*UPDATE* So I get 1 speeding ticket and...

[Maverick2002]

I legitimately don't know this, but your insurance company automatically gets notified of any traffic violations you get?

Also I agree that kind of an increase for 12 over is harsh. Something doesn't add up here. I usually stay at 9 over, though if there's a faster flow of traffic I just get in line. In my state our two main highways are 55 ... no one goes 55 there, ever. 60-65 is normal flow, with speedier (morning) traffic going 75+.

 

[thraashman]

15 over won't get it in many states. Here you are very foolish to exceed 10 over, that is the magic number in Washington and Oregon. Push that and you will stick out.

My general rule is go with traffic. Or more specifically, go with whatever the fastest section of traffic is going. Don't do less than 5 over the speed limit unless you have no choice.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Traffic school?

Probably all ready on the record if not pled out before court date

 

[digitaldurandal]

Here come the cyber police, telling you dun goofed by breaking the law with their holier than thou attitude. Please ignore the fact that these same people break whatever laws they feel like. One of them is a software pirate, another one jaywalks, the other abuses his kids and the last is addicted to child pornography. Don't pay any attention to that though because you are an asshole for breaking the speed limit.

I agree. Everyone who is like OMG UR BROKE TEH LAW U DIE, is a dick.

Everyone breaks traffic laws at some point either on purpose on accident. No one drives perfectly there are simply too many opportunities to mess up.

Tickets and Insurance are mostly a source of jobs and income. Insurance pushes for traffic laws and over react to the slightest details to try to milk you. If you think that almost 1000$ a year hike in rates is reasonable for 12mph over the limit then you are either an insurance schill or a troll IMO.

 

[digitaldurandal]

Anyone complaining about you going 12 over has never driven in Miami I promise that. I'll go 90 in a 65 and cops are PASSING me like I am their grandmother.

 

[dpodblood]

Thanks to those who have provided advice, and actually get where I'm coming from with this. Nik (and others who share the same view) I *do* get where you're coming from. It makes sense that insurance companies will charge more for higher risk groups, and that insurance goes when someone in that croup receives a ticket, *BUT* $80 per month, for a first time offense? That is a bit over the top.

I will do a bit of calling around tomorrow and see if someone else can provide me with a better rate. Paying ~$280 a month for incurance is just too much. Hell, it's almost as much as the car payments...

 

[dmcowen674]

Stop speeding, you think it's your personal road?

 

[HumblePie]

Wow, Nik throwing a tantrum.

Anyhow, to the OP.

I've had 3 speeding tickets in my life, only 1 of which I was actually speeding for. Even then it was a shady thing that happened.

For my advice to the OP. If you can get USAA, give that a go. They are seriously cheaper than anyone else I've tried recently. It should dramatically reduce your insurance.

Now for Nik. Actually, ELDERLY are the most accident prone age group of drivers. Those 65+. This is a known statistic in the insurance industry. What is also a known statistic is that they don't drive as much and don't have as much reason to drive as much as young people. Young people are more prone to speeding. Women actually are more prone to more accidents, while young men have less accidents. The thing is, young men typically have far worse accidents than women. Which means per accident, the male ones are more costly on an individual basis. On a whole though, women are actually more costly to insure.


But, young men typically have the money to absorb the costs of others. So unlike other demographic groups, they get their rates shot up higher to cover the cost of others. It sucks, but it is what it is. Insurance premiums are not based off driving statistics only. Not by a long shot.

Also Nik. Most cars are more than capable of much harsher road conditions and higher speeds than what is posted. Posted speeds in many places are there for usually reasons other than safety. Noise levels, gas usage, and local government income from tickets are the top three reasons for most speed limits on many roads. Not sure if you knew this, but speed limits on all federal highways was originally 75 until Nixon changed them for the "gas scare" in the 70's to 55 mph. Even then it was a political move and nothing more. It had nothing to do with safety.

But I'll agree with Nik on one thing. The majority of speeding cases it is your own damn fault. You know the posted speeds as they are posted. Going over means you know you are breaking the law. If you get busted you know what the consequences are.

That being said, there is some real shady shit that happens with speeding tickets. If I wasn't so drowsy from this stupid pain medicine I'd type up some of my stories on speeding tickets from what I know first hand.

Oh well it is what it is. Since you got the ticket OP and you didn't fight it then you have to deal with the consequences. If you can get USAA I highly recommend it. If not, I would still shop around for something lower. It certainly can't hurt.

 

[meltdown75]

auto insurance is such a racket here. i feel for ya OP.

unfortunately it's those drivers of us that are less than perfect that get pwnedddd when it comes times for policy renewal....

use cruise control more

 

[pontifex]

i've received about 3 speeding tickets and never had my insurance go up. although i dn't think i was going 20 mph over...

 

[meltdown75]

i've received about 3 speeding tickets and never had my insurance go up. although i dn't think i was going 20 mph over...

kilometres

 

[dpodblood]

Thanks for your response humblepie. I would try that provider, but I don't think it's available in Canada . I will do some shopping around though and see if I can do any better.

 

[sswingle]

Most insurance companies will forgive the first one. Crappy insurance FTL.

 

[PingSpike]

Sense when is race factored into insurance rates? Hmm that sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

You know, this is opening up an ugly can of worms...but why can't they? Last time I checked, we weren't suppose to discriminate based on sex either but insurance companies do that with both car insurance and with health insurance. It seems clear to me those rules don't apply to insurance companies.

Anyway, they probably already do this...perhaps using location as a best guess based on demographics and discriminating based on that instead.

 

[Gibson486]

Most insurance companies will forgive the first one. Crappy insurance FTL.

no, they forgive your first accident, not ticket.

 

[Daedalus685]

Or liars. Plus I have slowed waaaaaaaaaay down ever since, because the ~$300 ticket I got in the first place was enough for me. I feel like a speed bump on the highway doing the limit while grandma and grandpa ride my ass because I'm going so slow...

Where the hell do you live that 20km/hr is $300??????? Unless it is in 40km/hr school zone....

The last 20km/h over ticket I got was $80 (in Ontario)... Are you sure you were not tagged for much faster than 20 over? That high of a ticket is what you get for 49 over here.... That is what you get when the cop is nice enough not to take your car for going 50 over and gives you 49 over instead...


But yeah.. 20 over is about the level of the police bothering to pull you over here (in an 80 or 90 zone anyway). It carries with it a 80ish dollar ticket and should make almost no difference on your insurance unless you have more than one. Canada is not the USA...

 

[irishScott]

I once got a warning (lucky) for going 76 in a 65 (mph). You would have been going 77. So yeah, I'd say the ticket's fair enough. As for your insurance policy, guess you should've read the fine print.

 

[dpodblood]

no, they forgive your first accident, not ticket.

If this is true it's pretty damn retarded.

Hmm...

Speeding ticket payout for insurance company: nothing
Payout for a major accident: several thousand dollars

 

[dpodblood]

Where the hell do you live that 20km/hr is $300??????? Unless it is in 40km/hr school zone....

The last 20km/h over ticket I got was $80 (in Ontario)... Are you sure you were not tagged for much faster than 20 over? That high of a ticket is what you get for 49 over here.... That is what you get when the cop is nice enough not to take your car for going 50 over and gives you 49 over instead...


But yeah.. 20 over is about the level of the police bothering to pull you over here (in an 80 or 90 zone anyway). It carries with it a 80ish dollar ticket and should make almost no difference on your insurance unless you have more than one. Canada is not the USA...

Yep speeding tickets are expensive here. It's a major cash grab for the government...

 

[BudAshes]

On the last day of school before my mom's graduating class was finished with their senior year, the seniors were celebrating in the parking lot. One guy was letting his car idle forward with a hawt chick on the hood showing off for the hooting men. He thought it would be funny to hit the break to scare her and make her think she'd fall off.

She fell off, hit her head on the pavement, broke her neck, and died.

But, yeah, you're cool at 20kph over the speed limit. Nothing would ever happen to you and you'd never cause any sort of issue on the road, right?

Sorry for the girls family and all but accidents happen. There are 6+ billion people on this planet and they are all going to die. Almost none of them will die from going 12mph over the speed limit on a normal day while sober. I can guarantee you that. Nice try though. I'd rather spend 10% less time on the road for the rest of my life than worry about the .000000001 risk that my slight increase of spread will kill me. I've never caused and accident, never got a ticket and in fact I watch police officers blow by me at 20mph over the speed limit all the time. No one cares except you, and the state(because they want our money without the bad publicity of raising taxes) so either get over it or be a bitter old man with a stick up your butt for the rest of your life.

To the op, just switch insurance. Not hard in this day and age.

 

[erikistired]

My general rule is go with traffic. Or more specifically, go with whatever the fastest section of traffic is going. Don't do less than 5 over the speed limit unless you have no choice.

my dad used to tell me that. then he got a ticket for speeding along in a group. nobody else in the group stopped to offer to pay for his ticket, so he changed his philosophy.

 

[actuarial]

Where I live, the highway has a speed limit of 100km/h, the right lanes drive about 110-115, and the middle and left lanes drive 120-130. I always drive between 125 and 130 and have never gotten a ticket.

You will NEVER get pulled over for 20 over on the highway. There was actually a cop on a 24 hours news station once specifically stating they don't bother with anyone at 20 over.

There are numerous occasions where I've been driving 130 in the middle lane and am being passed by numerous cars. 401/400/427/404 when not cramped are AWESOME!

 

[QuantumPion]

On the last day of school before my mom's graduating class was finished with their senior year, the seniors were celebrating in the parking lot. One guy was letting his car idle forward with a hawt chick on the hood showing off for the hooting men. He thought it would be funny to hit the break to scare her and make her think she'd fall off.

She fell off, hit her head on the pavement, broke her neck, and died.

But, yeah, you're cool at 20kph over the speed limit. Nothing would ever happen to you and you'd never cause any sort of issue on the road, right?

So I guess running and cycling should be outlawed too, since if you tripped or fell you would be subjected to about the same force? What is the point of your anecdote?

I'd bet money that Nik is guilty of talking on a cellphone, talking to passengers, messing with an ipod, listening to music loudly, or any of 50 other activities which are orders of magnitude more dangerous than driving above the posted speed limit but still below the road's design speed.

 

[QuantumPion]

Where I live, the highway has a speed limit of 100km/h, the right lanes drive about 110-115, and the middle and left lanes drive 120-130. I always drive between 125 and 130 and have never gotten a ticket.

You will NEVER get pulled over for 20 over on the highway. There was actually a cop on a 24 hours news station once specifically stating they don't bother with anyone at 20 over.

There are numerous occasions where I've been driving 130 in the middle lane and am being passed by numerous cars. 401/400/427/404 when not cramped are AWESOME!

I don't know about Canada but in the U.S. it is highly dependent on how big of dicks the local law enforcement are, or how short the local government budgets are. For example, in VA, I have gotten a ticket for going 1 mph over the speed limit (26 in 25), because it was a rural area and the cops know that it would cost out-of-towners more money in gas traveling back to the county courthouse to contest rather than just pay by mail.

 

[SP33Demon]

If this is true it's pretty damn retarded.

Hmm...

Speeding ticket payout for insurance company: nothing
Payout for a major accident: several thousand dollars

Yes but speeding frequency > accident frequency. They are in business to make money.