Well they can always write the ticket, but they can't win in court. All you have to say is it must have been another red Cobra.

If you do outrun a cop and get out of sight of them, stop as soon as you can, get out of the car and get a cup of coffee or something. Then you have provided reasonable doubt about who the driver was. Without a tag number, recorded on the radio log, they got nothing. That radio is a double edged sword.

[The Daring Dufas]

I asked a cop friend what would happen if everyone who received a traffic ticket showed up and plead "Not Guilty"? As expected, he said the whole system would come to a screeching halt. ^_^

TDD