How are you supposed to drive if no matter what speed you are going you can be cited? Other cars going above the limit…impeding traffic. Go with the flow, and get a ticket for speeding. :rolleyes:
Officer Jonathan Montjoy did not see it that way. He noted that most traffic was cruising at between 70 and 75 MPH, so anyone driving the speed limit would be guilty of impeding traffic. At trial, the judge found that state law prohibits impeding traffic, no matter what the speed limit might be, so the traffic stop was ruled valid.
As someone who has lived here his entire life (except for college) and works driving approx 40k miles a year around the state, I didn’t think you could get pulled for speeding in this state unless you are doing in excess of 100mph backwards while going the wrong direction on the interstate with your car on fire and shooting out the window.
I tend to roll between 5 and 10mph over the posted limit and routinely am passed by vehicles doing well over 20mph over the limit and often in “urban” areas (such as they are here) where the density of LE is greater.
Sure you can get snagged on secondary roads in some small town speed trap. Otherwise if you get pulled on the interstate you were either on I-95 and caught in some kind of interdiction operation or were REALLY ROLLIN. Or going backwards the wrong way like I said before…
Interesting…I’m always on edge driving through SC (and Georgia with the exception of Atlanta for that matter) and keep it to 5mph over at the most. Not sure why I’ve had that paranoia about SC…
Never knew this was on the books. I haven’t been pulled in 20 yrs and get on it mostly.
What drives me crazy are the people blocking the left passing lane. This would be impeding but I’ve never heard of anyone ever getting ticketed for it.
Im not against impeding traffic laws or using the left most lane for passing but it seems absurd to say we can cite you for impeding traffic just because you’re going slower than the pace (regardless of the speed of the pace) yet if you speed (going the pace) we can cite you for speeding.
FWIW I once got a ticket when I was 18 or so for passing a douche going 35 in a 55 through a mountain area. One lane on each side, and I was right behind this guy. I had at least 6 cars behind me stacked up. We got to a flat area with an L shaped curve. I passed this guy after being stuck for miles behind him going 20MPH below the limit. Where I passed was flat, and I had perfect visibility but because of the turn it was double yellow. Instead of citing the douche going almost half the limit I got cited for passing in the double yellow. I really do hate people who hog the left lane or don’t pull over to let others pass on single lane roads but in this case the guy was pulled over with a 3 lane road and he was in the middle lane.
Because you’re smart enough to know that the Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane/speed-trap scenario isn’t just a stereotype!
…and before anybody feels the compulsive need to stick up for their subculture, it’s not a scenario limited to the American South. Put the torches away…
Ticket for impeding, regardless of over/under? Kinda jacked, given that a published number like a speed limit is the standard to be met, else it’s not to be met at all. But I get it, for folks that do that in the left lanes in particular.
Balance: simultaneously ticketing the assholes tailgating the folks impeding. Desires to indulge your inner Leadfoot MacGee because you are under the mistaken impression that your destination is something you have to catch up to is not an excuse to ride bumpers.
Double penalties for all the methed-out truckers who do the same while driving a rig weighing however many tens of thousands of pounds.
Agressive drivers: triple the penalty if you get nailed for this and you have a handicap parking permit. Whatever limitation it is that gets you that parking space close to the door, odds are that it compromises your reaction times.
Quadruple, if you’re sporting a Jesus-fish. That whole “do unto others as you would have them” thing = supposed to know better. Can’t say that they haven’t been briefed!
There’s a lot of stuff that’d be more sensible overall if they’d just enforce the stuff on the books and by the standard, and stop trying to subcategorize.
Spartanburg County Circuit Court Judge Roger L. Couch ruled that driving just 5 MPH under the speed limit, not in the fast lane, is suspicious enough to justify a traffic stop. South Carolina’s second highest court on October 5 examined the case, but sidestepped the speed issue to decide whether a man could be convicted of marijuana possession simply because he was in a car that contained the drug.
The sidestepping is the key, and the reporter, who is probably an idiot is focused on the wrong part of the decision.
It appears the officer was attempting to run intradiction style stops on the interstate, and found a good one being that both occupants were charged with possession with intent to distribute.
The important issue before the courts was that constructive possession was not enough, but that the state would have needed to prove the controlled substance was knowingly possessed, either by direct statement or some type of gesture etc.
The court glazed over the speed thing to examine and rule on constructive possession. In actual practice, the decision makes it harder to convict on constructive possession.
Most of the time some reporter latches onto one of these decisions and completley misses the point and writes an article which in no way has shit to do with what was being decided. This was one of those times.
But to the speed issue, the decision say this…
The trial court found section 56-5-1560 of the South Carolina Code (2006) does not reference speed limits and states that no person should drive a vehicle at such a slow speed to impede the normal and reasonable flow of traffic. The trial court noted the testimony was that the vehicle was traveling in the center lane with a long line of traffic behind it and being passed on both sides. The trial court found the officer had probable cause to stop the car based on the statute.
Thats how you get to impeding. Not that he was driving too slow, but that he was driving slower than the pace of traffic causing vehicles to back up behind him and to be frequently passed on both sides.
In Georgia you are generally safe so long as you are not exceeding the speed limit by more than 10mph.
Here is the actual text of the law pertaining to that statement.
TITLE 40. MOTOR VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC
CHAPTER 14. USE OF SPEED DETECTION AND TRAFFIC-CONTROL SIGNAL MONITORING DEVICES
ARTICLE 2. SPEED DETECTION DEVICES
O.C.G.A. § 40-14-8 (2011)
§ 40-14-8. When case may be made and conviction had
(a) No county, city, or campus officer shall be allowed to make a case based on the use of any speed detection device, unless the speed of the vehicle exceeds the posted speed limit by more than ten miles per hour and no conviction shall be had thereon unless such speed is more than ten miles per hour above the posted speed limit.
(b) The limitations contained in subsection (a) of this Code section shall not apply in properly marked school zones one hour before, during, and one hour after the normal hours of school operation, in properly marked historic districts, and in properly marked residential zones. For purposes of this chapter, thoroughfares with speed limits of 35 miles per hour or more shall not be considered residential districts. For purposes of this Code section, the term “historic district” means a historic district as defined in paragraph (5) of Code Section 44-10-22 and which is listed on the Georgia Register of Historic Places or as defined by ordinance adopted pursuant to a local constitutional amendment.
