Wrong. There is a 5mph margin of error, and anyone that would get a ticket for going 4mph over the limit, the cop was purely taking advantage of the fact that he wasn't a local. I sure as heck know my speedo on the Mini is off by a few mph to the true speed it's going, as is the same on the VW GTI that I had before my MCCS.

Back in January, I drove my wife's car down to FL (Acura RDX). For some odd reason my V1 fuse was blown and I couldn't use it, nor could I find anyone at that time of the night to get a new mini fuse. A few hours into the ride Radar-less, I remembered Trapster, which I have had in past phones, I just never re-installed it when I changed my phone earlier this year. (For those of you that hasn't heard of it, go to www.trapster.com - good stuff). I downloaded it and used it for the ride down. Worked flawlessly as expected. Great to use for these kinds of trips. It picked up just about every speed trap (whether there was anyone there or not was another story, but the pre-warning is great), red light camera and speed camera on the way down. It also warned me of a trap in NC, which I saw while driving at about 80 (70mph zone), I started to slow down to about 75, passed the trap, saw 2 patrol cars and kept going my way. A few minutes later one of the highway patrol cars come behind me and pulls me over. Says he clocked me going 78, which I didn't deny, but couldn't believe that I was getting pulled over for going 8 over. He ended up being a decent guy, we exchanged a few words (good words), he gave me a warning and sent me on my way.

THAT is what should have happened if you went a little over the limit. A warning, if you're dealing with a decent officer. You can say what you want, speed limits are speed limits, but find me ANYONE that goes the speed limit these days. I don't go by speed limit, I go by flow of traffic. When I got pulled over in NC at that time, I was going maybe 2-3mph faster than the flow, FWIW.

 

Glad I didn't try to make them then. I was told at the farewell dinner that TN was going to open it. Sorry it didn't happen.

 

I would sure love to see the data supporting this "5 mph margin of error ?"

Is this the error of doppler radar used for determining the speed of the oncoming vehicle or error of deflection while using a laser radar ?

Even if you are referring to some Auto manufacturers purported + or - 2% magin of error for the speedo, even at 65 mph that would be 1.3 MPH and not some 5-6 mph !

 

Thanks Gray Raven for being a web GPS and calculating my trip milage, speed and being the long arm of the law on the web.

You have a PM reply!

 

You got lucky in Florida then. I used to be a LEO in Fla. Florida law states you can be given a citation for one MPH over the limit. And there are some towns in north central Fla that do it on a real regular basis. Now they have plenty of "Reduced Speed Ahead" signs and speed limits that go down in 5 and 10 MPH increments.

I asked my instructors at the police academy about how much of a speedometer error we are allowed to apply. He said the state of Florida allows for no speedometer errors, period.

Now that's not to say that individual PD's can set a margin of error SOP. I know the judges in the area where I used to work didn't like to see a speeding citation for any less than 15 over the posted limit, unless there were special conditions, i.e. school zones, weather conditions, etc.

 

Seems that Gray Raven is enacting his own laws? I also got an infraction despite Edge clearing the posts before his with a warning.

 

While varying degrees of latitude have been given, none of the infractions I've reviewed were unjust.

As many here feel the need to gripe about their inability to follow the guidelines which they agreed to when they joined the site, this thread is now closed.