Beware of the Speed Traps

Nicolette and I arrived in our moving van last year during the 4th of July weekend. I couldn't believe that we passed 7 police cars on our way through Ohio to our home. Since that time I noticed a very distinctive pattern...Ohio traffic is only monitored by the police during holiday weekends.
You may not know this, but I usually drive 10-20 mph over the speed limit everywhere except in school zones and on holiday weekends. Yet, I've never even been pulled over but I always new the day would come. This Labor Day weekend I had my mind on Nicolette and the new addition who will be joining our family any day now and wasn't paying too much attention to the empty, rural road ahead. Suddenly, I saw the nose of the police car far ahead and slow down from 70 to 55 (the posted speed limit). The policeman pulled us over. Unfortunately, my driver's license was in my other pants pockets. While it was kind of him not to handcuff me, I did have to sit in the backseat of his car while he looked up my information.
He made small talk with me while we waited for his computer to pull my information up. He asked when my wife was due (to which I replied, "today.") and recommended that I don't get the steak at the Wooster hospital (for our special celebratory meal). Despite the pleasantries, he handed me the ticket. As I got into the car it was obvious that Nicolette was troubled. She comes from the only state where the word "Limit" is actually enforced. The funny thing is they don't actually have fewer accidents in Idaho, but they sure have lots of slow drivers.
So, I've been reflecting on my actions over the last 2 days. Will I change? Absolutely not, I'm going to make sure I don't speed on a holiday weekend ever again. And of course I will continue to be a defensive and safe driver.
Getting an English driver's license drastically changed my views on driving. In England, officers don't waste time monitoring speed. They have a different mentality about driving. They believe that driving slowly is not the same as driving safely. They focus on paying attention to your surroundings while you drive, rather than making sure you don't drive above a particular speed. Your speed should be a reflection of the driving conditions and your surroundings
It is very difficult to pass the driving test in England. I failed 2 times before I was able to pass it and that was after having 4 years of driving experience in America and several hours with a professional English driving instructor. (You can fail by crossing the double yellow line while making a left hand turn, or rolling back on a hill with a stick-shift when starting to go.)
I never saw an accident in England though, and people always stopped immediately for pedestrians. Why? Because drivers must pay complete attention to the road.
As far as my views of speeding in America...
Really, there are 2 groups of laws in the United States: black and white laws, and grey laws. Speeding limits are grey laws. Breaking the speed limit depends on the police officer to determine which speed above the limit is no longer acceptable. This creates a fantastic revenue generation system for state governments. If the limit was actually viewed as a black and white limit and not a grey suggestion than state governments would go (more) broke because people would know exactly which speed is and is not acceptable. Speeding tickets are really a speeding tax on the American people. Over 100,000 citations are given each day in America, suggesting that people don't take speeding seriously. In Chicago, there is a law that no road can have a limit above 55 mph. I would have been a serious hazard if I followed the speed limit because the slowest of people were going 70 mph. Most were driving 75.
Not convinced? Well, think about a time when there has been a car that weaves its way in and out of traffic. A police officer cannot safely pull those drivers over because of all the other cars in the way. Yet these drivers are probably much more likely to cause an accident than people that are by themselves speeding on an empty road. Yet, who gets pulled over, the loan car. Also, if it was a matter of safety and not revenue, then why are Ohio roads ONLY patrolled on holiday weekends?
That being said, I am happy to pay my speeding tax. I was going 70 in a 55 therefore I own Ohio $103. I am fine with that. I have saved hundreds of hours of my life by speeding everywhere I go to which I will gladly pay $103. Also, I'm proud that I get to help solve Ohio's debt crisis by donating to their relief funds. Happy Labor Day and beware of the new police lasers tracking your speed!