How Many MPH Over the Speed Limit?

[Rob613]

Mostly 65 on the interstate around here, set the cruise at 73 and don’t even get a second look. Too many NJ drivers doing 80+ for the troopers to even care about me.

 

[dasnake]

Here's a laff....

Early 80s I was doing a run between LA and Diego, clipping 75, down the median was an Amtrak going way faster than me, grabbed a handful to match and top end at 105 mph, i was thinking wow, backed off cuz I didn't think a state patrol would care for my story, whenever I think of fast tracking something that always comes to mind.

 

[Peak53]

Long, long ago (why does that refrain keep coming up?) I did some arithmetic on how much time you could save at a certain speed over a certain distance. This was of interest because I had a car that would fly and did quite a bit of cross-country flying, sometimes at, umm, significant speeds. Turns out (and I'm not going to redo the calcs), if you are driving, say, 500 miles, and average 10-15 mph over the speed limit, you can save some real time. With a shorter trip almost nothing but insane speed is going to save actual time, while endangering yourself and others. The real key is to never slow down to 0 mph. Pitt stops are what costs time.

 

[TX-Dennis]

I generally do 5mph over the limit. There was a time in my younger days when I regularly did 100mph or more even on busy roads. I'm a bit smarter (or less courageous) these days. 5 over is usually ignored in Texas.

I've had local cops tell me that anything under 10 over will be ignored, but that isn't always true. A few years back I was cruising at 80 on a freeway with a posted limit of 75. A DPS trooper fell in behind me, followed closely for several minutes, and then lit me up. Told me he clocked me at 2 mph over the limit and wanted to know why I didn't slow down when I saw him behind me. I told him the truth - I saw you there, but I wasn't concerned because I wasn't going that fast. He gave me a verbal warning only.

My last actual speeding ticket was about 25 years ago. I was merging onto the freeway (75) from the frontage road (45). I was stopped by a local cop who said he clocked me at 62 on the frontage road. I argued that I was actually on the ramp and was accelerating up to highway speed. I still believe that was true. He didn't. Wrote me for 62 in a 45. Ticket cost me $212 that I really couldn't afford in those days.

 

[LVSteve]

For those puzzled by the difference between the speed display signs and your speedometer, it's called Cosine Angle Error. Radar is only 100% accurate when it is reading directly in front of or behind the vehicle. As the radar is positioned further away from the direct line it reads slower. At 45 degrees it would display a vehicle traveling 50 MPH as 25 MPH. At a 90 degree angle it will give no reading since there is no relative movement between the vehicle and radar unit.

Actually, the cosine of 45° is .707, so it would read 35 mph. To get a 5% error the "off angle" has to be 18°, and at the distance you can see those signs, your off angle is most likely under 10°.

When it comes to speedometer error, European cars are not permitted to under read the speed when fitted with the specified tires. That's why pretty much all German cars, especially BMWs, read faster than you are traveling.

As for me, I work on the "five over is keeping up with traffic, 10 over is speeding" rule when cruising on a multi-lane highway. The exception to that is when I need to break contact with "cuddlers", "formation flyers" or a "knot of indecisive tailgaters". Consequently, I spend most of my time in the right lane.

On two-lane roads I have a habit that I was taught in England that would not endear me to most LE in the US, nor back in the UK with the speed camera scourge that they now suffer. When passing I have the throttle nailed until level with the last vehicle I am passing. This limits my time on the wrong side of the road to a minimum. What speed I am doing at that point is immaterial.

 

[TX-Dennis]

. . .

On two-lane roads I have a habit that I was taught in England that would not endear me to most LE in the US, nor back in the UK with the speed camera scourge that they now suffer. When passing I have the throttle nailed until level with the last vehicle I am passing. This limits my time on the wrong side of the road to a minimum. What speed I am doing at that point is immaterial.

I'm with you on that one. Nail it until you are past and back into the proper lane of travel.

 

[Squarebutt]

I got a few well-deserved speeding tickets when I was young, then nothing but a couple of warnings for being slightly over the limit over the next 25 years.
Driving the interstate across southern Illinois pulling a box trailer behind my F350, I passed under a big cloverleaf intersection and soon got lit up by a state trooper for 62 in a 55, because of the staggered limit that allows 65 for four-wheelers and 55 for trucks and trailers. As I pulled away I could see several more cruisers poised on the ramp, so I guess I paid the state of Illinois $180 for the crime of having out of state plates on revenue day. On the return trip we set the cruise at 54 and held up traffic all the way across the state.

 

[JohnRippert]

5mph over unless I am passing.

 

[GaryS]

On our trip down south this past March, my wife and I observed that the fastest drivers were in cars with either NY or NJ plates. Didn't seem overly bright to us to be zipping through VA, SC, or NC well over the speed limit with out of state plates.

Ironically, when we got back into MA, the very first car we saw stopped by the police had NY plates.

Mostly 65 on the interstate around here, set the cruise at 73 and don’t even get a second look. Too many NJ drivers doing 80+ for the troopers to even care about me.

 

[meaneyedcatz]

On the interstate I typically do 9 over. In town it’s the sped limit.

I drive on two lane highways to/from work. I’m ok with drivers doing 50 in the 55.
But it really irks me when a driver is doing 40 in a 55 and hitting the brakes on every corner. Then when we pass through the small town along the way, it’s 50 in a 40 every time!!!

 

[anoblefox]

The only tickets I received in my younger days were for speeding. I am now at the age that I do not need to be in a hurry to go anywhere. I have a very simple rule about speeding, I try not to exceed the posted limit by any more than ten percent. I must be doing something right, I have not had any citations since 1985!
I will add that my wife's car (2016 Passat) goes into a seeming freewheeling manner while going down a long downhill and it is tough for me to ride the brakes to keep within my ten percent. My 2003 Jetta went 203K miles on the original front brake pads!

 

[SMSgt]

On I-95 here in Florida most folks run about 80 MPH it seems, some slower and some faster.

Paced a Ferrari on I-75 once when going to Pensacola. He was doing 100 MPH. Will see if I can find the picture of the speedometer that my Wife took to send to her Brother, while she was fussing for me to slow down.

FHP trooper--one who joyfully would write his mom a ticket--told me, "Over nine and you're mine."

 

[Beemerguy53]

Traffic engineers have long known that the typical driver maintains a speed that is safe and comfortable, regardless of the numbers posted on a speed limit sign. This is why the 55-mph federal National Maximum Speed Limit was such a dismal failure years ago...it didn't conform with the good judgment of most motorists, and few people obeyed it.

Regarding practical speeds...in my experience, anything less than 10 over should be okay, but you never know....

 

[G-Mac]

I guess the other rule of thumb I have is if I am driving over the limit, I try not to be the lead car in the caravan.

I don't want to be the last car in the caravan.

 

[hemiram]

I tend to drive about 5 MPH over on 40MPH and up roads, but that all goes out the window on several roads in this area. On I75 into Michigan, if you go anywhere close to the speed limit, you're an idiot, and people will tell you so, usually with a finger, because last 2 times I went up to Monroe, the slowest semi was going 75, and most were doing 80+. With the heavy traffic there is, it's kind of scary to be going that fast with a semi right behind you. There is a road I go down in town once in a while, and the limit is 35, which is totally ignored and it's pretty ridiculous anyway, it's 4 lanes with a center turn lane, and once it gets past most of the businesses on it, IMHO, it should be raised to 45 min. The local cops rarely write up anyone going under 50, but if you get one of them in a bad mood, they do.

In 2019, I went on the Ohio Turnpike from Maumee to Port Clinton. I never was below 80, and at one point, my GPS said I was doing 95! I was passing nothing, except semis getting on the pike. It was crazy. I was shocked when an OSP car passed us going the other way, and he never even touched his brakes. I totally expected him to cross over and at least pull some of us over. The scanner had little turnpike traffic on it the whole way there. On the way back, at no time did I break 70, and only got to 70 when an OSP trooper gave me the thumbs up for my car and yelled, "You can do 70, and nobody will care!". It was like the Westbound TP was another road than the Eastbound side was, where cars were still flying.

 

[StrawHat]

It has been said the Amish buggies pass me!

Kevin

 

[OLDSTER]

Speed limit in town; small town like I live in, $50-$75 bucks isn't worth arriving a minute sooner. On the highways the same, even though most interstates give ya 5 mph leeway.

 

[brucev]

I go with the flow. I stay with the traffic and don't do a bunch of bobbing and weaving trying to move a little bit faster. If everyone is running 80, I'll probably still run 78 or so. So far ... so good. Just remember, there are no $100 tickets. Sincerely. bruce.

 

[Greyman50]

USUALLY, there will be one maybe two drivers in a “ pack” of vehicles on the interstate or 4 lane divided state highways that want to go faster. Let them go as used to call them “ rabbits”, stay with the group or a little to the back of such group, not first or last.

 

[TeamPB]

In town it is the posted speed limit for me, always. On the highway, well, it depends. Eight MPH over is almost always what I drive, but sometimes it is not enough to stay out of the herd. I am an attentive and engaged driver. I think operating a motor vehicle is one of the most important things anyone can do. If I am pulled over, very rare, I do not mind paying the state my penalty, I think they deserve their cut. On the other hand, the evil, exploitive, dare I say near usurious behavior that my and all auto insurers will subsequently engage in is almost more than I can handle.