Example: Traffic Speed. Everyone always exceed the speed limit on highways. Why do we still have the limit? Like, either enforce it, or remove it. This stuff doesn’t make sense at all.
When minor things are against the rules which are selectively enforced, it means the authorities get to pick and choose who to punish based on whatever criteria they feel like, which gives them power.
Which shines some light on how the black population (at least here in the US) gets charged with disproportionately more crimes.
It’s very effective in keeping slavery via our private prison system running
Because it can be enforced selectively, and if everyone is guilty of something, anyone in particular can be harassed under the cover of a legal justification.
Yep. And in some places, one can see the enforcement is against minoritites and other scape goats at a disproportionate level. This also has the “bonus” of being able to make one group look like they break the law much more often and are dangerous
Yep. In Switzerland not having your ID on you is an arrest-able offence. Of course, the police never check the ID of anyone white or who blends in.
But if you look brown / disabled, then they will check you…
Take jaywalking for example. Most people aren’t going to be bothered by some woman crossing the street when no cars are around.
Is it worth a cops time who’s within eyeshot to do anything about it? Waste of resources, she’s not endangering anyone.
Same situation but cars are all over, some swerving to avoid or slam on their breaks because she blindly runs out. She gets hit or cars pile into each other.
Cops in eyeshot. Well the drivers certainly are not the ultimate cause of this accident.
That’s my guess anyways.
On top of what others said there’s also just virtue signaling, like banning pornography or gambling.
It saves lives, literally, like seat belts. I don’t know what to say if you can’t understand that.
The question is why do laws that aren’t enforced exist. Gambling and porn bans are rarely enforced but exist mostly for virtue signaling. I wasn’t talking about speed limits.
Tools in the toolbox. You’ll often hear about police saying they need more tools in the toolbox. What it means is they want to be able to enforce laws against somebody they don’t like selectively.
If you enforce the speed limit religiously, especially around State capitals, the speed limits would rapidly change.
https://archive.org/details/threefeloniesday0000silv
If this topic interests you, I recommend reading three felonies a day, by Harvey silverglate
You seem to be assuming that people would keep driving as they currently do if we removed speed limits entirely. I’d be willing to bet that this is not the case. Most drivers have a number in mind on how much they’re willing to exceed the speed limit. For me that is 5 - 10kph, so if the limit is 60kph, then you’re not going to catch me going 80. Without speed limits I probably would.
So why do we have such laws? Because they work. Not perfectly but to some extent.
Do you think traffic speeds aren’t enforced? Just because they can’t do it effectively because they don’t have the resources or man power doesn’t mean they don’t try.
Ummm… nah
Cop car just goes speeding along with everyone else on the highway. Speeding is de facto legal.
its more of a suggestion of what speed you should go, and as long as everyone is going the same, its no problem
for example:
speed limit is 55, but it’s open road, everyone goes 65
or on the highway, left lane is always going 90+, even though the speed limit is 70
as long as everyone is doing the same and behaving themselves, no one has a problem with anyone
that’s my opinion on the matter at least
It’s only de facto legal until something goes wrong. If a crash occurred and someone was speeding that’d be considered a contributing factor to the crash.
Even if speeding itself wasn’t illegal, there would need to be a definition of what reckless driving is, and speed in comparison to the road is a good measure of that, because it’s directly proportional to the lack of control of the vehicle.
All laws exist because someone is expected to break them. They’re created when someone does something unexpected. They’re (sometimes) removed when nobody is expected to break them anymore.
Like how racism doesn’t exist anymore, so we can get rid of DEI!
If only that were the claim.
They exist just in case they need to crack down on you.
I always think of dog leash laws this way. In many places they aren’t enforced and the majority of dog owners let their dogs off leash. However, if the owner loses control of their dog and it gets into trouble, like biting someone or another dog, then the law can always say, you’re liable because your dog was supposed to be on leash.
I think the same goes for speeding and other laws. It basically puts liability on the lawbreaker if they take a certain risk. If nothing bad happens, fine. But, if something does, then it’s your fault.
This has the unintended consequence of people not knowing about the law if it goes unenforced for a long time.
Not knowing the law isn’t an excuse before the law in most circumstances.
Name every law.
Which makes this an issue since no one will go read the whole list of laws
Anecdotally, I’ve never been pulled over in traffic, but the one time I was pulled over, I was doing 76 in a 65 at 5 AM with no other cars on the road and otherwise driving completely fine.
I guess he was bored. Or an asshole. Or both.
I was doing 76 in a 65
And you’re proud of it. YTA as they say.
Both times I’ve ever been pulled over for speeding the road was empty except me and i was going the average speed people drive on them. 3 people doing 20 over, a cop can shrug and say i don’t wanna pick one to ticket. A single car not only sticks out as speeding more easily, but there also isn’t much of an excuse for the cop not to pull them over.
Counter intuitively, its easier to get away with speeding when the roads are busy because you blend in. The biggest things you want to avoid when speeding and busy is agressive behaviors and frequent passing. Make it seem more casual and you will blend in with the flow of traffic.
I’ve never been pulled over in traffic, but the one time I was pulled over…
wait wut?
There was no traffic, he was on the road alone.
Thanks, deleted. Also they said “almost never” which I totally read wrong.
I think he edited the almost in based on his edit note.
Counter question: do you think everyone is sensible?
I’m too German to understand what’s happening here.
How do you get your licence in Germany?
How do you expect constant enforcement? I’ll go over the speed limit on the motorway when it’s quiet and the lane is empty. Police generally don’t care if you’re doing 75 or 80 in a 70, as long as you’re not driving like an ass. The most important thing is keeping pace with traffic.
How do you expect constant enforcement?
China did it.
They put cameras all over the highways, just mail them the fines and use the video recording as evidence.
I mean, you don’t even need China’s authoritarianism to acheive this, traffic cameras already exist in many democratic countries, just add more along the highway.
Not sure how cost effective this would be :/
In China, they made up the costs from the fines they received… so its actually quite profitable, because people just can’t resist the urge to speed.
I think the bigger problem isn’t the costs, it’s that there might be backlash and protests in a democracy.
Certainly cheaper than paying for a police cruiser and all their equipment and wages. Its also less likely for the camera to be racist, be bribed, or shoot someone.
Cars are so common and speeding ignored for long we’d probably need at least double the amount of cops to enfroce traffic if we got rid of red light and speeding cameras.
Everyone always exceed the speed limit on highways
You’re projecting yourself
Nah, I don’t even have a license to drive.
Every time I’m in my parent’s car, they drive the speed limit, then I see cars flying by. I’m like wtf.
I double check the spedometer, it points at just below 60, the sign says 60. How is everyone going so fast. They must be speeding.
Edit: And it’s not just one or two cars, its almost every car on the highway.
This is in the USA, the Interstate-95 / PA-NJ Turnpike btw.
Lol,
everyone
Proceeds to disprove.
Apparently it’s not everyone that speeds.
True, but traffic not following “the algorithm” is more dangerous than moderate speeding.
