March 19

No More Speeding Tickets: Reduce Your Risk with These Tips

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  • Numb buns
  • Only 1 CD
  • Setting Records
  • Just not giving a care

Just some of the reasons why I choose to go faster than the posted limit during longer trips.

A 400 mile trip (roughly the distance from Los Angeles to San Francisco) would take you 6 hours 9 minutes if you averaged the posted speed limit—65 mph. If you averaged 75mph, the trip would take you 5 hours 20 minutes—49 minutes faster. If you averaged 85 mph, the trip would take you 4 hours 42 minutes—1 hour 27 minutes faster.

I like to do these calculations before I head out on a road trip to see the risk vs. reward for the trip. 20mph over the limit is about the max I’m willing to risk and if I can save at least half an hour off my drive, I’m stoked. I just took a road trip from Vail, Colorado to Santa Barbara, California, which is about 1,000 miles. I averaged 15mph over the speed limit and saved myself 2.5 hours that I had to be on the road.

I try to lower the chance of getting a speeding ticket as much as possible using these tips…

  • Plan to do the driving during non-business hours

    Most cops have normal working hours like the rest of us—Monday through Friday 9-5. Now that’s not to say you’re not going see cops outside of these hours but the chance of seeing a cop on a Sunday at 10pm is much lower than Monday at 3pm.

    Try to drive when cop numbers are lower – late night and early morning.

  • Think like a cop; anticipate where they will be hiding

    If you were a cop and you were trying to hit your monthly speeding ticket quota, what would you do? I would go to places where I could catch the most speeders with minimal amounts of effort.

    Here are the top places I’ve seen cops stake out to catch people speeding:

    When speed is reduced – There are some areas where the speed limit will suddenly reduce. Where the new speed limit sign is posted is where the law is applied. If you break that plane and you haven’t slowed down to the new speed you are breaking the law. This is why cops will camp out just past the sign with a radar gun and nail you for going 65 in a 55 zone.

    Start of a small towns – Two reasons to watch out for smaller towns: The speed will most likely be reduced as you enter these areas and it’s easy picking for small town cops to pick off speeders passing though, rather than trying to catch the locals. Think like a cop, would you rather drive 50 miles out in the middle of nowhere to catch speeders or wait on the edge of town where you’re still close enough to feed that potbelly a double bacon cheeseburger?

    Bridges and overpasses (see diagram below) – Cops like to wait up on raised on ramps next to bridges where you can’t see them (you’re the blue car) and point their radar gun where the arrow is pointing. Right when you come under that bridge speeding, they have you.











    Around Corners and over hills where the visibility is low.

 

  • Wait for someone to pass you and then go their speed

    This is probably my favorite tactic as it lowers your risk considerably. Make sure you keep a good distance between you as I have seen cops pull over multiple cars at once. You should make sure you can see their brake lights and use this as a great warning to slow down if you see them light up. Get behind someone with a radar detector and it’s better than taking a one wipe poo, be stoked for this.

    Sometimes you’ll get involved in what I like to call a “Speed Pack” which is where at least 3 cars are all speeding together and taking turns being the leader. I was once involved in a pack of 7 cars for about 200 miles. We shared a bond that day, the speed pack bond.

  • Use some common sense
    • If you’re traveling in a one man speed pack I like to keep the speed between 7-10mph over to minimize risk, unless I’m in low risk areas (e.g. a high visibility straight away or traveling at 11pm on a Sunday)

    • Speed on straightaways where the visibility is high, slow down when you see oncoming traffic if you can’t tell what type of car it is.
    • If you see a cop, brake hard and fast and hope for the best.
    • Be able to recognize a cop car from afar, especially at night. The cop cars in California are Dodge Chargers so this is what I look for when I’m out at night:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And to close out the post I’ll leave you with some smart ass comments heard from cops…

  • “You don’t know how fast you were going? I guess that means I can write anything I want to on the ticket, huh?”
  • “Warning! You want a warning? Okay, I’m warning you not to do that again or I’ll give you another ticket.”
  • “Yeah, we have a quota. Two more tickets and my wife gets a toaster oven.”
  • “No sir, we don’t have quotas anymore. We used to, but now we’re allowed to write as many tickets as we can.”
  • “You didn’t think we give pretty women tickets? You’re right, we don’t. Sign here.”

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