Be it resolved that speeding tickets are not given and that drivers are given credits for driving the speed limit.
Okay, I'll fess up and admit my bias. Since I've been 75 I've received 3 speeding tickets. They are the only speeding tickets I've ever had. So at least 90 % of my driving has been at or below speed limit and yes some just a little over speed limit.
So I don't think speeding tickets do much to make drivers quit speeding. Sometimes speeders are caught again a few miles down the road. Yes, a speeding ticket will alter some drivers. There would have to be a speed limit that would be classified as criminal and they should be punished accordingly.
Now I do think that rewards for driving the speed limit will encourage people to stay within the speed limit. I would like to think that speeders will slow down so that they will get a reward. So speed traps can be set up to catch those who are driving within the speed limit. Rewards? There could be many ideas. Take a few bucks off your income tax? Would you go for that? How about businesses giving something like free hamburgers or meals? Tickets to football or hockey. This could get creative and fun.
Now here's one you can argue against. I was a middle school teacher and I used rewards often. Some of these things were really silly but the kids went for it. How about if you get 100 % in your spelling three times you get a free week and don't have to do spelling. They went nuts over that one.
I think that turning the speeding issue around would do more than the program we have now.
What do you think?
Maybe a credit on your car insurance! My one ticket cost me 150 $ so I watch it more closely now...that buys lots of yarn:)
ReplyDeleteGood girl for keeping under the speed limit.
DeleteI use my Cruise Control feature on my car to not go more than 2 mph over the speed limit. If I don't use it my foot gets heavy and I'm suddenly zooming down the highway. In the U.S. the cost of the speeding ticket may be high, but the big increase in your car insurance because of a moving violation is the real deterrent. You're retired; what are you in such a big hurry for? Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteMost of my driving is in town. speed limits change in different places so you really have to watch. These tickets were photo radar so no demerits of increase in insurance. Just a very nasty surprise.
DeleteThere used to be a radio programme called "Genius" on the BBC. It was a comedy programme in which comedians came up with zany new inventions and ideas. Once someone suggested that speed limits should be changed; instead of 30 mph we should have 29 mph limits. The claim was that when people see 30 they subconsciously think anything between 30 and 39 will do, whereas 29 is definitely below 30. Before you dismiss this idea think how shops price things at £99.99 rather than £100 (and when you ask them how much they paid they say "About £90!") - there must be something that makes us think we're getting it cheaper. Maybe it works in reverse when it comes to speeding.
ReplyDeleteTickets work for some people but for some people nothing helps. It's surprising how long they can get away with things.
DeleteI think you should just quit speeding.
ReplyDeleteI don't consciously speed. I quit paying attention and before you know it I'm way above speed limit.
DeleteI am absolutely consumed when driving by a desire not to exceed the speed limit. Most people would laugh at me but it's become an obsession.
ReplyDeleteIt's too easy to speed with some of the cars we can buy.
DeleteOh Red - I loved the idea of rewards on spelling tests!!!
ReplyDeleteI never gave rewards (once I got going in teaching I taught 11 - 16s0 but what I did give was praise. I always found - whatever age - that a public word of praise did far more than a public rebuke.
Yes, praise and lots of genuine praise. they lap it up.
DeleteIt seems that no one follows the speed limit. Usually here if you get a speeding ticket you get points on your driver's record and can make your car insurance increase. Now they have speeding cameras and will send a ticket in the mail that comes with a lefty price. Take care, enjoy your day!
ReplyDeleteI got my tickets from the photo rdar.
DeleteI think you should join a Formula One team if you want to be a speedster. You'll need a racing helmet and flameproof overalls. You will be the new Jacques Villeneuve.
ReplyDeleteMy speeding is totally unplanned. I'm no racer!
DeleteIt's the carrot-vs-stick argument! I think carrots are always a better option. In Florida and other states you get lower insurance rates if you have a clean driving record, so I suppose that's a rewards system of sorts.
ReplyDeleteYes, that's a great reward system.
DeleteThere is a lot of sense in that. Positive reinforcement. I know I'm being a cynic but rewards cost money whereas tickets generate revenue.
ReplyDeleteThey get a little greedy with the price of a ticket.
DeleteRewards sound nice but I shudder to think of the extra tax burden that will be heaped on my to pay for it especially when our punitive tax system already has me paying for 50% of the rest of our citizens who don't pay taxes.
ReplyDeleteI have always felt that the reason people speed is because the ticket they receive isn't punitive enough. Instead of fining them a token amount of money, why not impound their car for a month. I'm certain if I lost my car for a month, I would think twice about speeding. They could even have fun with it. On the third impounding, the car now belongs to the police who could sell it and raise money for local charities.
They could have sneakier devices to catch us and that would raise money. If we're too tough there are ways around the penalties.
DeleteSince I hardly drive any more, I don't have to worry about speeding tickets. I prefer the bus anyway. Three tickets since 75? Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteInattention is the problem.
DeleteLove the idea of positive rewards. That said - good luck! We tend to live in a world geared far more to punishment and reactivity, not reward and proactivity. The core assumption is that the majority will follow the rules and it's the outliers who will show up and be caught.
ReplyDeleteAlong the lines of your proposal, I'd love to see healthcare professionals be incentivized when they keep patients OFF drugs and away from expensive "fixes" and instead work on preventative health measures and outcomes. Still holding my breath...
Many areas seem as if they have some simple ideas to make things better but it's hard to make changes. How's my spelling today?
DeleteWell, there are some folks that positive rewards would not work for. Narcissists, for example. Tickets also allow the legal system to 'track' dangerous drivers. Here if you accumulate enough points on your license, it is to be revoked.
ReplyDeleteOur insurance offers 'safe driving' discounts, though. Your rates go up if you are ticketed frequently.
You're right some people are impossible. They just keep on being dangerous.
DeleteWe don't drive much on freeways anymore. It's mostly just our little city roads to the co-op and back. When we do go on the freeway our motto is to go with the flow of traffic. If everyone is going 70 in a 65 mph zone, we go 70. We let the flow just take us along.
ReplyDeleteYou are pretty well forced to go with the flow. I know I go with the flow.
DeleteIt is a thoughtful idea! But do we need to reward people who are doing the right thing? I don't know.
ReplyDeleteI would hope that some of the bad guys would be attracted and curb their speed.
DeleteWe live by a two-lane highway. The speed limit is 80. Basically, you can't do that without a long line piling up behind you.
ReplyDeleteI hear ya!
DeleteI don't drive any more but when I did I never got a speeding ticket. I'm sure I was speeding sometimes but never got stopped.
ReplyDeleteThe percentage of people who are stopped is very small.
DeleteI think rewards would go far help. My husband drives the speed limit and we are the slowest car on the road.
ReplyDeleteThat's unfortunate that you follow the speed limit and are the slowest.
DeleteMy only traffic ticket was for careless driving, and that was many years ago now.
ReplyDeleteI hope that's the last ticket you get.
DeleteIf the speeding ticket fine is hefty enough, it will create less speeding. It did for me. Now I use cruise control on freeways, is they are ever wide open enough to speed.
ReplyDeleteI didn't use rewards when I was teaching, just lots of praise. I don't believe in rewarding people for what they are supposed to do anyway.
I would hope that some more people would be encouraged to follow the rules.
DeleteThose are very good reward ideas that you’ve got there Red. Very sound! I think speeders are going to speed but if there was an incentive, maybe they would change their ways. I love what you did for your students, now there’s incentive. I got one speeding ticket, going 20 mile an hour in a 15-mile zone. I got lost in a navy housing area on base. We’re going back 40 plus years here. I also got the ticket because I didn’t live in that housing area. I had to appear before the chief petty officer in charge a few days later. Husband had already put out to sea by this time. I was running an errand for him when I got my ticket, brand new in the area and always getting lost (no gps back then, just maps that I had to keep stopping and reading). I had genuinely bawled my head off when I was handed the ticket as it was the last straw. The chief was very calming and held my hand as no doubt he had had the word from the young man who gave me the ticket I suppose. “This one’s a bawler.”
ReplyDeleteGetting a ticket under those circumstances would be very stressful and I could see why you would lose it
ReplyDelete