Best action ever.

[PBI]

You don't think the speed limit is high enough, lobby for it to be increased. If you don't like a law you can't just flagrantly break it while it's still in place. But since most people tend to consistently overestimate their driving skills I'd suggest that letting them set their own speed limit is a terrible idea.

Fact is, if you resent the authorities raising money from speeding tickets, just don't speed and they won't get any money at all.

why not look out for the holes in their BMWs driving 20+ over, swerving in lanes and cutting people off, whilst yakking on the cellphones.

As a general rule they do. The fact that other people are breaking the law doesn't make it OK for you to do so.

[Whacker]

You don't think the speed limit is high enough, lobby for it to be increased. If you don't like a law you can't just flagrantly break it while it's still in place. But since most people tend to consistently overestimate their driving skills I'd suggest that letting them set their own speed limit is a terrible idea.

Fact is, if you resent the authorities raising money from speeding tickets, just don't speed and they won't get any money at all.

All well and good. Now let me introduce you to a little something we call 'reality'. 99.9999% of politicians know that speeding tickets are a great source of non-tax income, which looks good for them because they can keep taxes low and rely on the police to supplement city/county funds through speeding ticket quotas, which supposedly don't exist nudge nudge wink wink. Further, to a (wo)man, they will always poo-poo attempts by the average citizen or interest group to lobby for increased speed limits, because everyone just knows that all people who speed are also convicted child-murdering sheep-raping communists that hate freedom, and such-and-such half baked 'study' proves it. The only place I've ever heard of that did something reasonable with traffic laws like this was Montana where they did away with speed limits on the interstates during daylight hours, but if memory serves I think they repealed that and reinstated them. Can't be arsed to check anyway, so I may be wrong. Bottom line, getting certain traffic laws changed just isn't going to happen. I've written to the mayor of my old hometown on this subject with a small check for campaign funding, and all I ever got back was a nice canned response.

As a general rule they do. The fact that other people are breaking the law doesn't make it OK for you to do so.

As a general rule, they are looking at their radar guns while sitting under the overpass. And you are partially correct that just because others break the law doesn't mean I can/should. There is some legal precedent for "going with the flow of traffic" even if it is above the speed limit, but it doesn't always work. At any rate, it's my own form of civil disobedience to laws which I generally find idiotic, and I have been and am willing to deal with the penalties. Seem to average a speeding ticket about once every 2-3 years, and I've successfully fought off the last two in court. /shrug

Also, please take my response here under the pretense of being part tongue in cheek, part serious.

[PBI]

Well if civil disobedience were legal it wouldn't really be disobedience.

If that's your reason for speeding then you can hardly complain when you get tickets. If anything you should regard them as trophies.

Although the question remains, why not really screw the corrupt traffic cops over by cutting them off at the source and not speeding? Imagine how much it'll annoy the greedy politicians when their nice little non-tax revenue stream dries up because people aren't speeding enough.

[Proletariat]

Hah. We're now implementing speed cameras in the US. They take a picture of your car if it hits over 11mph (gee, not too arbitrary) and you get your ticket in the mail. It's a complete joke of a revenue generator since it's basically a tax that treats a doctor who makes 6k a month the same as a lawnmower you makes 1k.

And let's not even get started on the insane crap they've tried to pull on us in Virginia over the last few years...

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/18/1818.asp

[PanzerJaeger]

A few years back a bunch of college students tested the system. The all lined up on an interstate and drove exactly the speed limit. Traffic was backed up for miles and they all ended up with tickets... for going the speed limit!

Here, if you're going 55 on the interstate - the speed limit - you are at a severe risk of being rear ended. I typically do 80 just to keep pace with traffic. I won't lie, I've occassionally used the fast lane to get somewhere and gone much faster...

[drone]

And let's not even get started on the insane crap they've tried to pull on us in Virginia over the last few years...

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/18/1818.asp

No kidding. They had a nice thing going, they caught us speeding occasionally, wrote tickets, we paid, everybody was happy. Then they got greedy and went too far. Well done by the state court to overturn it. After the outcry it caused, if the legislators try it again they will be out of a job.

[HoreTore]

Hah. We're now implementing speed cameras in the US. They take a picture of your car if it hits over 11mph (gee, not too arbitrary) and you get your ticket in the mail. It's a complete joke of a revenue generator since it's basically a tax that treats a doctor who makes 6k a month the same as a lawnmower you makes 1k.

We have a bunch of them over here. And they're working perfectly. Take the Vålerenga tunnel in Oslo(at least I think that's the one), for example. After it was built, it had a huge amount of traffic deaths. Then they installed the camera, and the numbers went WAY down.

I just wished they'd install one here in the Strømsåstunnel, I've meet way too many idiots doing 150 km/t an hour there. And the speed limit is 80, btw...