Rikkitic:

Geektastic: 

Interesting that so many think that the sensible thing to do is to attempt to find ways to outsmart the law instead of just not speeding....
have to take your case to the magistrates.

I think part of the problem is perception. Often, the law is an ass. Using penalties to correct driver behaviour is necessarily a blunt instrument, but it is also often incompetently applied by the authorities. A good example is the many, many instances where a 30 km/h roadworks limit is left in place long after it is needed, and sometimes when it is not needed at all. As a result, drivers stop taking these notices seriously and tragedies can and do happen on the rare occasions when the sign actually means what it says.

In other cases, drivers have their own perception of what is an appropriate speed for the conditions. Sometimes they are right, sometimes they are not. But when the authorities do not live up to their responsibility to set reasonable limits and adjust them as necessary, it is hard to blame drivers for failing to respect them. The police act like the law is a one-way street, and in a sense it is, but in a larger sense they and other authorities also have a moral duty to ensure that law enforcement is seen to be fair and reasonable by those who get caught. Yes, a few will always feel hard done by but I am talking about normal people who can tell when they are in the wrong and accept it.

I would like to know what the statistics are for speed crashes within 10 km/h of the limit. I suspect, but don't know, that most serious crashes occur at much higher speeds. In that case, ticketing someone for going 4 or 10 km/h over the limit isn't going to make much difference. Oh, right. Isn't that the situation we have now?