Subject: Re: Speeders, FYI

From: [email-masked] (John Kennedy)
Date: 3 Apr 1995 09:38:00 -0400

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Ed Tuthill) writes:
>
> [ deleted ]
>
>This gentleman got a ticket about a year ago, and protested that he was
>only going the same speed as the rest of the traffic.  The system
>wouldn't take that as an excuse, so he decided to draw attention to the
>speed limit by driving 25mph on the nose every time he drove on that
>road, even in rush hour traffic.
>
>He says that he only stopped driving at that speed because he was tired
>of the threats he was getting from other drivers who had to pass him on
>this two-lane road.
>
>I'd just love to get together with three friends and do my own "rolling
>road block" on the Beltway to show how silly the 55mph speed limit is.
>
>Anyone remember the police in MD doing this several years ago?
>

The Maryland chapter of the National Motorists' Assocation also did
this a few years ago: a rolling roadblock on 95 from the Wilson Bridge
to the Pennsylvania line to demonstrate the impracticality of the
posted speed limit.  Of course, rather than demonstrate the proliferation
of firearms on the Beltway, the left lane was left clear.

-- 
John Kennedy                     [email-masked] 
Second Source, Inc.
Annapolis, MD

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From: [email-masked] (Ed Tuthill)
Date: 3 Apr 1995 23:33:08 -0400

In <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (John
> of firearms on the Beltway, the left lane was left clear.

And what results did it have?  I think it'd be neat to see this done
more often, just to show the idiocy of the current speed limit.

At least they had the good sense not to block the whole road and open
themselves up to severe abuse, though.

/===< [email-masked] >===\
|  Ed Tuthill, Archbishop Polygon |
|  "No faith without laughter."   |
\=================================/
-- 
-Ed Tuthill ([email-masked])

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From: [email-masked] (Ed Tuthill)
Date: 3 Apr 1995 20:23:24 -0400

In <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Chris Frederick) wrote:
> Just make sure you and your friends are driving armored cars. :)  That would
> be an interesting situation.

Exactly.  As I said in the other article I posted, a guy in
Philadelphia stopped this kind of protest because he was getting threats
from the other drivers.  Not a pretty sight.

> I'd love to see them try to ticket people for obstructing traffic or
> something; it would be a fun day in traffic court.  "Well, your honor,
> they _were_ going 55, but they were holding everybody up, so I gave
> them tickets!"

A friend of mine was actually pulled over on the DC beltway last year
because he was driving just over 55 mph.  The cop just warned him that
it's generally a good idea to keep up with the rest of the traffic, and
sent him on his way...

> I wonder whether this was done as a reminder that the speed limit is 55 MPH,
> or in the hopes of getting people to complain about the too-low speed limit.
> Most cops probably aren't any happier about 55 MPH than the rest of us are.

I don't remember the reasoning, but I do remember there being major hell
raised because of it.  But as usual, the flames die down and things just
stay the same.

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 6 Apr 1995 12:41:13 GMT

In <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Chris Frederick) writes:
>In article <[email-masked]>,
>Ed Tuthill <[email-masked]> wrote:
>

I was going North on I-95 many years ago when MD troopers had a rolling
roadblock going South--great traffic backup, and a few rear end accidents.
I agree that the police are no happier about 55 than the rest of us.  I was
in a group of cars going 75 or so on the NJ Turnpike and noticed that the
car next me was an unmarked police car driven by a NJ State Policeman--
he was headed for the barracks and couldn't have cared less.  Another problem
with 55 is how do you decide whom to pull over when everyone is breaking
the law?  Has anyone seen any discrimination?  Most of my interstate driving
is in MD and NJ and they seem fair--in NJ if you go over 80 on the Turnpike,
you will probably get a ticket.  Unofficial limit in MD seems to be about 75.

Bob Nelson

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From: [email-masked] (Steven Rezsutek)
Date: 06 Apr 1995 15:38:19 GMT

[email-masked] (Ed Tuthill) writes:

   In <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] wrote:
   > The fact of the matter is that if speeding were *strictly* enforced -- that
   > is, if large numbers of people were pulled over for going a few miles over
   > 55 or even 65 -- the outcry would be so great that both of these
   > preposterous speed limits would be revoked overnight.

   A driver in Philadelphia recently gave up his "self-enforcement" of an
   outrageous speed limit up there.  There's a road used regularly by
   commuters that has a speed limit of 25, but can safely support 45 (the
   speed at which the traffic generally flows).  

   [...]

Were any more details about the location provided?  

Given only the info that it was a two lane road, marked 25mph, it sounds
like it is within town limits, possibly in a residential area with
adjoining houses, or something.  Even if the road is such that a car
could safely travel at 45 on it, the people/entities along that road,
assuming the existance of same, simply may not *want* it that way, and,
through whatever channels, have done something about it.

MHO only...

Steve

-- 
............usenet is neither true nor false...it's television.............
  Steven Rezsutek                       [email-masked]
  Nyma / GSFC Code 735.2                             Vox: +1 301 286 0897
  NASA Goddard Space Flight Center                    Greenbelt MD  20771

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From: [email-masked] (Dirk Broer)
Date: 6 Apr 1995 20:24:45 GMT

>road block" on the Beltway to show how silly the 55mph speed limit is.

Please don't, I haven't had to pass someone on the shoulder in a long
time....

>Anyone remember the police in MD doing this several years ago?

Yep, appearantly the local news got wind of it and set up a camera on 
a bridge.  Basically all it proved was that 55mph creates one hell of a 
traffic jam.  You could see the 4 police cars approaching and litterally
a sea of cars behind them (and interestingly not a soul in front of them)

To serve and to protect?

Dirk

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From: [email-masked] (Bill McClatchie)
Date: Wed, 05 Apr 1995 21:43:33 -0400 (EDT)

>> road block" on the Beltway to show how silly the 55mph speed limit is.

Not in front of me, unless of course you like to have someone ride between
you and your freinds?

>be an interesting situation.  What happens when the police, who typically
>drive 65-75 MPH on the Baltimore beltway when not in a hurry (i.e., no lights
>and sirens), get stuck behind such a roadblock?  I'd love to see them try
>to ticket people for obstructing traffic or something; it would be a fun
>day in traffic court.  "Well, your honor, they _were_ going 55, but they
>were holding everybody up, so I gave them tickets!"

Actually I beleive tehy could charge them with reckless endangerment, the
charge normally used against those who impair the smooth flow of traffic.

>Most cops probably aren't any happier about 55 MPH than the rest of us are.

The only time I ever saw a police car doing the speed limit on an
interstae, teh guy had to have been bored.  He pulled out went to 55, and
then slowly decreased his speed until he got to about thirty miles an hour.
nobody would pass him - even though there was no reason for it.

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From: [email-masked] (Dirk Broer)
Date: 6 Apr 1995 20:24:45 GMT

To serve and to protect?

Dirk