subspeeding ticket?

[Dr T]

So the situation was this: a woman was driving in the fast lane of the highway, She was pulled over and given a ticket because she was driving 2 miles under the speed limit.

your opinion: Should she have gotten a tick for this? Please explain.

[Palerider]

Yes...I think she should have been given a ticket. The left lane is the so called "fast lane" and is for passing only. When going up and down the highway I see people talking on phone,fixing hair,make-up,texting,reading etc. Stay out of that lane unless you are passing. I wonder if she would have gotten a ticket if she was driving in the right lane....hhhmmm

[Just_A_Guy]

Too many variables here, Dr. T. Many roadways merely have a speed limit, but some roadways also have a minimum speed. Moreover, many states will have a "basic speed limit" to the effect that, regardless of posted limits, you are not to drive faster than is safe under the existing conditions. Was it dark/rainy/foggy/snowing/below freezing temperatures?

It strikes me as a little more likely that she was ticketed for impeding traffic. But again, that depends on road and traffic conditions.

[jerome1232]

2 miles per hour under? No. I can barely discern 2 miles per hour difference on my speedometer. I would review state laws and challenge the ticket personally.

Edit: The left lane is not for passing only, it's for faster traffic. Rubbing up against the speed limit, I would consider legally faster traffic, although in reality I'd be wondering why anyone is only going the speed limit in the left lane.

Edited March 14, 2013 by jerome1232

[Dr T]

Great questions Pale and it is vital to understand the conditions imo. Great thoughts boys. Thanks

[Dr T]

Great point Jerome. I agree with you. 2 miles below is hardly noticeable, I would challenge it too if the road conditions were adequate. Do we get tickets for going 2 mph over the speed limit? Not usually. She is there not wiggle room? What does that open up?

Edited March 14, 2013 by Dr T

[pam]

Utah now has law that you can receive a ticket for driving too slow in the fast lane. In this case I would imagine a ticket would only be given if during a busy traffic time and it was impeding the moving of traffic. During the middle of the night with no traffic? Perhaps not.

[Dravin]

I admit I'm not overly familiar with tickets, but I would think to ask the person this happened to if they could take a closer look at the ticket. If it was a case of unsafe speed for conditions or impeding traffic or some such I'd expect that on the ticket somewhere, not 'for going 2 mph under the speed limit'.

[Backroads]

My first reaction is it's ridiculous and ought to be challenged--assuming it was specifically for going two miles under the speed limit.

Now, I can't imagine anyone being considered going too slow for unsafe conditions (at least, I can't imagine any conditions where one would best speed up), so my guess is this was for potentially impeding traffic.

[Dravin]

Now, I can't imagine anyone being considered going too slow for unsafe conditions (at least, I can't imagine any conditions where one would best speed up), so my guess is this was for potentially impeding traffic.

Sure, being stopped on the roadway during a duststorm, snowstorm, heavy fog, or other situation with limited visibility. If we're discounting stopped, I could see a situation in which there is limited visibility either because the road is heavily curved or the aforementioned type of conditions, in which one can safely go 40 mph but one is being overly cautious by going 10 mph. I suppose one could debate if the problem is you are going overly slow for the conditions though, as going that slow under ideal conditions would probably get you a ticket too.

[Dr T]

Good call Draven. Look at the ticket and see the reason for the fine.

[talisyn]

There is no law in Idaho that says the left lane is for passing or faster traffic. In fact, I would say that 75 mph is faster traffic. Customary practices don't make a law. If cops would enforce speeding laws this wouldn't have happened.

That said, I believe the law in this woman's state is stay to the right unless passing.

[Dr T]

Yep, left lane is for passing, if not, get on the right. :)

[Backroads]

Sure, being stopped on the roadway during a duststorm, snowstorm, heavy fog, or other situation with limited visibility. If we're discounting stopped, I could see a situation in which there is limited visibility either because the road is heavily curved or the aforementioned type of conditions, in which one can safely go 40 mph but one is being overly cautious by going 10 mph. I suppose one could debate if the problem is you are going overly slow for the conditions though, as going that slow under ideal conditions would probably get you a ticket too.

I have had a cop tell me that if you have any sort of misfortune, you are automatically considered having gone too FAST for the conditions. Which makes me wonder where the happy medium is. Is it fair for the right speed for the conditions to be completely subjective to the cop? Or to the driver? Is a cop going to comprehend the person's vehicle, the driver's skill, a dozen other things that can impact the driver's choice of speed? On the other hand, the driver can just be a paranoid idiot who doesn't know how to drive. Seems there can be moments when a driver is between a rock and a hard place. Is told to drive faster, than gets in trouble for driving too fast.

[trubludru]

Hmm, I had a weird run in a few weeks back with this law; it seemed like a patrolwoman trying to make her quota but she couldn't pin anything legitimate on me, so I got off with a warning about this law.

Conditions: dark, occasional very light patches of fog/mist and very light rain enough to make the road just a little damp. 4-lanes I think, moderate amount of traffic. Quite a few vehicles gettting on and off in right lane with some slower moving vehicles and semis in the center right, steady traffic in center left and relatively sparse left lane. Posted speed limit 65 mph.

I was cruising along in the center left lane going probably 69-70 mph most of the time, (as were most other people, yep we were all speeding). Came to a bit of a bunch up of cars in the lane probably 5 or 6 cars long where there was a pickup at the front going about 65. So I decide to pass on the left and briefly hit 76-77 mph (which attracted the attention of the patrolwoman a couple of cars back in the center right lane) as I accelerate before settling back down to around 75 mph which is how fast some of the cars in the left lane seemed to be going.

As I got near to clearing the pickup in the center lane, its driver realized that they were going a a little slow compared to everybody else and hit the gas speeding up to around how fast I was going at 75. The car behind the pickup didn't speed up as fast so I decide to ease off to about 70 and wait to change back to the center lane after the pickup moves ahead. Well the pickup decides to drop back down to around 70. So I hit the gas a little and get back up to about 73 and pickup speeds back up a little (probably out of reflex). So I sort of give up trying to pass it and decide to cruise along at around 70 in the left lane for a little bit. At this point there was a car in front of me about 6 car lengths going along about the same speed (70ish) and there is nobody right behind me so no big deal.

Well after a minute or two a car moves in behind me (happened to be the patrolwoman but I didn't notice it was her right off) and gets what felt like right up behind me. So I am sort of looking to get over but there still isn't an opening and the car in front of me is still going along at about the same speed so I sort of figure oh well, I got a tailgater, I'll try and get over and I ease off probably to about 68 to try and let the pickup get ahead and so I can slide in behind it. So at that point the patrolwoman flips on her lights and pulls me over.

She asks me why I got pulled over and I of course say I have no idea. She says, "Well I noticed you got up to around 77 which I thought was a little fast but then you slowed down to around 68, is that because you saw me?" I told her, "Well I had seen you a little earlier but I hadn't paid close attention to whether you were still over there on the right or had gotten off, I didn't know it was you behind me."

Her:"Well, I pulled you over for blocking the left lane, you were only going 67 or 68." (Mind you the speed limit is 65 and while the conditions are not horrible they are not ideal)

Me:"Ok, did you see that I was trying to pass that pickup and that he sped up when I got next to him, so slowed down a little bit to try and let him get ahead."

Her:"You were blocking the passing lane, you should have moved out of it if you weren't going to pass him."

Me:"I understand that, but it didn't seem like I was slowing anybody down and I didn't feel like there was a good opening to move back over." She runs my info and of course finds nothing.

Her:"So I am going to give you a warning for blocking the left lane. It is for passing, if you aren't passing then you need to move out of it."

Me (pretty sure in my thinking that she wanted to pull me over for speeding when she saw me go over 75 but it was only for a couple of seconds and she can't really prove exactly how fast I was going since she was a not right behind me and was a couple of lanes over when it happened and so I am not going to bring up going too fast for nighttime road conditions, with some wet spots and appropriate driving speeds and getting pulled over for going "too slow" despite being around 3 over the speed limit) :"Alright, I just want to clarify what I should have done in this situation; should I have slowed down even more to 65 since I couldn't get that pickup to let me by?"

Her:"You just need to use the passing lane for passing."

Me:"Ok, I just want to know what I should do if I try and pass someone and they speed up so I can't pass them."

Her:"Just don't block the passing lane."

Me (Not wanting to push my luck any further and seeing it is clear that she can't explain what I should have done differently): "Ok I'll try and be more careful about that in the future."

It would be nice if traffic laws were enforced consistently, but I-15 in Utah, if you aren't going 5 over you are holding up traffic (often even if you are in the right lane). And you better be going at least 10 if not 15 over in the left lane. Of course I see the Highway Patrol often driving these same speeds even when they aren't pulling someone over. And now with a law about a lane, they have their choice, pull you over for speeding or for obstructing traffic (even if you are over the speed limit). Sounds like a good way to get some extra revenues.

Obviously common sense and courtesy should dictate that you drive reasonable speeds and get out of the left lane if you are going slower and/or creating a backup, but why have speed limits if they ignored except when the police want to pull you over?

Edited March 15, 2013 by trubludru