I laugh when people compare us to Germany and think things are so great there. Believe me, if we adopted Germany's rules you'd find people here bitching all day long when they fiind out just how strict Germany really is.


Here's three I picked up with a quick scan of Germany's traffic laws.

How about a 1 month suspension for going 30km/h over the speed limit in the city (40km/h over outside a city)? Going 50km/h and 60km/h over results in 2 or 3 month suspensions.

How about getting a 1 month suspension for tailgating (considering how important it is to keep proper distances on the Autobahn and the fact most severe accidents are the result of following too closely, you can see why they enforce this). Tailgating really closely can get you a 2-3 month suspension.

Own a trailer/boat? Speed limit for you is 80km/h everywhere, Autobahn or not. Anyone recall the last time they saw someone pulling their boat to the lake and actually drive 80km/h? I usually go 100 km/h myself and even I get passed by other boaters.

Wishful thinking. It's an automatic penalty. Cops don't have discretion to pick the penalty, just the violation. If you are going 40+ over, and they charge you with excessive speeding, your vehicle is getting impounded.

wait what? who goes that fast in a 50 zone area?

(emphasis added)

It really depends on if you're ticketed for excessive speeding. I can see a cop ticketing someone speeding by 20kph when they were, for instance, clocked at 42 kph. that's the police officer's other bit of discretion... kind of like how right now, they might catch someone excessively speeding, but might not write that on the ticket.

My point is that many cops will say..."uh, ok, I got you at 39 over...you are lucky! I could have financially sodomized you if you were going any faster"

They do it all the time. If you have a good attitude, admit your fault and do the obligatory "I promise not to do it again/I should know better" routine, then he will most likely have mercy and at the same time, save himself from hours of waiting, paperwork and bullshit.

I think that is his point too. If the officer chooses to give you an excessive speeding ticket, then it is an automatic 7 day impoundment.
But it is up to the officer's discretion to give you the 40+ km/h excessive speeding ticket or a slightly less one. ie regular speeding or 20+ km/h over the limit ticket.

Personally, I don't care about this rule. If $400+ dollar fines isn't a deterent from excessive speeding, then car impoundment probably won't work either.

Death penalties doesn't deter people from murder or drug trafficking, but a world without laws would be anarchy.

For the cost of impoundment everyone should just buy beaters and get them impounded till the lots are full and not pay.

Eh, I don't like it, but then again I see the reasoning. Most likely this came up in a city council meeting or something, where someone commented about people doing 80 in a 30, or 90 in a 50. I mean, which politician is not going to want to make a law like this? The unfortunate byproduct is that if you are unlucky, you will get your car impounded by doing 140 in Middle-of-nowhere, BC. Tough shit.

Truth is, unfortunately, laws like this are necessary here. There is no reason to drive 40 over in the city, no matter what. But people do it anyway. Think of it as a deterrent with an unfortunate casualty (highway driving).

If many drivers weren't so damn irresponsible to continue to be caught speeding in urban areas, then I bet this law would have never been enacted.

"the peace officer or another peace officer must
(g) cause the motor vehicle to be taken to and impounded at a place directed by the peace officer,

No discretion there if an excessive charge is laid...except for safety considerations given under the Act.

The drivers already subject to VI have been doing this for a long time now...or they use somebody else's car and leave them with an impounded vehicle and charges for their generosity in lending them the car.

For those saying that if the speed limit increased, people would drive 30+ over the faster limit.

So I was in the States yesterday. The limit on the I5 is 60 and 70mph, depending on the section of road. From the border to say... Tulalip, the limit was about 60%, 70mph, so let's go off that.

95% of the drivers were going between 67 and 73mph and a handful were going NO faster than 80mph.

Now the surface conditions of Hwy 1, within the GVRD are better (the I5 is bumpy and loud) BUT in comparison, that stretch of the I5 has:

-reflector (bumpy) lines
-longer on/off ramps
-better signage
-generally, more considerate drivers

So 3/4 conditions can easily be rectified, especially since Hwy1 is in the process of getting redone.

Right now the lines on Hwy1 (GVRD), absolutely suck. They go all over the place and the ones they cover with black paint (when lanes get moved, construction) can easily be confusing (especially when it's raining).

What's my point?
Fix the Hwy, educate drivers and increase the limit to 110km/h (70mph). If they want to implement an excessive speeding/impound infraction after that, go for it. Hell, make it anything over 30km/h past the limit.

^

The speeding fines in the states are harsher and cops are bigger assholes so people are more afraid to speed down there, between Bellingham and Burlington where the limit is 60, most people actually go 60 because the cops are everywhere.

Regardless, I always see punkass kids from BC driving 80 and getting tickets and then complaining about it in the Police forum.

...reads your post, hit "back" and looks three posts down.....hahahhaa

Man. So many hatred and fury on RS.

Speeding tickets are serious business in the US. One ticket may only cost you $198 USD, but that ticket now puts you into the "high risk" catagory and since they are private insurance, companies and choose to not insure you or do it at a higher rate.

But even though the fines are higher/harsher there are still people who speed in the US.

I think this law is great for the douchebags you see doing 120 down 152nd in the fully blacked out G35's, etc. You all know the type. Not the enthusiast that knows when and where are the proper places to speed a bit, but the loser that has little to no regard for anyone else.

Unfortunately for us enthusiasts who like to drive at a quicker pace down the bigger open freeway's we could be paying the price. I never speed in the city more then 10-15km/h pretty much just flow of traffic, sometimes a bit more. On the 99 though, I usually cruise at 130km/h. And I find I only really speed excessively on hwy 99 and in the middle of the night. I would highly consider running now if I still had my car.

Now that I've got my truck, I seem to drive like a grampa.

What if you're driving a rental car and got ticketed for excessive speeding? Does the rental car get impounded?

Most likely, and the rental company will bill you for the time that the car isn't rentable.

You forgot to mention that there should be enforcement too. No sense in having a 110 limit and a bunch of people doing 140+.

I was also coming up yesterday from Seattle, and I'm quite sure I saw two officers inside a 95 oldsmobile. Now that's undercover.

110-120 is fast enough for here, imo. Especially given how bad people drive and how easy it is to get a licence.

Really?

no, not really

:rofl: I missed it, what'd that noob say this time!? :noob:
And WTF my posts still can't get thanks, weird.

Once the new freeway is done I can see them upping the limit to 100kph or there abouts all the way.

the hwys in BC are sooo bunk...

1-2 lanes with traffic lights are called hwy... damn

i agree about raising the speed limit but only in certain parts.. not everything all together..

Hopefully. I mean, if you can do 100 on Hwy1 past Hope, reason says you should be able to do at least that on a five-lane modern highway.

We'll see, I guess.