Can I go just over the speed limit by five or ten miles per hour?

You “can.” You can get away with many things in life. However, should you?

We all know that you should not. 

First, most drivers do not understand speed, at all.  What I mean by that is the effect of speed and physical laws. For example, if your car weighs 2,000 pounds and it is going 10 miles per hour that equates to 20,000 pounds of impact velocity. Now, assume you are traveling at 50 miles per hour; that is 100,000 pounds of impact velocity. Impact velocity is weight for that one moment, imagine 100,000 pounds even for a moment is crushing power. A two hundred pound individual represents 10,000 pounds of impact velocity at 50 mph, coming to a crushing halt against an air bag and seatbelt. 

Unfortunately, most people do not understand the physical forces they are dealing with – they just understand the thrill. 

Second, let us now consider the law. The “Prima Facie” law sets a maximum speed limit. The “California Basic Speed” law states that one should never drive faster than what is safe for the prevailing conditions.  When we decide that it is “all right” to ignore a posted speed limit, then we are taking the law into our own hands and breaking it. Therefore, any time you are over a posted or non-posted speed limit, the police can stop you and issue a citation for speeding. Make no mistake – yes, even if you are two or five miles over the speed limit, you have committed an offense and can receive a ticket. Some might argue that officers allow minor leeway. This is true. However, which officer will and which will not permit this leeway? How are they feeling that day? You just do not know. It is simply not worth it. My advice is to follow the law. Remember, when the government establishes a speed limit, it is a compromise between what the authorities believe is safe, and the type of vehicle that can safely drive and negotiate that particular road.  It is not there to make your life miserable, but to protect your life and the lives of others.

So, why else should we not speed? Well, it definitely kills. Regretfully, Paul Walker, the famous actor from “Fast and Furious,” and his friend, tragically found out the hard way. Incredibly, they were not ignorant of speed, at all. They had worked around it and built a career on it. Yet, they took speed into their hands and lost control of their vehicle, driving at over a hundred miles per hour, on a road built for no more than possibly 40 or 45 mph. Even professional, highly skilled Formula 1 drivers will tell you themselves that there is great inherent risk in speed, and that the cost of a mistake is often catastrophic. 

If people would think before they speed, they would most likely choose not to. If people realized you could destroy another life, as well as your own, most people would refrain from doing it. The problem is our personality. The more we do something and do not suffer the consequences of our actions, the more we are convinced it is “ok” – we can handle it. Therefore, the five mph over the speed limit soon becomes ten mph over, and so on.  One of my instructors had a wonderful saying: “Better to lose a second in your life than lose your life in a second.” That was great advise.

I have been an instructor since 1980 and on the board of directors of the Driving School Association of California since 1989. Almost every year since I can remember, students and parents have asked me or more to the point told me that as of such and such year kids born after that year will have to be 18 before they get a licence. The answer is the same then as now.

THERE IS NO LAW BEING CONTEMPLATED OR ON THE BOOKS AT THIS POINT IN TIME.

1. As President of the Driving School Association of California I can assure you we have a paid lobbyist in Sacramento and no law has been proposed or is considered at this point in time 10/21/2012.
2. Generally the public gets what it wants in California, and most parents want their kids driving at 16 if they wish, and the reason in most cases is, the parents are happy to not be tied to driving the kids everywhere and welcome the family help.
3. Actually raising the age to 18 although it sounds good in theory it really is not for those who understand the problem. At 16 a teen getting a license will be under parental supervision for at least 2 years of driving, gaining hopefully some valuable experience and maturity. At 18 kids are not often at home and are off in College and learning without parental supervision or training requirements. This puts a young driver out on the road without supervision let alone the college experience.

The sad truth is that the statistics have been going up on the 18 and 19 year olds in fatal or serious accidents as the stats have been dropping on the 16 year olds that are getting trained. The reason is because after 18 there are no mandatory training requirements and youngsters have been waiting until they can turn 18 to avoid paying for training and have the stiffer driving requirements imposed on them. So what is being proposed is to close that loop hole and require teens up to 20 to do Driver Education and Training, so they hit the road with some professional knowledge and training.

Busting Urban myths.

Well you have been driving now for several years.

1. Is it legal or is it illegal to make a lane change in an intersection?
2. Can I get a ticket for making a lane change in an intersection?

The answer to the first question is, it is legal to make a lane change in an intersection.

The answer to the second question is, you can get a ticket for making a lane change in an intersection ( If it was considered to be unsafe). There in lies the rub.

If you choose to make a lane change in an intersection and it is done in a completely safe manner it is not illegal and not ticket able.

However if it is done and it was considered to be unsafe due to the present conditions, you will be cited. So people do get tickets in intersections but not for the lane change being illegal but for how it was done and it just so happened to be in an intersection.

This is how the myth was born because people got ticketed in an intersection while making a lane change and they assumed that was the infraction.

As a driving instructor I always inform my student that it is not the safest place to make a lane change with all the potential cross traffic that can interfear, but they are told it is legal and done in the correct and safest of situations there is no problem.