Speeding Tickets 2961

Can it be called prejudice or even bias when IT'S USUALLY RIGHT??? Traffic engineers are influenced by politicians, who in turn are influenced by a VERY VOCAL MINORITY, the "speed kills" crowd. If the 85th percentile speed on a particular road is (for example) 78MPH, there is no way in HELL that any traffic study is going to reflect that. The first traffic engineer who accurately reports that 85th percentile speed quickly discovers that his position has been voted out of next year's budget. On a road marked 35MPH, there is no way that an unbiased traffic survey would conclude the 85th percentile speed is 37MPH. It just aint gonna happen, unless there is some kind of political influence involved. Show me any road in the U.S. marked 35MPH. I'll drive it at 40MPH, and I guaranfrickingtee you that every single other car on the road will pbutt me (unless it's a single lane, in which case I'll have a line of cars behind me stretched back for MILES). Meaning, the ZERO percentile speed is somewhere ABOVE 40MPH. So where is the 85th percentile speed? Somewhere above THAT, even. So a traffic survey says 37MPH is the 85th percentile on a road marked 35MPH? Sheesh, they couldn't have made the fact that they pulled THAT number out of their butt more obvious, unless they'd come out and stated that the 85th percentile speed was *35MPH*. Politicians don't want to be known as the person who allowed the speed limits to be raised, so the traffic surveys always conclude that the speed limit should stay the same, or be lowered. IT DOESN'T MATTER THAT 100% OF TRAFFIC IS 10 OR MORE MPH OVER THE POSTED LIMIT 100% OF THE TIME (on almost all roads), the traffic survey WILL reflect that the posted limit is right where it should be. Period. Unless the traffic study concludes that the already under-posted limit is too high. -Dave