Ohio's crazy new speeding rule

[aeromed202]

This topic is close to my work.

That is kind of what this all about, a lack of consistency at the enforcement and court level. There has to be an understanding that speedometers can be off as well as laser or radar guns. I have to believe that officers and judges are aware of those facts and will exercise due regard for them, and frankly I don't.

Look up Click and Clack, my source for laughs and insightful commentary. I happen to agree with Tommys observation that any driver, myself included, that routinely drives over the limit, even a little, conditions him/herself to disobey the law. Speed limits then become almost a joke. I mean really, what part of LIMIT don't we understand? The result is that we get indignant when we get caught.

And sadly I have almost never met a driver, alive or dead, that really had a need to drive as fast or as aggressively as they did to wind up in my bailywick.

 

[Mathias]

But that is the way it is for many states, Bill.
Officer discretion.

BTW Bill, if you get stopped in Germany, it's not uncommon for one officer to talk to you about the violation, while his partner is holding a submachine gun pointed straight at you.
I know all about that.
Thought I'd warn ya before you start packing up. :d

What an utter nonsense, where did you get that?
Actually the police is having a hard time getting their speed "tickets" shot with their hand-held radar guns validated by court simply because those things are considered unreliable.
In fact, if you get caught with one of those things the odds are with you.
Most courts these days over here say, if they don't have better proof than that leave the poor driver alone.
As for German police in commen and that gun swinging nonsense you just bothered to share with us, I don't think that you will find a more layed back and none-agressive officer anywhere in the world than here in Germany.

 

[tigisfat]

I'm not one for alarmist conspiracy theorists and ultra-political activism, but frankly, crazy stuff is happening. It may not be this, persay, but it seems that our rights are in jeopardy all over the US. That's the natural evolution of things when the quick fix for everything is a new law.

 

[Roadburner440]

I must say that I have never been pulled over unfairly. In fact I just got pulled over last week Friday cause I was being a donkeys rear end on the road... Regardless I do not think most police are out to target speeders (in Florida anyway). Have a 500+ horsepower vehicle I would of definately felt the wrath by now if that were the case. Only have issues when I act the fool though on public streets. Think I would of learned from the first time I got pulled over 3 years ago. Have a good week makes ya careless tho. Just kept my mouth shut, handed him my papers, didn't say squat. For some reason gave me a warning. I think eventually though there will be radar camera things on top of most light poles and such... Just seems to be the direction things are going.

 

[stiz]

But to give the ticket merely on visual estimate?

its actually pretty obviouse. I walk along a road that has a 60 limit and you can deffinitly tell whos speeding!

 

[magoo]

Voluntary tax.

I used to drive a '57 Volkswagen panel van. 1200 cc engine. Could not get a ticket no matter how hard I tried. Had to satisfy myself with blowing kisses at the lady cops as I trundled through the radar traps.

What heady days they were......

 

[Toastmaker]

Voluntary tax.

I used to drive a '57 Volkswagen panel van. 1200 cc engine. Could not get a ticket no matter how hard I tried. Had to satisfy myself with blowing kisses at the lady cops as I trundled through the radar traps.

What heady days they were......

Well, at least you TRIED, Magoo. . . you know, it's the thought that counts !!

 

[NoNewMessages]

Ohio? Brings back such "fond" memories.

For the truck driving community, Ohio held a special spot in their, er.. hearts. Many states have a split speed limit, one for commercial traffic (trucks) and a higher limit for non-commercial. Ohio was always very strong in their enforcement efforts against big rigs. For me, it would have required an act of congress to see my truck ever go over the (last I knew) 55mph limit. Unless you were a complete n00b, you always had your CB radio turned on when traveling the highways and byways of the Buckeye state to keep track of where the Bears were.

Reading an article in one of the trucking rags and my jaw about fell off, as it quoted some Lt. in the OSP who basically said "There's lots of leeway for the truckers. We won't start ticketing them until they got up around 60." That trooper needed to take a drug test!! Cause the real world didn't match his fantasy realm.

Other states have split speed limits, same as Ohio. But few had such an enforcement presence. Even Kalifornia has a 55mph limit for big trucks, but you needed to be 10% above that before you had to worry. I still appreciate that one CHP officer who helped ensure the accuracy of the speedometer on a truck I had just bought. My 60mph was the same as his 60mph.:ernae:

 

[Crusader]

As a graduate of the Ohio State Highway Patrol Radar school (many moons ago), a big part of the field training involved being able to visually gauge a vehicle's speed without benefit of radar. I was consistently able to hit it within 2 MPH of what the radar indicated.

That being said, I have no idea what current training standards are and hope this ruling is designed more for the Captain Obvious moments like a car going airborne (FS related!!!) after hitting a bump in a school zone, rather than as a revenue enhancer, but as I grow older and more suspicious, I have my doubts.

BTW- hardly ever wrote speed tickets other than for 20+ over and most useful result of taxpayer provided training was schooling an FHP trooper on what "shadowing" was after being erroneously pulled over in the Florida Keys for speeding.

So, Thank You State of Ohio Taxpayers. Your thousand dollar training saved me from a one hundred dollar fine, and maybe helped edumacate a Florida State Trooper. Maybe.

P.S. OSHP training also made me confident that I was only ticketing people that deserved it and not recording speeding mailboxes and the like.

Very well stated , I was a member of the OSP in 1970 and 71 . Graduated Dec 12 , 1969 and drew Post #27 , Gallipolis , Oh . Very little activity other than speed and DUI's . Like a fool , I quit and became a OTR truck driver . I still to this day havn't fiqured that one out . At the time with OSP I was making $4.71/hr and we had no overtime , just comp time . I rarely wrote a ticket unless it was 10 to15 mph and over . I believe our policy at the time was a minimum of 10 mph . Boy , we did write a hell of alot of 4511.19's

(DUI's) . At the time there were wall to wall bars and ginuine "Rednecks" all up and down the Ohio River . Brings back alot of memories .
Got very dangerous and the wife wasn't real happy about me being in law enforcement . But I truely wish I would have stayed with it . (especially for the retirement)

Rich

 

[HouseHobbit]

I am still amazed at all of this, Most all comments in the local paper have been very unhappy about this freedom given to the police..

I had to test it today, But I didn't find a Cop to test it all on..
So my 130 mph on my Harley was for nothing..
OH well. I'll test this another day..
LOL..

 

[PRB]

All this is about speeding tickets, right? All you people raising "heck" over this really need to come clean and just admit you think you ought to be able to speed whenever you feel like it (hey, I was late for work, I had to go fast!) If 5 knots over the limit is ok, why isn't 10? And if 10+ is ok, what's the big deal with 20? Seriously, has anyone in the history of automobiles ever gotten a speeding ticket who wasn't speeding? In reality, it's the other way around. Most speeders don't get tickets because there is no cop to catch 'em. I've been driving for over 20 years across most states in the US and have never gotten a speeding ticket ever. And yes, I do drive over the posted speed limit, I just don't go double the posted speed limit! And on military bases, you don't go 5 knots over the posted speed limit. 1+ may be pushing it!

 

[Willy]

The only speeding ticket I ever got was for 82 in a 55 and I deserved it. I was going down I-10 in Alabama and was actually slowing down when I was caught. Nothing for it but to man up and take it.

 

[tigisfat]

All this is about speeding tickets, right? All you people raising "heck" over this really need to come clean and just admit you think you ought to be able to speed whenever you feel like it (hey, I was late for work, I had to go fast!) If 5 knots over the limit is ok, why isn't 10? And if 10+ is ok, what's the big deal with 20? Seriously, has anyone in the history of automobiles ever gotten a speeding ticket who wasn't speeding? In reality, it's the other way around. Most speeders don't get tickets because there is no cop to catch 'em. I've been driving for over 20 years across most states in the US and have never gotten a speeding ticket ever. And yes, I do drive over the posted speed limit, I just don't go double the posted speed limit! And on military bases, you don't go 5 knots over the posted speed limit. 1+ may be pushing it!

I speed everywhere but base housing! You're telling me you've never let loose on the backroads of Ft Benning?

 

[redriver6]

Voluntary tax.

I used to drive a '57 Volkswagen panel van. 1200 cc engine. Could not get a ticket no matter how hard I tried. Had to satisfy myself with blowing kisses at the lady cops as I trundled through the radar traps.

What heady days they were......

 

[Gdavis101]

In my years of driving I have NEVER had a speeding ticket, parking ticket or otherwise, and when I used to write speeding tickets it was done mainly without radar and was always rather obvious that the driver was speeding. The only time we really ever used radar was when we had time to set up and watch an area for awhile, otherwise we were to busy handling other high priority crimes.

Just this morning I was going to work and there were two deputies coming the opposite direction with lights, sirens and as I pulled to the side of the road with the rest of the traffic to wait for the cops to go by the jack hole behind me, who was in a big red Ford Pickup, almost side swiped me because he wasn't paying attention and speeding. It truly amazes me how self involved people really are when they are behind the wheel and show how careless they can be.

 

[strykerpsg]

I speed everywhere but base housing! You're telling me you've never let loose on the backroads of Ft Benning?

Benning doesn't have a lot of good roads to run wide open on unless you're on the Alabama side, however Hood is fantastic for commuting between main post and north Ft Hood. The only thing to watch for at Hood is Open Range cattle versus Benning's trainee's everywhere.

 

[dominique]

The issue is not so much to drive below a limit (the letter of the law) than to drive at a safe speed in a certain environment (the spirit of the law). An analog estimate by a patrolman of good faith, in case a digital readout is not available, seems to me entirely justified. I may add that if you don't trust your local police in enforcing the law in a fair manner, you urgently need not to equip your local force with radarguns but to change the Chief...

For the record, I drive generally too fast and in my whole life, got one speeding ticket in France and three warnings in the US (TX, AZ and CA). HWPs seem more lenient than French gendarmes . The police state is still a bit far away.

 

[Thoe6969]

Yeh,sure is a racket,no way can they tell how fast your going just by looking.