Bonneville America Forums Forums Rider Safety Forums Riding Technique Small towns & posted speed zones

..now I have to preface this with the fact I'm not a road burner (ask FriarJohn if you don't believe that) & in a former life two states ago spent some time in a car running a radar gun. There are times on the open road however, that a motorcycle just needs to go a bit above the posted limits. This afternoon I was minding my business at a sane ** mph, arriving at the edge of the neighboring 'burg' I immediately slowed prior to the the posted 45, fortunately so since the local gendarm was there waiting for me (and others). As most of you realize, the letter of the law is followed to the letter of the law in many municipalities.
Reminds me a an old veterinarian who used to take me along fishing as a young lad. He drove one of those front wheel drive Olds Toronadoes for farm visits and an old flathead Willys jeep to drag the boat around. The Willys couldn't go over 45 mph, but that's the one he collected all his fines with, since he went 45 mph on the highway and maintained 45 mph through every little hamlet. Every kid needs a proper role model.

Back to the neighboring burg, there's a little downhill knoll within the posted 25 zone, I have had lights flashed at me for going 27. Granted the local JP probably would toss a minor infraction, but I live by the credo "when in Rome....", while travelling the rural landscapes.

Well maybe its just me but it seems if I try to obey the speed limit to the letter, every tom,dick and etc try to pass me. They don't seem to care which side of the road they pass me on either. I'v had four cylinder cars runing on at best three, with smoke helping keep the varmits down want to pass me at posted speeds. Is it just me or do motorcycles seem to ****** off the average motorist. I try to be nice, really.

I have the utmost respect for police in general, their job can go from routine to a nightmare in a heartbeat.
But, and there's always a "but", we have some in the local boroughs and townships who could use a little more people skills and maturity.
I normally ride and drive the speed limit +5 mph unless it is a 15 or 25 mph zone. Usually when it's posted that low there's a reason.... so I keep it at that speed.

Are you taking the speedo margin of error into account?

ImOK,

I figure it's about 10 mph off (high) at 65 mph, others have reported that here. I'm trying to talk one of my officer friends into running a speedgun on it, or adjust the speedometer so that it reflects actual speed. That was discussed on the "old board".

I've heard tell that our speedos are 10% off. That is with stock tires. Thus 40 mph is really 36mph and 60 is 54. When you ride past radar signs look at your speedo back to back with what the radar sign says you're traveling. Lynn used to get annoyed that I always speed, 5 mph as a rule over the limit, until I demonstrated via the radar signs that I wasn't! Slowing down in rural communities is a given. Some of the routes I run through GA are so rural that it is not uncommon to have a child chasing a ball into the road or even using the road as a play ground. So I slow down for the kids. Did I mention animals? Many times I have rolled into southern towns only to see an officer parked under the canapy of a pecan grove, waiting waiting waiting... Yes, when in Rome, be part of Rome! It helps to have short hair and not roll too heavily on the throttle as well! Rural roads are truley Americana. That is they are made to enjoy. Slabs are for getting there.

There are some towns, may in the midwest, where the primary source of revenue is traffic fines. A dead giveaway is when you see a 45 mph speed limit sign at the edge of town and a 25 mph sign 1/2 block later behind a tree.

I can vouch for Freedom's lack of any inclination towards speeding. I'm ALWAYS having to wait for him to catch up...

Does anybody know if the laser used by the Highway Patrol is visible? I was travelling with traffic this morning when I saw a patrolman shoot his laser at me. I swear I saw an amber light. I quickly changed lanes and was able to get past him without a ticket.
I'm pretty sure they point the laser at the front of a car. What do they point it at on a motorcycle?

It is INVISIBLE infrared light emited in pulses,(usually around 100 pulse per second) not a continuous stream (like a flashlight) and at a specific frequency (904 nanometers if you must know). The "amber" you saw may have been a reflection off the highly polished lenses on the front of the instrument....

Hi Greybeard, What it boils down to in hick towns is this: What mood is the officer in? Some officers will shoot the breeze with you, others will pull you for speeding even if you were going 5mph below the speed limit. Hate to say it, but being as how the officers are the law (for all intents and purposes, they do have arrest powers), I try to avoid them when I can. Now in West Virginia, whoa I won't go there!

Here is a link for speedtrap listings. http://www.speedtrap.org/speedtraps/stetlist.asp
There are several of these, just do a web search for speed trap.

Darn Greybeard:
I always knew I had it bad here but that speedtrap list makes me even more gun shy. In Washington it is easier just to say every town and city is a speed trap. Well I always try to stay at the limits, but I sure would like to know how fast I am really going. It seems everyones gotta pass me. I was merging into traffic the other day and even though the other guy had the right of way he just wasn't going to let me in. I was indicating 80 and he just had to not let me in by speeding up. It was slow down time.
Dave

Pass you and tailgate too? Like I find people doing to me a lot? Like endangering my safety is going to get them there faster so they can hurry up and wait for whatever it is they just HAD to do 5 minutes ago? Sense a little sarcasm here? Sorry 'bout that...had to vent a moment. The way I see it is some people don't understand they are essentially guiding 3000 to 8000 (or more) pound BULLETS down the road, but are set in the complacency that nothing, no nothing, bad could POSSIBLY happen to them. Said individuals also probably don't understand that on a typical 20 mile trip, going 65mph opposed to 55 will only get you there a whopping 3 minutes quicker, IF you can maintain that speed the entire distance. 3 minutes worth someone's life? Don't think so....
While I don't really care if someone drives like a bat out of hell when no one else is around, I don't particularly care to be placed in harm's way or see other people put there because someone has no regard for safety and thinks they're immortal....I'm done now....

If you catch a cop in a good mood, maybe on payday, you might be able to get him to give you a free reading for a box of donuts.

On my last job, I used to commute some 40 miles on hte freeway. To pass the time, I would try to keep tabs on someone driving like an idiot. On one trip, some fool started out behind me. I counted 37 or 38 lane changes that included about 15 near misses and he ended up 3 cars behind where he was.