There’s no reason why he should be allowed to keep his driver’s license after the third infraction. Pull it for a few years, and then if he keeps doing it, then that’s going to be a permanent ban from driving.
Also, how are the cameras configured to only issue violations after 11 mph over the speed limit? It’s a limit, any amount over it is illegal
Yeah agreed, 11mph seems crazy. Usually in Europe they give a 3km/h margin, to prevent discussion around miss-calibrated camera systems and errors in the speed indicated within the car. But anything above that and you get a ticket.
Cameras in Sweden trigger at 6 km/h over the limit, apparently. Picture taken at a distance of 14 meters. Seems reasonable as well. Gauges in cars are calibrated to show slightly over actual speed, as a safety precaution. Drivers all know this, so they usually drive 5–10 km/h over the limit instead (which is their own fault, admittedly). But if you don’t have cruise control it’s easy to drift around the speed you’re trying to hold even when trying to drive right on the limit, and ~5 km/h in either direction seems like reasonable drift.
I recently bought a new car and found that, basing upon the difference showed on my speedometer and the google maps displayed speed, it’s closer to 5% over actual speed until around 100km/h when it falls to a flat 5km/h over (tested up to around 130km/h displayed speed). All cars are calibrated to show higher speeds on speedometers than actual speed, but the variance isn’t always as high as 10%.
Yeah, American speed limits are usually treated as suggestions. My usual commute is 70MPH, but traffic regularly flows anywhere between 80 and 85. I remember a chat I had with a cop a while back, and she mentioned that her go-to number was 13. So like at 12 over the limit, she wouldn’t bother. But at 13, she’d initiate a stop.
It meant if she recognized someone from a previous stop, she could just go “wait, I think I remember you… Didn’t I bust you for doing 43 in a 30 last time?” Their actual speed didn’t really matter, because she just used 13 over the limit every time, unless it was something egregious like twice the limit. That “wait, don’t I know you” line would immediately shut down any hopes they had of talking their way out of the ticket, because now they’ve been caught again and they think she actually remembers the specific stop.
I’ve no idea how true it is but I’ve read that vehicle speedometers aren’t 100% accurate, so one vehicle going a displayed 30mph might be going the same speed as another vehicle displayed at 35mph.
There’s probably some leeway built into the system to cover inaccuracies like that, as well as in the cameras own speed detection ability
I’ve definitely went by those speed display signs that say slow down and show your speed and they’ve been wrong quite often by upwards of 5-10mph.
your speedometer is calibrated to a specific wheel diameter and is unaware of changes due to tire pressure, wear, using different tires (i.e. winter vs summer tires) etc. All it “knows” is that the vehicle travels x meters per wheel revolution, but that x constantly changes.
This also means your odometer will be off by some margin, and should really only be used as a ballpark value.
Most manufacturers deliberately include an error on the speedo so they report 5km/h high (about 3mph). My two cars have 2km/h and 3km/h errors
You can look up the speedometer error for most cars, you can test your own using a stopwatch and a measured distance and maths, or a GPS that shows speed to one decimal place. I use GPS essentials
There’s no reason why he should be allowed to keep his driver’s license after the third infraction. Pull it for a few years, and then if he keeps doing it, then that’s going to be a permanent ban from driving.
Also, how are the cameras configured to only issue violations after 11 mph over the speed limit? It’s a limit, any amount over it is illegal
Yeah agreed, 11mph seems crazy. Usually in Europe they give a 3km/h margin, to prevent discussion around miss-calibrated camera systems and errors in the speed indicated within the car. But anything above that and you get a ticket.
Cameras in Sweden trigger at 6 km/h over the limit, apparently. Picture taken at a distance of 14 meters. Seems reasonable as well. Gauges in cars are calibrated to show slightly over actual speed, as a safety precaution. Drivers all know this, so they usually drive 5–10 km/h over the limit instead (which is their own fault, admittedly). But if you don’t have cruise control it’s easy to drift around the speed you’re trying to hold even when trying to drive right on the limit, and ~5 km/h in either direction seems like reasonable drift.
Yeah, all cars I drove consistently showed 10% over the actual speed I was going, when compared to GPS speed.
I recently bought a new car and found that, basing upon the difference showed on my speedometer and the google maps displayed speed, it’s closer to 5% over actual speed until around 100km/h when it falls to a flat 5km/h over (tested up to around 130km/h displayed speed). All cars are calibrated to show higher speeds on speedometers than actual speed, but the variance isn’t always as high as 10%.
Currently driving a 2025 Volvo EV which shows 1–2 km/h over actual speed at 40 km/h.
Yeah I was only driving analogue shit boxes from the 90s ;D
9 you’re fine, 10 your mine.
We all know the speed limit is a minimum speed recommendation
Yeah, American speed limits are usually treated as suggestions. My usual commute is 70MPH, but traffic regularly flows anywhere between 80 and 85. I remember a chat I had with a cop a while back, and she mentioned that her go-to number was 13. So like at 12 over the limit, she wouldn’t bother. But at 13, she’d initiate a stop.
It meant if she recognized someone from a previous stop, she could just go “wait, I think I remember you… Didn’t I bust you for doing 43 in a 30 last time?” Their actual speed didn’t really matter, because she just used 13 over the limit every time, unless it was something egregious like twice the limit. That “wait, don’t I know you” line would immediately shut down any hopes they had of talking their way out of the ticket, because now they’ve been caught again and they think she actually remembers the specific stop.
I’ve no idea how true it is but I’ve read that vehicle speedometers aren’t 100% accurate, so one vehicle going a displayed 30mph might be going the same speed as another vehicle displayed at 35mph.
There’s probably some leeway built into the system to cover inaccuracies like that, as well as in the cameras own speed detection ability
I’ve definitely went by those speed display signs that say slow down and show your speed and they’ve been wrong quite often by upwards of 5-10mph.
your speedometer is calibrated to a specific wheel diameter and is unaware of changes due to tire pressure, wear, using different tires (i.e. winter vs summer tires) etc. All it “knows” is that the vehicle travels x meters per wheel revolution, but that x constantly changes.
This also means your odometer will be off by some margin, and should really only be used as a ballpark value.
Most manufacturers deliberately include an error on the speedo so they report 5km/h high (about 3mph). My two cars have 2km/h and 3km/h errors
You can look up the speedometer error for most cars, you can test your own using a stopwatch and a measured distance and maths, or a GPS that shows speed to one decimal place. I use GPS essentials
GPS speed is very accurate.