On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 16:39:56 -0500, Vinnie S.
wrote:

On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 07:56:05 -0500, Dave Hall wrote:

On Thu, 10 Feb 2005 21:25:37 -0800, Paul Johnson
wrote:

Vinnie S. wrote:

So is driving 56 mph in a 55. But I am sure you have never done that.
Hypocracy at it's finest.

Depends on the state. Most states give you 10% leeway for differences in
speedometer calibration. Oregon doesn't have speed limits in most places,
opting for a less strictly enforced posted speed (difference is the posted
speed signs say SPEED, whereas hard limits say SPEED LIMIT). In either
case, if conditions are bad, you can get a speeding ticket for going slower
than the posted speed (ie, doing 50 in a 60 zone on ice).

In Pa. they are required to give 5 MPH to take care of "Speedometer"
and speed measuring inaccuracies. In addition, just to avoid court
challenges to the precise accuracy of the speed measuring equipment
(Usually VASCAR on non-state patrolled roads, and RADAR on state
police patrolled roads), most of the cops I know tell me that they
unofficially give people 9 MPH over the posted limit before they start
pulling people over. Of course there might be a new hard-assed rookie
who might not be so "kind".......


My brother in law is a cop. It's at the descretion of the cop. Since most often
this is a revenue generating system. The judge and cop are on the same municipal
team. If they want to beat you at 1 mph, they will. The reason they give 10mph
extra, is because everyone goes over the speed limit. They would be up to their
ears in court. So they take the abusers. But I highly doubt it's the
inaccuracies of the equipment or speedometers, because like you said, some
states have zero tolerance. So don't think you can claim the equipment is
inaccurate in one state, and perfect in another. I really think it's just the
descretion of the cop.

Well, in all honesty, it mostly is at the cop's discretion, and they
know that if they want to really bust someone's stones for 1 or 2 MPH
over, they stand a good chance of losing in court. RADAR has been
taken to court before (I remember a somewhat famous one involved
pointing a RADAR gun at a tree and recording over 100 MPH). Traffic
volume, calibration certification, humidity, weather, terrain and a
host of other conditions can affect the accuracy. If you are someone
who does his homework, and presents this in court, most judges will
throw it out for such a small number.

VASCAR since it is a manual timing device, can be even more prone to
inaccuracies.

It's more of an unwritten rule in Pa., that they "give" you 5 MPH, but
all of the cops I know pretty much told me the same thing, and that is
that they don't start pulling people over until they hit 10 MPH over.

I'm sure it's different in other states.

Dave
"Sandbagger"