Don’t @ me Libertarians, but I’m generally a big fan of laws. Yes, yes, there are plenty of dumb ones on the books, but the good laws are pretty great. I think it’s super that breaking into my house and taking all my stuff is 100% illegal, despite the best efforts of the powerful Break Into Houses And Take People’s Stuff lobby. Laws that prevent corporations from lying to us and/or harming consumers with lax safety are all examples of top-notch legislation for me, even if they don’t always work.
I also feel our traffic laws are downright reasonable, even if I do break my fair share of them on the regular. Speed limits come to mind first and foremost, and I’m sure none of us would say we scrupulously obey the speed limit everywhere and at all times. Technically – and I’m not saying you should make this argument to a police officer – breaking the speed limit is a binary thing. You are either going the speed limit (or below) and abiding the law, or you’re exceeding it and have broken it. But it’s definitely not a binary thing. True, whether you’re cruising a 75 mph highway at 80 mph or 180 mph, you have broken the law. But at 180 mph, you’ve broken it a lot more. That 75 mph speed may not keep everyone at 75, but it should hold most people to around 85. We’re just bending the law here.
What laws are you bending? I hold few sacred myself. I’m never down for anything unsafe, of course, and I’ve never done anything illegal solely to express contempt for the tyranny of lines painted on roads, or the authority of traffic cones, those smug orange pricks. And you should absolutely NOT take any of what follows as encouragement to do the same, or an endorsement that doing so is OK. However …
“No Right On Red”? Yeah, that’s “look carefully before you go right on red” to me. Related: if I’m the only car on the road and I’m inexplicably sitting at a red light for way too long, I’m just gonna go. Same goes for those highway turnarounds that are for Law Enforcement Only. It’s two in the morning, I’m lost AF, the next exit is in infinity miles, and I’m low on gas, so yeah, I’m turning around.
Spacer
I will say though, I’m a real stickler for keeping my vehicle safe for highway travel. Outside mirrors, full set of functioning gauges, all that. It’s important.
Your turn: Second To The Speed Limit, What Traffic Laws Do You Most Frequently, Uh, Bend?
Topshot: Trains, Planes, And Automobiles/Paramount Pictures
Technically – and I’m not saying you should make this argument to a police officer – breaking the speed limit is a binary thing. You are either going the speed limit (or below) and abiding the law, or you’re exceeding it and have broken it. But it’s definitely not a binary thing. True, whether you’re cruising a 75 mph highway at 80 mph or 180 mph, you have broken the law. But at 180 mph, you’ve broken it a lot more. That 75 mph speed may not keep everyone at 75, but it should hold most people to around 85. We’re just bending the law here.
Nope. Do either 80 or 180 in a zone posted for 75 and you’ve broken the law. No bending. If you have proof otherwise please show it here.
Its up to the LEO who observes your violation and perhaps the local courts to decide what to do about it. It also matters greatly if you hit someone while speeding and if anyone gets hurt.
In some states it’s an infraction up to a point. In others its a criminal offense regardless of how far over.
Doing 80 in a 75 might get you a speeding charge and a low fine and/or traffic school. But that’s just the beginning. Go faster and the fines and penalties go up. Go up enough (e.g 100+) and it may be considered reckless driving. If you hit and seriously hurt someone at those speeds you may get reckless endangerment and a felony instead. At 180 I’m pretty sure you’re spending the night in jail, unless you crash in which case you are probably dead.
There is only one legal situation that I am aware of in which very brief burst of speeding is legally allowed and that is to pass someone traveling just under the speed limit and only if the excess speed is necessary for safety. Not all states allow this and no state permits the passing of someone traveling at the speed limit for any reason.
Its also worth noting the posted speed limit only applies in ideal conditions. If conditions are less than ideal a prime facie or basic “drive at a speed that is reasonable and prudent under the circumstances” speed limit applies which may be more open to interpretation. If that is the case any speed you go must be under the posted speed limit.
> Doing 80 in a 75 might get you a speeding charge and a low fine and/or traffic school. But that’s just the beginning. Go faster and the fines and penalties go up. Go up enough (e.g 100+) and it may be considered reckless driving. If you hit and seriously hurt someone at those speeds you may get reckless endangerment and a felony instead. At 180 I’m pretty sure you’re spending the night in jail, unless you crash in which case you are probably dead.
That’s the point Peter is making when he said bend vs break the law. Yeah, technically, you’re breaking the law, not bending it, but everybody understands that.
In the case of the absolute speed limit there is no “bending”. There is a hard, quantifiable cutoff. It is binary: you are either in violation or in compliance.
Prime facie and some basic speed limits are more subjective so those are subject to “bending”.
Car or bike, a lot of times I’m having more fun than is legal.
I’ve been told I drive like a video game, I don’t think that’s true.
Sometimes I even surprise myself with my level of disregard for speed limits.
I not planning to hit other drivers, but then again who is?
I’m a card carrying member of the No Front Plates and Tinted Windows club.
Come at me.
Two of us!
Try that in DuPage County,Illinois and see what happens!lol
I bend a lot of rules, but no front plates is asking to be pulled over. Caveat: I learned that here in Old Dominion front plates are not mandatory if the tags are Antique Vehicle Tags. However, if they are regular tags ON an antique vehicle one still has to be on the front.
Examples: 86 4Runner: Antique tags, no inspection needed. 83 SL 380: Regular tags, inspection needed though they never kvetch about the tint. 68 Lotus 7(replica): Antique tags, no inspection. Also zero glass to tint.
Front plate? What’s that? -a Kansan.
I am near enough to MO that I understand (grew up on that side of the border). But, I see so many MO cars without one, that I wonder if the cops even bother, since they assume it’s a KS car?
Me too, but I live in Florida so I’m legal.
All of them
Serious, if I am being honest, I break all the traffic laws at one point or another. BUT, only when alone. As in, by myself in the car, empty or sparse roads, and not putting other peoples safety at risk.
Right at reds? YUP, I see the cops do it all the time in my city.
Stop signs? The ones with the white border are optional.
Speeding? PFFT
Taking the absolute shortest path on an empty road? Abso-freakin-lutely
All that with the family present or other people around, nope. At least, not in any way that is not safe. I mean, come on.
My city does almost no traffic enforcement…. Local streets are basically autobahns. I try to keep my speed to no more than 20 over (seriously) in good, dry conditions. However, all the other stuff I follow to a T. I also religiously use my turn signals because I’m not a savage.
Sometimes, on two lane highways, I start my passing maneuver before the double yellow lines end.
Swerving into the oncoming lane to avoid the same damn pothole every damn day. It’s been there over 20 years (literally). I gets a half-ass patch about every 5 years. If someone is approaching the other way, I will stop and wait for them to pass. Fuck that hole.
No question- speed limits. My cars accelerate, handle and brake well. It feels like crawling when I go the speed limit on some divided parkways with a limit of 35-40.
Bonus response – I wish they would enforce the slower traffic keep right or ticket those who camp in the left lane.
My fiefdom has a lot of idle sheriffs just waiting to ticket violators, and I don’t get out of the town much. That is the easiest way to get a ticket ’round these parts, along with U-turning at unreasonable No U-Turn signs. I mean, they put them there to get you. They? Who are “They”? Them!
So, if I’m going to “bend” a law, I’m going to make sure I don’t get caught, and that it is not “unsafe.” Also, I took a bus driving test, so fully stopping at every stop sign is stuck in my brain.
So, recently, I was on a highway doing 90 (in a 65). Nobody else out there except the ones doing 80. No, not in a bus.
Oh, and when that yellow curve speed sign says “25,” I’ll try to take it at 50.
When I was a teen-ish, we used to try to do double the yellow curve sign. Would be easier with todays cars.
I run reds on my motorcycles, but only at lights that don’t trigger by the presence of a motorcycle. Of course that means only when traffic is so light that there aren’t other cars around to trigger the light for me.
I believe that is legal here in TN.
If I’m on a divided highway in the middle of the night, and there’s no other cars around, I will drive in the middle of the road, along the dash line. It’s entertaining because it is sort of taboo. Also, I will change lanes to take the inside lane on a curve, back and forth if the road is curvy, but only if there is no traffic. I also speed at 69MPH in a 65 zone, and 76MPH in a 70 zone… because freedom.
Nobody has mentioned the Planes, Trains & Automobiles clip, so I’ll just say thanks for the nostalgia. The gauges are melted, but the radio is clear as a bell!
Also, I always follow all the laws, what is all this crazy talk.
Only 1 of my 3 cars has a front license plate.
We got a real outlaw here, folks! /s
I was trying to think of anything more glamorous, but it’s gotta be speeding, who am I kidding? Also the tickets don’t lie… Yeah, if I find myself alone in a car driving along a deserted, nicely paved stretch of road, in ideal weather and visibility, I will put the pedal to the metal. The other day I took the Renault 4 on the highway after some fixes and inspection, and topped out at 135km/h according to google maps in a couple favourable sectors (ie. slightly downhill), and I mean, have you guys ever been in Renault 4 rocketing through the highway at 135km/h? It’s positively bananas. Sure, I was getting passed by all the BMWs doing 150+, but I wasn’t the one looking bored behind the wheel.
I remember a day I was speeding in my Citroën AX (not much, ~100+km/h) and I got passed by a Traction Avant. Definitely not boring.
I want one since that day
> have you guys ever been in Renault 4 rocketing through the highway at 135km/h?
I have a hard time visualizing how a 4L can reach that speed, much less maintain it.
It won’t go over 120km/h on a flat stretch of road, and it’ll slow to a crawl going uphill, but if I maintain 120 on the flats and don’t lift the foot off the gas once it starts to go downhill, it apparently can get there (twice in one trip). Funniest thing was the speedometer pointing to over 150.
Incredible. I rode in a Dyane that reached about 110 under the same conditions. It made my teeth fall out.
Yeah, I’d say at about 110 is when things start to change with the Renault 4 – it maintains 100 just fine and the ride quality is very decent at that speed. At 110 is when everything starts vibrating, and above that it just gets progressively more terrifying.
I forgot to mention one excellent condition I was blessed with when I took the 4 on the highway: tailwind! Had I tried this against mild headwinds, I’m not sure I would’ve broken 120.
It’s all a bit vehicle dependent for me. I gently roll through most stop signs in my Lancia when possible. I do generally stop in most of my other cars, but c’mon, she’s a Lancia, you can’t expect me to obey laws in that! As for speed limits, there is a street very close to my house with an absolutely asinine 25mph speed limit and I break it simply because I refuse to accept the idiocy.
It’s a safety thing- stop in the Lancia and there’s no guarantee you’ll get going again…
Exactly this????
I bend laws in proportion to the weight of the vehicle I’m driving. Mom’s XC60 T8? Every stop sign, complete stop. My sub-15lb bicycle? Slow to check for pedestrians.
“What Traffic Laws Do You Most Frequently, Uh, Bend?”
How about all of them.
I’m that sketchy looking guy in a clapped out Altima.
I’ve got trash bags for windows… what do you want from me?
“What Traffic Signposts Do You Most Frequently, Uh, Bend?”
Speed, either to get my transmission to go into a higher gear or just to keep with traffic.
For traffic, just talk to anyone that drives on I81. NYS limit is 65, but you can “safely” go 75 or so because that’s how traffic flows (said by more than a few state troopers).
For the gear thing, it’s about driving at lower rpms for better fuel economy. Probably doesn’t matter, but I’d rather keep rpm’s low.
For the officer reading this. I obey every single traffic law. And I help old ladies cross the street!
I’m five miles outside of town, with half a dozen stop signs between me and the highway. I don’t think I’ve come to a complete stop at any of them since we moved here, unless there has actually been another car present.
As I’ve gotten older (and law enforcement more lax), I’m usually guilty of the ‘California Stop’ also when no other traffic present. Saves gas right?
Speeding, but never in a school zone or residential street. And the occasional stop sign if no one is near. And maybe a pointless red light on an empty road. And the incidental No U-Turn. And stretching a passing zone to get by a garbage truck. And I have violated the odd gore or two…
But I do not tailgate and I use my turn signal so that makes me an excellent and conscientious driver, right?
Absolutely!
Cross the double yellow when I know the road by heart and have enough visibility to do so safely. Also, overtaking in said conditions. It requires knowing the road, knowing your car and knowing yourself. Also, taking extra care on tourists’ season. Those suck.
When on my motorcycle, I ride by my own set of rules to keep me alive.
I drive my GT350 a lot more sane than the typical Mustang owner, but…
Two wheeled vehicles definitely have me bending a lot of laws to stay alive. Up to and including “running a red to get away from homicidal drivers” (a real thing that actually happened in NYC last fall).
Left on red, from a one way street to another one way street. I’m not sure if it’s technically illegal, and I saw a cop do it, so I can, right?
It depends on the state.
Legal in California, for turning from the leftmost lane into the leftmost lane when both are on way streets. I have seen it done from the two leftmost lanes though, nearly every work day. (Harrison and 10th St. in San Francisco) and I’m fuzzier on the legality of that and too lazy to look it up right now as I should get back to work.
That’s legal, at least in my state. Unless the one-way street flows from left to right, in which case it’s illegal again for a different reason.
It’s legal in Florida.
“No Thru Traffic” signs. I will obey the speed limit and stop at any stop signs on that street, don’t worry. I won’t cut through parking lots, either. But the reason most of these signs seem to have been put up is because SOMETHING at the intersection being avoided causes backups, and instead of doing something about poor intersection design, they put these stupid Band-Aid signs up.
I think no through traffic signs should exist on basically every neighborhood. They’re not for you, they’re for Waze.