not so Speeding Ticket

J

jeffrosheen

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Last week on my way through PA in the snow I got tagged with a speeding ticket for 87 in a 65.

My cruise control was set on 79. My 4R is new to me as of September and when I took it to the dealer to check some stuff out the guy mentioned the bigger tires.

My question is: Can bigger tires make that much deviation in my spedo?

What else made me mad was that the officer would not show me the radar for proof as my Escort 8500 never went off.

Maybe it is time for a V1?
 
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jeffrosheen said:
My question is: Can bigger tires make that much deviation in my spedo?
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Not likely -- that's a 10% difference between 79 and 87. However, it's possible that a combination of a poorly calibrated speedometer and upsized tires could create a 10% variance.
 
Will your nav system tell you how fast you're going based on the GPS data? If so, you could compare the speedo to how fast the nav system thinks you're going.
 
Not to be a **** but you were still going almost 15 miles an hour over the speed limit in snowy weather.
 
Rowan611 said:
Not to be a **** but you were still going almost 15 miles an hour over the speed limit in snowy weather.
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It was snowing but the roads were warm enough that it was immediately melting. I was watching for sheeting and ice-over on bridges.

Not to toot my own horn, but I am a pretty seasoned driver javascript:smilie(':p')

I forgot to mention that when i questioned the speed he called me a jerk and asked me why I thought he was lying. How do you argue with a HI PO?
 
toto said:
Will your nav system tell you how fast you're going based on the GPS data? If so, you could compare the speedo to how fast the nav system thinks you're going.
Click to expand...

That is a brilliant idea! I'll check it on the highway tomorrow
 
take the vehicle to a speedometer shop and have the calibration checked. Get the certificate from them showing what it was off and take it to court. You may get it reduced.

Anything in VA over 80 is reckless, regardless of how much over the speedlimit you are doing (normally, reckless is 20 over).

Big tires can make a big difference, here is a link that you can use to find the difference in speedo read outs between stock and new tire sizes.

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
 
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I have the taller 265/75s on mine and at speeds of say an indicated 75mph you probably are actually going 78 at the most and I know this since that's what I got popped at in a 65mph zone;it's not as big a difference as people want to believe but the diff does grow as speed increases but even over 100 it's not going to be much more than 4mph diff.

Speeds under 50mph are still pretty much dead on with just 1" taller tires.


You still probably irritated the cop by being 14mph over in a 65 AND in the snow which cops do get testy when you are breaking the speed in inclement weather since if dry it might have not been as big a deal.
 

1. The officer/trooper who ticketed you may not have been using radar. In PA, only the state police can use radar; and police there often use VASCAR, VisiCalc, E.S.P. or AccuTrak instead. Those other devices do not transmit any signal, so no detector is going to be capable of receiving the signal and alerting you to any type of speed enforcement.

2. If you were caught with radar, the officer doesn't have to show you the readout on the unit (at least that is the law here in Virginia). All he has to do is testify that he verified your speed with a properly-calibrated radar gun. Whether or not he "locked" it in the display is probably not going to matter one bit.

3. Be happy you were not caught for going 87 mph here in VA; as that constitutes reckless driving. That is a Class I Misdemeanor and warrants a mandatory court appearance (no pre-paying it through the mail).

4. Going that fast in snow is like an elephant painting its toenails pink to hide in a strawberry patch. You are just asking to get tagged, sir.


http://www.trutv.com/speeders
 
1. Radar detectors are useless , nice to have , but don't rely on them to prevent tickets.

2. The larger tires ( not sure what you have ) should not make that much of a difference.

3. You were driving to fast . What did you expect to happen ?

4. Ron M's post above is exactly my experience with the larger tires on my 4R. I'm in the same boat as him and have 1" taller tires.
 
Jeff Kleb said:

Be happy you were not caught for going 87 mph here in VA; as that constitutes reckless driving. That is a Class I Misdemeanor and warrants a mandatory court appearance (no pre-paying it through the mail).
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I was caught going 84 in a 55 and it was a mandatory court appearance. The officer said anything 20 mph over is a mandatory court appearance here in Colorado. Or maybe it was just in that city...

Either way, the judge let me off easy and i only had to pay a $150 dollar fine. No driving classes or any of that jazz, and i had had one ticket prior to that. But believe me, i watch me speed now. No more than 5 over! I cant afford another.

And the bigger tires slow me down :D
 
20+ over in just about any state is considered reckless driving and requires a court appearance; I've been tagged doing 10-15 over at most. But since I've gotten the runner my speeding has decreased and I've actually become a more attentive driver.

Drive safe - arrive safe; corny I know but it is true.
 
Overall Colorado just has higher fines for speeding unlike VA which makes speeding almost a real criminal act which IMO is a bit rediculous but they do also have a lot more people and cars crammed into a much smaller area than we have in Colorado.
 
Even if you were caught going 79, you are still speeding.

You are lucky you didn't get arrested and the vehicle impounded for wreckless driving or driving to endanger.

Be happy you just got a ticket and slow down.
 
Falls said:
1. Radar detectors are useless , nice to have , but don't rely on them to prevent tickets.

2. The larger tires ( not sure what you have ) should not make that much of a difference.

3. You were driving to fast . What did you expect to happen ?

4. Ron M's post above is exactly my experience with the larger tires on my 4R. I'm in the same boat as him and have 1" taller tires.
Click to expand...

If you read my comments in earlier posts you will understand that I was not complaining about getting a ticket. I was asking about the deviation in my speedo.

I am a big boy and can accept the consequences of speeding and getting a ticket for my actions. I have no problem with that.
 
jeffrosheen said:
My question is: Can bigger tires make that much deviation in my spedo?
Click to expand...

How BIG are your tires?

I compared 265/65/17 with 265/70/17 that our trucks can accomodate without any modifications.

Using the 265/70/17 will increase your speed by roughly 4.5% above speedo calibration for OEM tires.

So if your speedo indicated 79, than the vehicle speed was 82.5 MPH.

I'm not sure what the factory or government tolerances for the speedo deviations are, but 4.5 MPH (roughly 5%) seems to be a bit high.

Just my 2 cents...
 
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