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[Loud Whispers]

...Murphy's law?

The idea that what CAN go wrong, WILL go wrong. Google for more info.

Oops, got mixed up with Poe's law.

[Truean]

Guy gets caught for speeding. 35MPH Speed Limit. Insists he represent himself, tells judge, "I was just doing 40 when...."



Asks me "what went wrong?" Really? Limit, man.... L.I.M.I.T. [facepalm]

[Frumple]

Speed limit in the US means "5-10, at minimum, miles over the posted number" to most people.

Being fair, cops can't pull you over in Florida for speeding unless you're going more than five over, so in some places it almost makes sense.

There's still the "definition of limit is...?" thing, though. I guess it can be explained by the extent of illiteracy and low reading capability in the states, I'unno.

[Nadaka]

Speed limit in the US means "5-10, at minimum, miles over the posted number" to most people.

Being fair, cops can't pull you over in Florida for speeding unless you're going more than five over, so in some places it almost makes sense.

There's still the "definition of limit is...?" thing, though. I guess it can be explained by the extent of illiteracy and low reading capability in the states, I'unno.

That is because the amount of a fine for less than 5 over the limit does not cover the cost of paperwork and a possible court appearance.

[Truean]

Ok, see, there's the real world that you and I live in, and then there's the law, which frankly is some Alice in Wonderland shit. It does not have to make sense and people don't have to agree with it.

In the real world, most police around here will give you 5 MPH over, but they don't HAVE to. Originally, this was due to concerns over radar gun calibration.

In the law 35MPH means 35. The point being, the guy just confessed in open court without even knowing it, but of course, he "didn't need a lawyer....

[scriver]

Several (respectable) online stores are selling taking pre-orders for a Crusader Kings II - Limited Edition for up to $14/€11 cheaper than the regular edition. Weirdly, I can find no real mention of any such edition anywhere.

My greed is currently fighting my common sense over whether this is AWESOMES JUST BUY IT ALREADY or BLATANTLY STUPID DON'T FALL FOR IT.

In the law 35MPH means 35. The point being, the guy just confessed in open court without even knowing it, but of course, he "didn't need a lawyer...

...You were ordained that one, I hope. For his sake, I mean.

[Truean]

Several (respectable) online stores are selling taking pre-orders for a Crusader Kings II - Limited Edition for up to $14/€11 cheaper than the regular edition. Weirdly, I can find no real mention of any such edition anywhere.

My greed is currently fighting my common sense over whether this is AWESOMES JUST BUY IT ALREADY or BLATANTLY STUPID DON'T FALL FOR IT.

In the law 35MPH means 35. The point being, the guy just confessed in open court without even knowing it, but of course, he "didn't need a lawyer...

...You were ordained that one, I hope. For his sake, I mean.

Na, it's another one of those, " I can represent myself," people. Translation, "I don't feel like paying for a lawyer and am smart enough to do it myself." If an attorney who represents himself has a fool for a client, then what does a layman have?

What people doing this don't realize is, we're watching them from the back of the courtroom taking bets on how they'll screw up.

[RedKing]

Truean's right, the 5MPH cushion has a lot more to do with the margin of error on radar guns than it does court costs (the government is gonna get the money for the court costs regardless). Any traffic lawyer worth his salt will quote established precedent cases and get it knocked down to Improper Equipment (the legal fiction that "My client wasn't knowingly speeding, he just has a broken speedometer") or even thrown out of court altogether.

There's also the fact that traffic court is usually swamped with work so they'd prefer to have less piddly charges and focus on nailing the reckless drivers, the major speeders, DUI's, etc. Bigger fines and they're more of a menace to society than the guy going 40 in a 35. That said, in a small jurisdiction without a large caseload (and where traffic fines may be a significant local revenue flow), they might nail you for very minor infractions. There are a whole slew of little towns in the eastern part of the Carolinas where the speed limit suddenly drops from 55-70mph down to 35mph or slower. And their police sit like hungry wolves at that transition line, ready to pounce because the traffic fines are a substantial part of the local government revenue. It's usually out-of-towners on their way to the beach that get nailed, and because they're not local they're not likely to show up in court to fight it or bother hiring a lawyer to represent them. They'll just grumble and pay the $50 or whatever. Police will typically mark it just below the threshhold where it would impact your insurance costs. They'll tell you they're doing you a favor, but what they're also doing is lowering your incentive to contest the charges. They're literally like the highwaymen of old, ambushing travellers and extorting a fee for passage.

[Siquo]

Speedometers are off by 3-5 kmh as well (depending on your car) making it quite safe to do 10 over the limit, usually.
Although I once did 40 kmh under the limit (80 instead of 120) for a trip (I wanted it to take as long as possible), and that actually cost me 10 minutes compared to the projected arrival time The speed is just an ego-thing, it won't get you there faster. That was pretty WTF for me.

[scriver]

Na, it's another one of those, " I can represent myself," people. Translation, "I don't feel like paying for a lawyer and am smart enough to do it myself." If an attorney who represents himself has a fool for a client, then what does a layman have?

What people doing this don't realize is, we're watching them from the back of the courtroom taking bets on how they'll screw up.

Hehe, yeah, I meant as in one of thosr who don't have a lawyer of their own so the state provides one instead (I believe you've said you do that at times), but I get the part about him wanting to repeesent himself. Still, for his sake, I hope you got called in by state so he didn't pay for a lawyer and then failed like that.

[kaenneth]

I kinda would expect the guy who was saying that he was going 40... to follow that by something like "...I didn't see the limit drop to 35 because the sign was blocked by a tree/large truck/etc."

I did make some lawyers (prosecution and public defender) WTF-face by asking the judge to double my fine once.

I had swerved multiple times while driving to dodge someone who, best I could tell, was determined to intentionally cause an accident; but all the cop could have seen from his position was me swerving.

The PD and Prosecution had agreed to dropping the fine to $25+25 'costs' or such, for $50; however, for some reason I was nearly the last case being heard that session.

While waiting both the PD and prosecution kept making simple mistakes, or were unprepared for cases, which was pissing the judge off; so when the prosecution gave his recommendation of the $50 fine, the judge said that seemed too low, and asked the clerk (or someone) to look up what the usual fine was.

At that point both the PD and Prosecution started arguing against the judge (instead of each other), and I had previously looked up the max fine could be $2500... So I raised my hand and asked if I could say something.

Me: "I was thinking that the $50 seemed kind of low, for a punishment to be effective it should hurt a little, I was thinking it should be at least $100"

Judge: "That's the smartest thing I've heard all day. So ordered."

PD and Prosecution: 

[alway]

I typically drive at precisely 4 mph above the speed limit. I partially agree with Siquo about the speeding not really saving much time; however, there are times when it really helps. Very long car trips in particular. If you're driving 14 hours; the time it takes for a round trip from home to university, a few mph can be the difference between getting home at 9PM and getting home at 10PM. If you happen to be particularly susceptible to falling asleep, like you are in the middle of the night after driving for a long time, slight speeding may in fact make you a bit safer overall.

[kaijyuu]

If you're going to fall asleep, pull over and take a nap. That's not a risk you should be taking. Ever.

[Tellemurius]

considering the drivers here are even worse than anywhere, complete lack of the speed limit sign

[scriver]

If I remember correctly from my license education. For every ten 10 km/h you drive faster, you earn one minute/Swedish mile (10 km). Above 90 km/h, however, you only earn half a minute/10 km for each 10 km/h. So driving faster is mostly useless unless you're driving really long distances, or if you're speeding on a low-speed road -- in which case you're a selfish idiot and probably endangering other people's lives as it's probably low-speed for a reason.

I still have my books around somewhere though, I can check the numbers if anyone wants me to.

If you're going to fall asleep, pull over and take a nap. That's not a risk you should be taking. Ever.

This. If you have more than 15 min left to drive, you stop and nap.