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by soora 4664 days ago
Most of us also commit a crime every time we drive a car by driving over the speed limit.

Selective enforcement is pretty wide spread. It would be wonderful if at some point in the future the law was changed, however it is too powerful a tool for the police to give that power up without a fight.

3 comments

Speeding isn't a "crime." They're civil infractions. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_infraction.
Depends on the country. It's a crime in some countries
You can get jail time for speeding in Norway, so definitely criminal.
Thats really interesting. I had a foreign exchange student from Norway come to the States during high school and I remember him telling me that cops had to apply to a judge to bring a gun with them for a specific task, and didn't just carry one around. Big change for him coming to a school that had cops with hand guns at the entrance. Just interesting how different systems work and what goes into making them different...
It's a misdemeanor in the state of GA (all traffic violations are, now).
Off topic.

Can you recommend any good meetups/groups for node/js guys in Atlanta. I have looked at the meetups but would appreciate any personal opinions.

Nope, not involved in node/js. Sorry
But speeding laws are pretty specific, some even with tolerances to account for radar inaccuracy. If a radar control measures you're driving over the speed limit, you get a ticket.

But the point is that this isn't specific. It's like enforcing our current speeding laws on cars that behave according to Heisenbergs uncertainity principle or exhibit other weird quantum quirks. That law might have made sense in the past, but it doesn't anymore.

I really don't want Surfing whilst Savy to become the new Driving whilst black.

Driving over the speed limit isn't a felony.
Did you know that there are other countries and legal systems?
First, the law in the OP is an American law.

Second, I find it difficult to believe that there are countries where driving slightly faster than a number printed on a road sign can result in prison time.

If I've made an error, it's because I drew a reasonable, albeit incorrect, conclusion; it isn't because I'm an ignorant American who doesn't consider the existence of other countries. If you had a correction, you should have posted it rather than a snide comment along these lines.

Some countries take an extreme stance on driving-related offenses. A few countries are actually so worried about speeding that they have banned the sale of racing-related video-games.

Hell, in Virginia a few years back they implemented insanely high fines for all sorts of minor moving violations. Some of the offenses cost several thousand dollars.

Sufficiently over the speed limit can be reckless endangerment, which is a misdemeanor.
I responded to a post about the common tendency to speed when deemed prudent.