Chip Taylor

Speed limit mulligans

By way of Outside the Beltway, I find out about a report by the Governors Highway Safety Commission that reportedly finds that "authorities patrolling U.S. highways tend to give motorists a cushion of up to 10 miles per hour above the speed limit before pulling them over."

James indulges in what seems like a little gratuitous AP-bashing when he says that this is "something that every single American not employed by the AP has known since they were old enough to drive."

Yeah, the 5 or 10 mph mulligan is something that everyone "knows" about, but for a bunch of states to formally acknowledge that it is policy would seem to be newsworthy. Which raises a question: Is that what the study found?

The statements by the GHSA chairman notwithstanding, I'm not convinced. I haven't (and most likely won't) read the whole report, but I did read the executive summary. It reports:

Nearly all respondents reported a public perception that there exists a cushion above a posted speed limit in which officers will not cite offenders. The range most often reported was 5-10 miles per hour above the posted limit.

So, apparently what the study found was not that there is cushion, but rather that responding highway officials believe that the public believes that there is a cushion.

It's a shame that such a meager finding has been blown up and distorted into the main issue; the report appears to cover more substantive issues.

You can also find the findings for single states here.