LogFAQs > #975770004

catesdb posted...

people that have been pulled over for speeding: was it reasonable?

From an urban safety perspective? Maybe.

From a road design perspective? Absolutely not.

If I drive up a collector whose focus is more on getting people from A to B than it is on the fact that there happen to be houses along it, I'm not going to pay any attention to the "Speed Limit 25" -- especially when that speed limit only exists for the final half mile of the road which I've been on for the last 20 minutes. That just reeks of speed trap, even if yes, people live there and there's a school nearby.

If I'm driving on the highway on a Sunday afternoon, and I'm not tearing up the road, weaving in and out of traffic, why single me out and pull me over? It doesn't "teach me a lesson" and it doesn't make the highway safer because the rest of traffic sees the cop car and drive slightly slower for 10 seconds.

If I'm coming from the highway onto a connector to another highway, why do you set the speed limit significantly lower for the connector and then pull everyone over who doesn't immediately brake from highway speed to this lower limit. That's a textbook speed trap. (I've taken like five trips to visit my friend two states over, and twice I've been pulled over in this exact strip.)

Speeding unto itself should not be illegal. Reckless driving should. It just so happens that excessive speeding is reckless. But how much is excessive? From the driver's POV, most so-called speeding is no less safe than if they were to slow down 10 MPH, even if that difference is considerable to a pedestrian, cyclist, etc. We very much move at the speed that it feels safe to move. Want to change that? Narrow the roads, plant trees to limit field of view, don't build excess lanes that only induce traffic demand.