A while back I wrote a tongue-in-cheek post about irresponsible credit card usage. Apparently some people didn’t particularly like that approach, especially when they were in denial about their own credit card mistakes. I didn’t mean to offend anyone, but I guess certain people are just overly sensitive. It seemed to be a good topic though as I recently saw another blogger cover the same topic with the exact same angle.
Well I decided I should continue my appreciation for other people’s mistakes. I’m a pretty thankful guy after all. This time around I want to thank you all for something that I’ve been guilty of plenty of times in the past…speeding. Ok not just speeding itself, but I want to thank all of you who have sped, got caught and had to pay some pricey ticket.
My Speeding Ticket Experiences
Just so nobody feels like I’m picking on them, here’s my own story about speeding tickets…
My first incident was back when I was growing up in a small town. To get an idea of how small it was, we literally had to drive 40 minutes to the neighboring town if we wanted McDonalds or 7-11. We did have convenience stores, but for burgers it was pretty much just Dairy Queen.
So one night my buddy and I were looking for something to do. One of us had the bright idea to go for a drive to catch McDonalds before it closed in 30 minutes. It sounded like a better plan than hanging out at the local gas station and figured we could shave the 10 minutes off the drive easily at night.
Halfway there we were making pretty good time, maybe too good time. In my rearview mirror I noticed the telltale red and blue flashing lights. I don’t remember how fast I was going, but I know it was quite excessive and would’ve been very expensive.
Luck was on our side though. It happened to be the one female cop in town and she was particularly nice…and rather good looking lol. She laughed at our reason for driving so fast and I think she felt too bad for us to slap us with the expensive ticket. Unfortunately that prevented me from really learning my lesson.
Later that summer I was camping at the lake with some friends. Rather than eating more campfire food for breakfast, we decided to drive into town to pick up something to eat. Being young and foolish, I was again driving way faster than I needed to.
This time around though it was a cop from the neighboring town that caught us. It happened to be one with a reputation of being notoriously strict. Just like that I was down $345. I think I was 2 kilometers above the limit where the fines double. No break at all this time. It was probably my most expensive ‘purchase’ at the time.
I would say those two incidents taught me my lesson, but I’ve been caught speeding a few times since then. I still have a hard time driving less than 10-20 km/h above the speed limit. I do a better job of not getting caught though.
Why We Should Be Thankful
Obviously driving fast enough to get a $300+ speeding ticket is very unsafe. So yeah there is the side of getting caught helps keep the roads safer for everyone.
The other side is that those speeding tickets go a long way for paying for various policing and government resources. Depending where you live the money might go to different areas. Regardless where it goes, that’s less money that needs to be collected via income tax, property tax and other taxes.
So each time someone gets a speeding ticket, it is ultimately saving everyone else money. With the high price of speeding tickets, that must add up to a whole lot of money.
If they did start catching less speeders, the likely scenario is that they would beef up their efforts and start pulling over people that are just barely speeding. Personally I like the small buffer they usually give where you won’t get a ticket. I’d hate to see that to disappear. Then again, those borderline tickets are likely easier to fight in court since radar guns tend to have a degree of possible error.
Next time you see someone pulled over speeding, give them thanks. They voluntarily made the mistake and are now paying more than their share of taxes.
Also think twice about warning other drivers of a radar trap. In most areas it is probably illegal to do so anyway. I know it used to be common to get the high-beam flash from other drivers when there were cops ahead. I won’t incriminate myself and say whether I did this myself, but I do like to help people out. I look at it a little differently these days though.
Have you had any bad experiences with speeding tickets? Do you feel bad when you see drivers pulled over for speeding?
I only have one ‘almost’ speeding ticket. I was driving my buddy home after curling one evening in high school. I was lucky that the cop let me off with a warning after she asked ‘why didnt you pull over right away?’ I had continued to drive for 500m because I didn’t think I was speeding!
I recently got and paid a transit ticket, so you can thank me for that!
Wow sounds like a pretty clean driving record. It does seem a lot tougher to get speeding tickets within the city compared to on the highway. Thank you for paying the transit ticket though
With that one though maybe you were costing the system more in unpaid fare in the past.
I always mentally thank people for driving like idiots, because that’s just more money into the system. Not that the Canadian/BC government uses it for anything practical. That’s an expensive burger, Jeremy!
One time, I got a ticket for being on my cellphone. I wasn’t actually on it; it was in my lap. But I was down $157 anyway.
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Yeah for a $345 burger it better have some truffles and gold flakes on it. Instead I couldn’t even enjoy the burger while being pissed off over the big ticket. And no the government here won’t do anything practical with the money, but at least it helps pay those bloated politician salaries. $157 is an expensive lap accessory too.
I never have gotten a speeding ticket but did have a cop follow me to high school to point out I “almost” ran a yellow light and that I sped up to get through. Thing is I was going under the speed limit before the light turned and I had a car tailgating so I sped up to the speed limit to avoid getting rear ended and made it through the light in time… cop shoulda got someone who actually broke a law instead of following me.
Wow never got a speeding ticket ever either? It sounds like you were justified in running the yellow light. Here nobody stops when it is still yellow, but I know technically a cop could give a ticket for it.
I have only had a one time almost speeding ticket. I learned my lesson without having to get a ticket though. I think I usually follow the “flow” of traffic on the highway but I still don’t think I actually go more than 5-7 miles over the speed limit. I try to leave with plenty of time so I don’t have to rush everywhere.
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Well you guys are all making me look bad with your clean driving records. I think with me it was rarely about being in a rush to get somewhere. It was usually just finding the actual speed limit too low. For the most part I do go with the flow of traffic now, or at least make sure there is someone faster ahead of me.
I’ve never gotten a speeding ticket (knock on wood!) – and this makes me so thankful for that!
I’ve always been hesitant to warn others. Not because I’m rude and don’t want to help someone out and not because I want them to pay the speeding tax — I just never know when the appropriate time to warn someone is. Obviously, I do not want to be in the sight of the police car, then I get a ticket. Furthermore, warning someone four miles away seems to be ridiculous. What’s the cutoff distance from the cop? I always analyze this when I see a cop and then I feel like a jerk for not warning anyone.
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Well keep your fingers crossed for the drive to California coming up. I actually started to write this post a couple weeks ago before heading out on a road trip, but decided I didn’t want to jinx myself.
No need to feel bad if you don’t warn people about cops. It’s their own choice to speed and it’s better them paying the fine than you. The thing is if you warn them too far away, they’ll forget about the warning. I figure I’ve paid my share of speeding tickets though and now it’s someone else’s turn.
I never feel bad when people get pulled over for speeding. I haven’t look at it through your brilliant perspective, but I’m all for ignorant drivers getting punished.
I’m not a fan of speed limits…but it’s the law. I’m often shocked at how many people have a problem with authority. Why do people think that some rules just shouldn’t apply to them?
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Yeah it is a bit strange how people just naturally rebel against cops or other authority figures. They do tend to usually be rather in your face and power tripping. Then add in all the stories of cops doing bad things and it’s actually pretty easy to judge them.
As for speed limits, I think they’re just set too low in most areas. Cars have improved a lot over the years but speed limits have remained the same. I think part of it is that they want to leave room for that 10-15 clicks over the speed limit that people feel justified to drive. They also have to take into account that when road conditions are bad people will still drive as fast as they normally do.
What annoys me the most is when old-timers can’t even keep up with the speed limit. I’ve often thought that those types of drivers are more dangerous than the people that are going 5-10 MPH over the speed limit.
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I agree that those drivers are pretty dangerous. The faster drivers get all stressed out when they end up behind those slower drivers and might take risks just to get around them sooner.
Dude, I thought the credit card post was great (only because I’ve thought the same thing).
Like it or not, speeding tickets do serve as an ATM for cops. And the only reason people get upset by them is because they get caught! Don’t like it? Drive slower. Good story from your youth …..
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Yeah there weren’t too many people who didn’t like that post, but I know I lost at least one regular commenter from that. She apparently couldn’t accept her own credit card mistakes as being her own fault.
Speeding tickets aren’t just ATMs for jobs. In most areas it sounds like the money gets split up between all sorts of different groups. It is nice that it is a tax that people can completely avoid if they’re responsible.
Thanks everyone for getting speeding tickets! I actually laugh when I see people get pulled over for speeding… especially if I saw them try to cut ahead of people or weave in and out of traffic like a maniac. Really, you want to be somewhere 2 minutes before everyone else? Cool… you’re so important.
I got 1 speeding ticket when I was driving back to school from my hometown. The unfair part was that it was a really huge hill that slopes downwards, so when you go downhill, you have to seriously press on your brakes. I was the only car that night since it was Labor Day, and the cop got me right at the peak of the downhill slope. Sad!
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Yes I am important lol. No I think with a lot of speeders it is more just the thrill of driving faster. I know full well that I’m not ultimately saving much time.
The downhill speeding tickets do suck even more. I know there’s a big hill around here that the cops sometimes wait at the bottom. So unless you lay on the brake the whole way, you’re bound to be going 20-30 kilometers over the limit.
My friend is a police officer for a city near where I live. When he’s on ticket duty, he gets paid $40 an hour (plus his salary pay on top of that), but when he’s on normal, catching criminals, duty, it’s just salary. And they definitely take a TON of money in everyday. He said they usually make around $40,000 a day from one little highway exit. So that money definitely goes a long way.
Wow those are some crazy figures. I had no idea that cops made so much money for writing tickets. I guess there is the danger involved of pulling someone over who has more to hide.
And $40k/day from one highway exit?? With that kind of money you’d think the police departments would be fully funded by speeding tickets alone.
Yeah I know! And he said on the weekends, they make EVEN MORE! It’s a double fine, double fine zone. So that’s 4X what a normal ticket is. Whenever I pass there, I always hope and pray that I’m not next.
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I’ve never heard of a 4X fine zone. That would really suck to be hit with a ticket there. Cops must love being able to rake in the money so much quicker like that.
Spending for me is a no-no. It’s not a goody two-shoes thing. Unfortunately, I’ve had some very frightening incidents while riding with someone who sped. I was almost killed in a car accident years ago riding with a speeder. Since then, I have never had the desire to speed for any reason, speeding is not something that I take lightly. While, I have been pulled over a few times, it has never been for speeding.
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Geez I guess that would make you think a little differently about it. An incident like that really make you have no desire to take that risk again. Sorry to know you had to go through that.
True story. But I hate when cops set up speed traps or pull people over for ridiculous reasons just to meet their quotas like at the end of the month. I’ve gotten robbed a couple of times that way. I fought the tickets and won, but they still got their expensive court fees.
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The whole monthly quota system does make it unfair for people. Rather than laying on a bunch of unnecessary tickets at the end of the month, they should be paying attention to weekly numbers and being more aggressive with the true speeders when numbers are low. I could see them wanting people to keep speeding though. They wouldn’t want to scare everyone into behaving and lose such a valuable revenue source.
When I was younger I got a few tickets of going over by 10km, my most recent ticket was almost 3yrs ago (this coming March 2013) as I was speeding to work, then I was going 20km over, but cop dropped it down to 10km, with no points. Thankfully the ticket expires off my abstract record in 3yrs.
Not sure about BC, but in Ontario driving 50km over the posted rate, city or highway, it’s considered reckless driving. If you’re caught, your car is impounded on the spot, and drivers license is taken away for a month (I think). Pretty serious offense. They brought it in about a year ago, due to many fatalities from street racing.
Yes they have a similar law here. I think you only need to be caught going 30 km/h more than the speed limit for it to classify as excessive. Then they do impound your car and I assume they take away your license for a while too. The tickets and the insurance points would make it very expensive. Here in BC they almost never pull anyone over for going just 10km/h over. I know I’ve gone by cops speeding more than that and they didn’t bother. It has been quite a while since I got my last speeding ticket.
I have been pulled over a couple of times since I started driving but have only recieved one ticket. I was test driving a car when I was 18 and was focused more on shifting (It was a manual and I didn’t know how to drive one at the time) than I was on the speed. I was going 50mph in a 35mph zone but he was nice about it and wrote it for 5 over. I can’t remember how much it was but I think it was under $100.
I normally don’t feel bad for someone that is pulled over for speeding. I know a lot of policemen that don’t care if you drive 5-10 mph over the speed limit depending on how much traffic there is.
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Funny that you got a speeding ticket while test driving a car. I thought you were going to say you were testing the power of the car, but I could see how the gear shifting would be a distraction. It’s also funny that you learned how to drive stick while test driving. That’s a good way to protect the transmission of the car you do later buy.
And yeah if there is enough traffic going fast, they are unlikely to pull them over. I have seen some cops pull over a group of 6 or 7 cars all at once.
Whenever I see someone getting pulled over, I’m always thinking “Good! Jerk..” Honestly, I just don’t think people in general have enough respect for the road. I lost 5 family members simultaneously a few years back because of a careless, stupid, DRUNK driver. He went over the line and killed a family of 5. Every time I’m on a 2-way road, I get nervous now. People who speed are almost as bad as drunk drivers. The laws are there for a reason; they’ve determined that driving above a certain speed in just not safe. Why do people think they’re so much smarter than the people who make these laws? And guess what? Even if it is a total speed trap and you just want to prove a point, you’re a MORON. If everyone else is driving 30 and you clip by at 50, there’s a good chance it’s not going to end well. So please, officers, keep pulling over the a-holes that think they’re above the law. Hopefully, they’ll either learn their lesson or end up in a safer place for all of us–behind bars! Thanks, a-holes! Nice having the money for my city!
(BTW, I’ve been pulled over before too, just like you Jeremy. I was young and dumb –and yes, being an a-hole–and I’m just glad someone was around to “catch” me and make me learn the lesson.)
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Damn that really sucks. No wonder you’re so passionate in your hate for speeding. Well now I feel bad for admitting that I do still speed, even though it’s definitely way slower than I used to drive. I guess that does make me an asshole thinking about it that way. Laws are there for a reason. Just because I haven’t been getting caught, it doesn’t make it right when I do speed.
I love it when I read a post and it completely changes how I thought about something. You’re awesome.
lol thanks Lauren. One of these days I’ll have to take a psychology course and really get in people’s heads.
I’ve never gotten a speeding ticket myself but I think it’s because I’ve been lucky and haven’t owned my own car for at least 4 years. Getting a speeding ticket sucks but I definitely think it’s good in order to teach people a lesson. Parking tickets on the other hand are completely dumb, especially here in Vancouver.
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Driving mostly in the city makes it way tougher to get speeding tickets too. I’ve only gotten one within Vancouver in my 14 years here.
Parking tickets are tougher to accept since they’re not really harming anyone, but it does also add a bunch of revenue for the government. I got slapped with a nice $70 parking ticket when dropping my sister off at the bus station. They actually have automated cameras on those parking spots which got me while I helped my sister unload.
Haha! Somehow in 10 years of driving I haven’t gotten a speeding ticket. Doesn’t mean I’m perfect, I’m just good at not getting caught lol. Although honestly I try not to speed around and I laugh when people start speeding by me only to get caught at the same red light
Plenty of parking tickets though! I always try my hardest to park somewhere thats a safe zone and somehow it ends up…not.
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I used to get all competitive when someone would pass me and I’d make a point of keeping up with them. I’ve matured since then though. Instead I laugh a bit and tail back far enough that they would get a ticket and not me. In the city it is rather pointless since you are bound to get caught at the same light or behind the same slow drivers.
Hah! I think I will thank them. I’ve gotten a speding ticket or two and nobody has thanked me yet! Definitely don’t drive very fast with a baby in the back seat now, but I do love fast cars. The one bummer is that it’s a penalty, not a tax, and you can’t write it off. Otherwise, I’d just speed once a month and call it a business expense
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Well even though I don’t live down in Washington to benefit from it, thanks Jacob! With that nice truck of yours, I’m sure you had to really test its power out on the freeway.
I was wondering if anyone would point out that it isn’t technically a tax. You’re right it isn’t really one, but it is money that the government can put to use. So from their perspective it isn’t much different.
I’ve almost gotten them twice. Once when I was young and so I cried – it worked. Another time the cop had to go deal with another problem, so told me if I fought it’d I’d get off. So I did. I think I’ve learned my lesson though – haven’t been pulled over in years now!
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Crying is one way to get out of it, for a chick anyway. Nice to hear you’ve managed to get out of both almost tickets. So you get no thanks lol.
I’ve been pulled over twice fo speeding. The first time I got away with a warning. The second time was last Thanksgiving. We were going to my in-laws, and there was a construction zone on the way. Now it was a holiday, there was no work going on, and there were no lane closures or anything. We were going 5 mph over the regular limit, which ended up being 15 mph over the construction zone limit. Luckily the cop gave us the normal ticket rather than doubling it like they nomally do in construction zone. I was mad, but at myself.
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I always wondered whether those construction speed limits still applied when nobody is working there. Glad the cop gave you a bit of leeway there. The construction zone tickets can get quite expensive, but that’s probably best to protect all the workers.
I don’t think you’re town was that small if it had a dairy queen. We got nothing and the closest McDonald’s is an hour away. Having said that, we have also been guilty of running in for a quick burg run late at nite. But we never speed…..*wink, wink*. I got my first ticket just last year after 15 years of driving. I averaged it out to about $10 s year. That made me feel better.
What?! Not even a Dairy Queen or A&W?? It seems that every small BC town has one or the other. That’s not bad at all to get just 1 speeding ticket in 15 years of driving. Hopefully that wasn’t on a McDonalds run too lol.
There is a speed trap right outside my house. Like clockwork, between 9 and 10 pm there is someone pulled over just outside my front door. I must confess, that I get a certain degree of pleasure in watching it all. Especially when there is a field sobriety test underway.
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That would be entertaining to watch. Who doesn’t crane their neck to glance at someone pulled over by a cop? It’s just nice knowing it’s not you behind the wheel.
On my 18th birthday, I got a ticket for doing 71 in a 45. A $200 ticket is not a fun birthday present! I’ve always maintained that I wasn’t doing as fast as the cop said. No more than 65. Ever since then, I haven’t had much taste for speeding. I usually keep it to 5 over. But when I got out of work at 2am one night and had to report back 5 hours later, I somehow made my 10 mile commute in 11 minutes!
Nope a ticket on your birthday is no fun. Must’ve got a real hard ass cop to not give you a warning on your birthday. I thought I was over driving fast but on a recent road trip I was going a lot faster than I should’ve, but it was just too tempting on that particular highway.