WTF??? This is wrong on so many levels.

Yeah. You are likely ******ed.

The people that do this generally stop way, way too far from the car in front of them because they aren't paying attention. Then they notice, and move up.

If you leave yourself enough space and pay attention to your surroundings, there's no reason to continually creep forward at stops like a mouthbreathing donkey****er.

Was your driving instructor Asian by chance?

With the economy, you'd be lucky to get out of any tickets, right now. IIRC, there are some states where you could have a chance to fight it though. For instance, in Pennsylvania, the can't give you a ticket unless it is at least 10 over the speed limit.

+1 on you sucking at driving

That cannot possibly be true.

this is awesome, instead of law enforcement we should have vigilante justice like this. i hereby authorize you to do this.

It turns out to be truer than I imagined - sources vary, but one says

This is amazing to me. What's the point in having the limit?

You come to a red light and stop with about 3 or 4 car lengths in front of you. Then you pay attention to the car behind you. If its approaching fast enough that its going to hit you, you have room to move up and not get rear-ended. Once you have a car or two behind you, you're no longer at risk of being rear ended and can close the gap so as not to string out traffic.

There's literally zero risk of increasing your chances of being rear ended. There's some chance you avoid getting rear-ended. Seems like a pretty simple decision to me.

Edit: This isn't so important in cities with small blocks and lots of traffic, but I always do it when driving on city roads with ~50mph speed limits and occasional stop lights.

Edit 2: I don't mean "inch forward" as in stop and go. I mean "inch forward" as in take your foot off the brake and close the distance.

jjshabado: this doesn't make very much sense. there is some increased risk of you getting rear-ended - because you're stopping [censored] short at the light.

What? Sure, if there's a car directly behind you. In which case, you should be slowing at a reasonable rate so you know he's paying attention to you.

If the car's not directly behind you, he's going to see you. And if he doesn't, I'd rather have space to move forward anyway because that guys not paying attention.

fyp

Huh? Whether or not you pay a ticket depends on several things, least of which is ability to prove to the judge that 69 is a lower number than 65. If the judge is in a pissy mood you're probably paying. If not, you might get off.

lol

This girl at my work just said her 8pm court was running an hour late and the 9pm people were filing in and the judge started calling people up to the bench 3 at a time and just dismissed like 100 of the 8pm people (and likely did the same for the 9pm people as they all witnessed this). She said someone was there with 5 tickets and they were all dismissed. Because the city I live in sucks, and it's not entirely because I live here.

it doesn't make any sense, but the argument against it is long and pointless. basically you are decreasing the person's stopping distance at first, with the possibility of making it the same as what it would be anyway.

i mean, it's really nothing, but if i ever rode in your car i'd definitely make fun of you for this habit, as it has no basis in logic.

Anyone that I know thats gone to traffic court has either had their ticket thrown out or plea bargained down to less than 50% of the amount because the court is backed up and the judge only wants to spend time on dangerous/serious traffic offenses.

I can't even imagine a 3 mph over ticket getting to the judge.

I guess this could vary by jurisdiction.

Your point about stopping distance isn't valid when the car behind you is past a certain distance away. People approaching an intersection don't judge their stopping distance from the stop light. They judge it from the rear bumper of the car closest to them.

Hah, this is true. I'm going back to "The Pacific" thread.

well i have gone to traffic court too (multiple times) and i'm telling you it is massively dependent on the judge you draw. it's not some magical get out of ticket free card like some people make it out to be.

She may not have been.

City roads with 50mph speed limits? Don't really exist here. I could see why you'd want a bit of extra room if cars are coming up on you at 50-60mph.

I'm talking city streets with speeds averaging 25-35 mph. There is no reason for people to stop short in these situations, and certainly not 2-3 carlengths.

Fwiw, where I live, a road with 50 mph+ speeds and occasional stoplights would probably be considered a "country road."

This isn't true. Even if you plea bargain, you still have to talk to the judge. The reason they plea bargain so much is because they don't want to waste time on fighting the case against you if you have a good lawyer. Also, less than 50%? That's a joke. They just change the charge so you get less points or no points at all, but usually you pay a fine that's similar to the charge you got plus court fees.

I've gone to traffic court 5 or 6 times. The only time I paid less than I expected was when I got 2 tickets, and they dropped 1 charge completely.

If you go to a big city/town that has hundreds of people showing up, some will drop the charges completely if you make a donation to an organization like the American Heart Association. I had that happen to me in CT once.

Whoever is telling you 50% is just BS'ing through their ass.

Those aren't uncommon in Texas. Not urban, but definitely not country roads. Feeder roads for highways will regularly be that fast, and major non-highway roads are often times 50mph+.

How does this work? Does the judge bring it up to you as an option or do you bring it up like "Your honor, I admit I was driving over the speed limit but it was because I was so eager to deliver my check to the American Heart Association."

LOL, believe me I was shocked. I was living in NJ and got a ticket for running a red light in Stamford, CT. I went to court to fight it. The attourney looked at the ticket and said they don't plea bargain but he would drop the charges if I made a $75 donation the AHA. I took it in a heartbeat. The ticket was $80 I think.

mom got pulled over doing 30 in a 25, and brother got pulled over doing 47 in a 40 with tickets near pittsburgh, pa - so is that law new or do you just mean if you take it to the court they will always dismiss it?

I once got a terrible driver owned...I feel bad for him, but its still funny to me.

I'm cruising along the 401 in Ontario at about 130Km/h. I'm approaching some cars in the right lane and I can tell that the ****er in the back is going to pop out in front of me and cause me to slam on my brakes and slow down. So I approach and prepare and obv it happens. So once I realize he's going to maintain is 110 speed I do what any roadraging moron would do and start to ride his ass. This actually got his attention! he starts to speed up, and I keep riding his ass and we hit 130 while going around a bend...O **** ITS THE COPS!!!!

I lay off the gas obv and move into the right lane...1 min later the cop flys by me and a warm feeling courses through me as he gets pulled over. The warm feeling was mostly him taking the bullet for me, not that I got him owned.

This was in Ontario, and its true. Do you really believe that every jurisdiction handles it the way your traffic court does?

Edit: In fact what usually happens in Ontario (from my small sample size) is that they reduce the speed you're charged with. For instance my original ticket was for doing 135 in a 90, but they dropped it to 115 in a 90. You then get the fine and points for that new ticket.

And yes, it can happen before you see a judge.

jjshabado, i've noticed people who brake as you describe, and i absolutely am more likely to rear-end you than i am other drivers. in large part it's because i am not braking based solely on where you are, i am also braking in anticipation of where i need to stop at. there is basically no way to predict "guy in front of me is going to stop way short for some reason", so i invariably end up braking hard right up on you wondering wtf you're doing and deciding on what slurs to be spouting.


lately i've been hating people who will pull out in front of you and cut you off, and think it's ok because they're turning immediately off the road again. so like if someone turns out of a gas station, it's ok if they drive 10 mph down the road because they're making the first right 100 feet up the road, meanwhile i'm going 45 and have to slam on my brakes behind you.