Speeding tickets. Why the angst?

[scumdog]

Funny, have been doing this job for 23 years, and the carping has never changed. Every day or so for that period I've been told it's been revenue collecting.

There's been no change. Nostalgia ain't what it used to be.

Harumph.

Remember the days whe we only issued tickets to those doing 20kph+ faster than the posted speed limit?
The buggers that got tickets back then still whinged their arses off...

"Haven't you got anything better to do"
"Aw c'mon, it's not THAT much faster than the speed limit"
"You're just revenue gathering"
"I'm better off keeping my eyes on the road than staring at the bloody speedo all the time"
"Why aren't you catching real criminals instead of bothering me"
"I bet you speed at times"

yadda-yadda-yadda,


boy all that whinging really changed things eh!!

[Metastable]

I'll give you guys my take from spending a short amount of time in NZ.

First off I think most of your limits are pretty reasonable with the exception of the motorways. 100kph on those highways around Auckland is way too slow and typically the speed limits in most places around the world is 120-130 kph. Now, the funny bit is where I live in Canada our limit is 100kph on the highways to, but we know it is ok do go 120kph. However our limits on back roads is usually 80kph, but we have crazy limits in some spots that are 50 where it really should be AT LEAST 80. In short we have some places where EVERYONE is going well above the limit and others where most people don't even get to the limit.

PROBLEM: the limits are set by city council who usually have no idea about what a safe speed should be. IMO, the limit should always be set and adjusted according to a PROPER ENGINEERING STUDY to find out what the safest speed is.

OK - now that we got that out of the way.

I think Jantar and Jay GTI brought up some good points. Follow the SPIRIT of the law, not the letter of the law. You know there are some 100 zones where if someone is speeding, then that can be dangerous. There are other places where doing 120 is perfectly fine and safe. You can't compare doing 5kph over to blowing a little over the alcohol limit, because the person speeding hasn't lost the physical ability to drive a vehicle.

Now - Jantar touched on a subject that happened to ME. I had a police officer guess my speed. I couldn't believe I was even being pulled over, he handed me the ticket and told me to go to court where he would reduce it (he was trying to get overtime pay, he can reduce it on the spot and mark the ticket with an "R"). He then waved over another guy without using any speed measuring device and handed him a ticket too. Once I asked for disclosure to fight this bogus ticket, he lied on the disclosure form and there was a speed written on it that we had never discussed. At this point I got a specialist involved to fight the ticket and I won it in court. Anyway, that irks you the wrong way. From what I hear, as a whole your police services have a higher standard for ethics than what we often see here.

So I don't see why people would complain if they are exceeding the limit by an excessive amount since as I mentioned before your limits are pretty reasonable.

As far as seat belts and helmets.... IMO it should be the person's choice. I WOULD ALWAYS wear my lid and my seat belt, but I think the person should decided. I don't know if it would have that great of an impact on health care, since more would die anyway. It would just help Darwin out a bit more.

[Berries]

and from Evermondes own lips "Repression is the only lasting philosophy. The dark deference of fear and slavery, my friend, will keep the dogs obedient to the whip, as long as this roof shuts out the sky,"

What he said. Possibly.

[jim.cox]

the limit should always be set and adjusted according to a PROPER ENGINEERING STUDY to find out what the safest speed is.

We spend huge ammounts of money to build our state highways with a design speed of 120 kmh. The design speed is a function of width of lane, width of shoulder, curve design etc

Its also the speed that 85% of the travelling population will wnat to use for that road

Then we arbitrarily restrict them to 100kmh

So we are

A: wasting our money building flash roads

and

B: annoying the hell out of people when they get ticketed for using the road the way it was inteneded

[DEATH_INC.]

"A car travelling at 60km/h will take 45m to stop in an emergency braking situation "
What utter bollocks. I've seen a test conducted by Continental on a variety of tyres, with very sophisticated testing gear, and the stopping distances VARIED by 35 meters at 80kmh. How can this be accurate?
This is what f*cks me off about the speed laws, there are so many other things that cause accidents that are ignored. Yet they hound speed like you are a murderer.
Speed is not the problem, bad driving is.

[DEATH_INC.]

Also cars, tyres (if you don't drive on cheap chinese rubbish that should be banned) and suspension have come a long way in the last 20 years, yet the speed limit remains the same?

[rastuscat]

This is what f*cks me off about the speed laws, there are so many other things that cause accidents that are ignored. Yet they hound speed like you are a murderer.

Wondered when this would arise so I've prepared a response.

NEVER LET THE FACTS GET IN THE WAY OF A GOOD WHINGE

9% of the tickets my section issued last year were for speed.

So there.

[Scuba_Steve]

I think there may also be some discrepancies between the North & South Island cops, which may also lead to misunderstandings IMO the south island still has a little bit of justice left in it whereas the North island is fucked, look no further than the propaganda machine to see that

[Grubber]

Yeah, like when my mate got done for DIC and he only blew 435, shee-it, that's not even 10% over, now THAT'S grief...

With booze in the system your a danger at all times:: speeding at 110k's your not ever a danger to anyone unless you can't ride for shit.
Thought that was obvious really.

[Metastable]

Wondered when this would arise so I've prepared a response.

NEVER LET THE FACTS GET IN THE WAY OF A GOOD WHINGE

9% of the tickets my section issued last year were for speed.

So there.

See that right there is AWESOME!!!! Over here it seems like the police only care about speeding and drinking. No doubt the drinking bit is justified, but too much emphasis is put on speeding and not enough on impeding traffic flow, improper lane positioning, signaling, driving without due care and attention, etc.

Which actually leads to another point. If it were me (and it isn't ) I would make the police car visible to motorists .... or somewhat visible. If they keep on speeding, then YOU KNOW they aren't paying attention. THAT is a problem. If an officer is hiding, then well.... you don't know if that driver is paying attention or not. I'd want to know that piece of information if I were the police.

One final note.... up here I wouldn't really care about speeding tickets if it were not for the insurance companies. Except your insurance can go from $1500 to $3000 because of 1 or 2 minor moving violations. My understanding is that this is not a problem in NZ. That's a good thing. Up here I'm not upset about the police handing out tickets if there is an infraction going on; however, I don't like how the insurance industry can manipulate things to such a gross monetary benefit.

[DEATH_INC.]

9% of the tickets my section issued last year were for speed.

So there.

Do you have the national figures handy?

[Grubber]

Funny, have been doing this job for 23 years, and the carping has never changed. Every day or so for that period I've been told it's been revenue collecting.

There's been no change. Nostalgia ain't what it used to be.

Harumph.

Maybe it's because that's what its been....revenue gathering!

[HenryDorsetCase]

Fixed it for you.

They get charged with Careless, instead of a speed related offence.

You're right tho.

I believe that speed limits are a suggestion for weak minded individuals. I also believe they should be nothing more than suggestions. If as a result of something going wrong and injury or accident resulting, the po po have the option of charging the driver with careless, reckless or dangerous driving. And having that assertion tested in court, the way it should be.

infringement notices are in my view an abrogation of the basic right to a fair trial in the name of revenue collection and expediency.

and. like I said before, the message is mixed. If it is about revenue collection, why not have an 80kph speed limit but no demerit points? that way, if you want to go faster,. you can, and if apprehended, you just pay extra tax. If it isnt about revenue collection, then why have fines at all. Govern vehicles so they cannot under any circumstances exceed the speed limit, and if by chance they are able to be circumvented, then instant permanent loss of licence.

mixed message, flawed system, stupid results.

[HenryDorsetCase]

9% of the tickets my section issued last year were for speed.

So there.

yeah but your results are skewed because you're in the STG, right? or the guy that visits schools with the dog to keep kids off drugs? or in the DLA?

[Littleman]

Middle class males on sportsbikes not wanting to be told what to do.