Driving through Detroit could get expensive

Looks like traffic enforcement is being heavily used as a revenue generator in Detroit. REALLY heavily used.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar ... 1170333/-1

I'm in Detroit a lot. There's always a speed trap somewhere.

Let me get this straight... Municiple funds are low due to the recession. So the solution is to take money from the very citizens that are ALSO financially crippled by the recession. Real Nice.

I believe our McGuinty government is doing the same thing with all these new stunt laws and such. He just doesn't come right out and admit it like the Michigan police chief did.

Last time I was in Michigan, I couldn't help but notice their speed limits were higher and their roads were crappier than ours. So the truth is coming out; keep our speed limits ridiculously low and ticket revenues will keep pace with government spending. Hmmm

Now is it DRIVING through Detroit or SPEEDING through Detroit that can cost you a pretty penny?

Bookm wrote:

Last time I was in Michigan, I couldn't help but notice their speed limits were higher and their roads were crappier than ours. So the truth is coming out; keep our speed limits ridiculously low and ticket revenues will keep pace with government spending. Hmmm

Our roads are better b/c of slower speeds!!

I will never agree that our speed limit is ridiculously low.

I will agree the roads are better built, vehicles better built, however there is little to non existent driver training to improve a drivers ability. You can go in write a test, pass a basic road test in mostly slow moving areas and away you go with a licence.

Vehicle dynamics over 130km/hr involved in crashes = fatality. That is from collision reconstruction experts who rarely see people live from crashes at those speeds. Coles notes version is that the human body internal organs can not take that much change in velocity (130 to 0) within that short of time period (fraction of a second). I am not the expert in this area to explain more than that. Not sure of BS, but it does make sense.

I lived in Detroit for two years. In that time I drove extensively in the state of Michigan. On average Michigan drivers go 10-20 km/h slower than their counterparts in Ontario. I used to drive regularly between Detroit and Battle Creek on I-94 and Detroit and Saginaw on I-75. I'd usually, conditions/traffic permitting, go 80 MPH, which is 10 over the speed limit, and while the occasional Michigan or Illinois driver would pass me, it was the ones from Ontario that would regularly rip past me like I was parked.

Bookm is right, Michigan highways suck. That said, the fatality and accident rate fell on their roads when they raised the speed limits on the Interstates. They didn't raise them to a crazy-high number, but rather to what was reasonable for most Michigan drivers.

Radar Identified wrote:

Bookm is right, Michigan highways suck. That said, the fatality and accident rate fell on their roads when they raised the speed limits on the Interstates. They didn't raise them to a crazy-high number, but rather to what was reasonable for most Michigan drivers.

Do MSP vigorously enforce the speed at the limit? Then drivers actually pay attention to the speed signs. It would have to say "FREE GAS" for someone to read it in Ontario.

MSP have a tolerance of about 7 to just over 10 MPH, it seems, except in construction zones (about 3 MPH when workers are present). They also stop drivers who are going too slow. Sheriff's Deputies also patrol I-94 and they generally give up to 10 MPH over the limit. The Taylor Police, who always park a cruiser on I-94 just east of Telegraph Road near Metro Airport, will stop and ticket at 76 MPH (70 MPH zone). Lots of police on the road.

Whether it's enforcement or people paying attention to the signs, I'd say about 85%-90% of the traffic drives 65-75 MPH, so a 70 MPH limit seems appropriate for most of Michigan.

Radar Identified wrote:

MSP have a tolerance of about 7 to just over 10 MPH, it seems, except in construction zones (about 3 MPH when workers are present). They also stop drivers who are going too slow. Sheriff's Deputies also patrol I-94 and they generally give up to 10 MPH over the limit. The Taylor Police, who always park a cruiser on I-94 just east of Telegraph Road near Metro Airport, will stop and ticket at 76 MPH (70 MPH zone). Lots of police on the road.

Whether it's enforcement or people paying attention to the signs, I'd say about 85%-90% of the traffic drives 65-75 MPH, so a 70 MPH limit seems appropriate for most of Michigan.

This belongs in the "known speed traps" thread