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Pre-empt: please save the 'it's bad to speed' arguments. I know.
Speed Buddies is an national/international organization for motorists who regularly like to drive faster than posted limits. The purpose of the organization is to allow drivers to speed in groups on the highway, and to share the cost
of any speeding tickets collected.
Upon joining the local branch of Speed Buddies and paying the appropriate annual fee (which will be less than a speeding ticket fine), a new member will receive two brightly colored and uniquely shaped Speed Buddy decals which must be prominently displayed on the member's vehicle, such that they are visible from the front and rear. These will identify the driver as a Speed Buddy to other members on the highway.
The new member must also commit to the Speed Buddies code of behaviour.
Here's how it works. When on the highway and driving excessively fast, a Speed Buddy member might encounter one or more other members. When this happens, all members must abide by the code which states that in these sitiations, the member drivers must group together in the fast lane, as traffic and road conditions allow, and drive at least 20% faster than the posted limit. The lead vehicle should switch around from time to time, but the group must drive as a unit as long as possible. Individual motorists may need to leave as they arrive at their destination, and other members must join in as the group catches up to them.
Should the lead vehicle (or any other vehicle) be pulled over by authorities for speeding, all other vehicles must stop as well. When the ticket has been issued, the speed buddy unit will resume its progress with another vehicle in the lead.
The driver who had been issued the ticket can send it in to Speed Buddies and receive full recompensation for the cost of the fine. This driver must also include verification that there was at least one other Speed Buddy present at the pull over. Speed Buddies will then issue this driver a new set of Speed Buddy decals, differently colored to indicate that the driver has incurred a fine. When this driver again encounters a Speed Buddy unit driving on the highway, this vehicle cannot lead the group. The other drivers must ensure that one of them takes the lead.
Speed Buddies cannot be held responsible for additional tickets, fines, loss of points on the driving record, or other loss of driving privileges. It is most likely that the lead vehicle in a group of speeding vehicles would be the one apprehended and ticketed, but any member vehicle in the group would be covered.
Contrary to obvious thought, displaying these decals would not make one's vehicle an obvious target for authorities. They can only apprehend for speeding, no matter what decals are displayed.
Rules of Speed
http://forums.nasio...800065&postcount=47
How to have a better chance of getting away at it. [STiMULi, Mar 22 2006]
[link]
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//Contrary to obvious thought, displaying these decals would not make one's vehicle an obvious target for authorities.//I'd like to join this club, but the decals are a red flag. May as well put beer cans in the rear window ledge, even if you're a teatotaler. Maybe a Croissant like this one would be a better sign. |
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It'll be a nightmare if there is a speed camera..k'shing, k'shing, k'shing. |
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<sudden attack of goody-two-shoes-ness> The whole point of a speed limit is an issue of safety. The police would catch on to the speed buddies idea and any arrests would be severely punished toi deter others. (How niave am I? Believing in the UK police force!?) |
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Also should any bad accidents (with loss of life etc) happen, there will be some kind of legal case against speed buddy members...I dunno, Conspiracy to drive wrecklessly?
</sudden attack of goody-two-shoes-ness> |
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I am not against speeding per se, provided you are moving with the flow of traffic, but I have to fishbone this, based on my dire experences with motorcycle buddies, motortricycle buddies, tractor-trailer buddies and non-organized speeding buddies. |
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// Should the lead vehicle (or any other vehicle) be pulled over by authorities for speeding, all other vehicles must stop as well // |
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doesn't this defeat the purpose of speeding? the person pulled over should be the only one to stop. sort of like taking one for the team, except the entire team pays for it. besides, if i was a cop, and i pulled over a car and saw ten or twenty other cars stopping as well, i'd be calling for backup really quickly. |
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First rule of Speed Buddies: Do not talk about Speed Buddies.
Second rule of Speed Buddies: DO NOT TALK ABOUT SPEED BUDDIES!
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If a group of Speed Buddies passes an officer using radar, the officer can and will tag each and every one of the vehicles in succession. *Then* the officer will proceed to chase down the entire group. If lazy, the officer will only pull over the vehicle in the rear and issue a ticket. Otherwise, the officer will proceed to the leading vehicle, and signal *all* of the drivers along the way to pull over. Then *all* of the drivers will receive tickets. |
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There is no strength in numbers for speeding. Even if the group refuses to pull over, the officer needs only call in the license plate numbers to dispatch. Other officers in the area will respond and pick off the speeders one at a time. Also, roadblocks are always an option. |
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In my area, these are sorta baked as Michigan license plates. Unless you're travelling in Ohio. They pull everybody over, especially if you have a Michigan plate. |
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Another problem is the precedent it will create for other groups to form, like 'Slow and Safe Buddies,' 'The United Road-Cloggers Front,' and the AARP's Blue-haired Driving Grannies' group. |
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Hmmm..."Road Cloggers". Sounds like as good a place as any for that particular form of dancing. |
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I had a friend who called road-cloggers, groups of cars that form an impenetrable wall traveling under the speed limit, "flying fuckhead wedges." |
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'wax, there is nothing scarlet about the Speed Buddy decal. You're welcome to hang a sign in your window saying, "hey cop, arrest me, I'm speeding'." But the cop can't do that unless you're actually speeding. |
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Jinbush.goody-two shoes: pleas see my opening statement. Speed buddies would not and could not be punished any more than any other speeder. |
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DrCurry, I actually agree with you to an extent. I've always been of the believe that motorcycles and the like should be taken off the roads. Tractor-trailer drivers already have an informal system very similar to this, except they try to avoid getting caught rather than splitting the ticket. |
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mihali, the rest of the group (or at least a certain number of other members) needs to pull over to be able to provide proof that the ticket was acquired during a Speed Buddy cruise. This is to prevent lone speeders from cashing in Speed Buddy tickets. That's just wrong. |
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If the cop feels the need to call in backup when seeing all the other cars pull over, he/she is welcome to do so. |
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BigBrother, I disagree with your annotation. While I would not argue that your scenario is remotely possible, I'd consider it extremely unlikely. The typical cop with radar gun generally positions him/herself on a blind curve/hill such that the police car can't be seen until the speeder is right on it. This means the cop doesn't see the typical speeder until such time as well. (Most of the time.) When said cop gets indication of the speeding violation, he/she's not going to sit around to see how many others come along too, so to nail them all at once. Generally the cop will move out to apprehend then and there. |
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Roadblocks to stop speeders? I don't think so. |
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Not workable in UK. Firstly, most speeding fines here are the result of cameras which would catch all of the group (and you usually don't know you've been nabbed until weeks later). Secondly, as well as the fine (basic level £60, but depending on excess speed, could be much more), there's the little matter of 3 penalty points on licence. Collect 12 and your licence goes bye-bye for a year. Also, car insurance premium goes up (insurance is mandatory in UK), as do rental fees. |
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waugsqueke... I'm not a legal eagle but in the UK there are charges like 'driving without due care', 'dangerous driving', 'death by dangerous driving' etc - If you get caught speeding, its points on your licence (as angel quite rightly says) and a fine. But you can quite easily be charged with a myriad of other things and a 12 month ban from driving after one offence isn't unheard of. |
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[waugsqueke]: In all three states I've lived in, and plenty more where I've driven, the speed traps usually involve more than one officer. One will operate a radar gun from a sneaky location. The others will line up in a parking lot or onramp a bit further down the road. The lone (radar) gunman doesn't give chase, but instead radios car descriptions and license plate numbers to the others. I've seen them pull over as many as seven drivers at once. |
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And no, not roadblocks to stop speeders, per se. Roadblocks to stop drivers refusing to pull over with an officer in pursuit. Not an everyday use kind of tactic, but one that's always available. |
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[Jinbish]: We have a similar situation here in the US. Once pulled over, the officer has the right to issue citations for any other violations which make themselves apparent during the encounter. This can be anything from "careless and imprudent driving" (there's no fixed definition, so you're at the mercy of the officer's whim) to "broken tail light" and "improper signal use". While most of these add-ons don't carry points against a license, the fines can add up rather quickly. Sometimes an officer will stretch the truth and issue extra citations that don't really apply. Then you have to go to traffic court and contest the ticket to get the charges dropped for lack of evidence. |
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I've seen cops pull groups of cars over for just about anything - people going over the solid whites on freeways because of horrible traffic, people speeding, drug traffickers (okay, not this one), etc. I don't think this is a feasible solution to the problem of slow traffic. Also, as already mentioned: insurance, cameras, and points on the license. |
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So if I had a 'Speed Buddies' decal right next to a 'Fraternal Order of Police' sticker, would I be shown mercy or prejudice? |
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I have heard that if you go over 200kh you are too far
away by the time the speed camera takes the photo for
your numberplate to be readable, in nz there was some
sort of reflective substance you could buy to put on your
number plate to stop speed cameras picking it up, maby
speed buddies could learn how to make this and send it
out with their stickers. In australia there is away to get
around points being taken off your licence, apparently if
you are sent a speeding fine you can send more than the
ammount on the fine and you will get a cheque back for
the difference, supposedly if you dont cash that cheque
you can still be fined for speeding but no points can be
taken from your licence, can anybody confirm or deny
this for me? |
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Croissant. Speed doesn't kill people. It's stopping that does that.
UnaBubba
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Genius. |
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Like has already been said this is not practical in any way. I like it on one level though. If enough people signed up it might take the focus off the considerate, law abiding drivers that are constantly caned in the UK. |
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I could honestly see the question appearing on insurance applications. 'Do you display a badge that indicates you regularly exceed the speed limit?' Even the colour of your car affects that over here! |
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It was in Italy (home of the law-abiding careful driver) that I was taught the technique of finding a car driving insanely fast and tailgating it a few feet behind "so that the hidden cameras don't have time to wind the film on after photographing the car in front and we don't get a fine. Everyone does it here..." |
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Very nice. And [Gulherme], I have also heard that if you go fast enough (and it has been done) you are out of shot by the time the camera takes the photo. |
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Can you imagine the TV commercial late at night? "...call 1-900-SPEED-ME and find a speed buddy tonight! Calls are only 49 cents a minute" |
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In spite of all of the things that can go wrong with Speed Buddy its still a great idea. Even though a cop can pull everyone over the likelyhood is so remote that Speed Buddy could probably pay for EVERYONE's ticket. As for the decal, even though the cop cannot technically ticket you for having that on your car, if you were caught speeding and you want the cop to give you a break, he might not be so kind as to give you any grace. |
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cute idea, seasoned with age... |
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What I find so cute about this idea is the naivety that cops just love being messed with... and will just chuckle and leave you alone.... |
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oh, and I must thank the churn for revealing what must be Unabubba's best anno ever. |
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Actually my friends sort of baked this many years ago. One friend was following another who was speeding, and the cop stopped him. The guy in front noticed this so he pulled over to wait, and they both got ticketed. |
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