Is going 5mph over the speed limit a sin

[pcg2]

It’s funny because you think Jesus would be angry with the cop for pulling him over, and doing his job?

Just because the driver was a proud and loud law breaker?

Or was it funny for some other reason I don’t understand?

The latter. I just thought it was a witty and funny thing to say. The image of Jesus sitting in a car woth someone as they get pulled over by a cop is hilarious, at leat to me

 

[StrawberryJam]

The latter. I just thought it was a witty and funny thing to say. The image of Jesus sitting in a car woth someone as they get pulled over by a cop is hilarious, at leat to me

Jesus talked to prostitues. He had no problem being with lawbreakers. He never condoned their lawbreaking though. So, I guess I just don’t understand this whole thread.

Thanks for posting it though. I’ll try to take the dead serious comments about being 5 minutes late to Mass seriously when I think of simply being 5 miles over the speed limit. Would it be the same kind of offense?

 

[karoleck]

Rico you are right.Here is what Guadium et Spes(Church in the modern world VatII)Heading-Need to transcend an individualistic moratily----No.30.-----"There are others who neglect the norms of social conduct,such as regulating public hygiene and speed limits,forgetting that they are endangering their own lives and the lives of others by their carelessness."and I continue “Let everyone consider it his SACRED DUTY to count social obligations among man’s chief duties today and observe them as such”.Flannery O.P.
Abbot has a footnote commentry saying that this was put in by The Fathers to counteract the arguement that road laws are human made and therefore one can put the foot down without sinning!!If a person is travelling 5mph over the speed limit and hit a pedestrian and kills him or her, as they could not stop in time could have a moral componant to it.Unfortunately I speed at times,I sometimes wonder why I need to do it,perhaps there is a certain restlessness in us.It is not like I need to rush to hospital.It is something that I should reflect on more often.I have not had a ticket for years which must say something, as speed cameras are everywhere.Times change, an old priest friend told me that his teacher in the Seminary taught, in moral theology (1935) that anyone doing over 50mph is committing a mortal sin!!

 

[wjp984]

The latter. I just thought it was a witty and funny thing to say. The image of Jesus sitting in a car woth someone as they get pulled over by a cop is hilarious, at leat to me

Lol, ya, that was my point in writing it. Oh,and I was thinking of that song in the movie Cool Hand Luke though I think it was talking about Mary interceding. I can’t remember but basically it was something about not caring about going 90mph just as long as they had some religious thing in their car.

 

[wjp984]

Here are some thoughts:

How many of you don’t get into the left turn lane in time and cross the solid white line? That is breaing a law that is usually unenforced. Have you committed a sin? How many of you realize you are in the wrong lane and then when you see it is safe and there is no traffic, cross that same solid white line to get out? Would this be a sin? The traffic laws are not moral absolutes.

What about this thought. By getting a ticket I have now benefitted my bankrupt state so that they can somehow recover, preferebly before I graduate this year–probably not going to happen but I can pray. By getting that ticket I have helped out society more than harmed it.

 

[surritter]

Wjp984,
I suppose it can be said that getting back out of the left-turn lane when you realize your mistake is a minor violation of the law as it’s written. But it is done to get out of a tight spot that you did not intend.

Similarly, if you temporarily speed to get out of a tight spot – such as a truck drifting into your lane – then that is not a sin. What we’re talking about is knowing something is wrong and saying “screw it, I know what’s best for me” even when there is no tight spot to get out of.

 

[AHapka]

I confessed this to a priest and was told that it is not a sin. Case closed for me.

However, as I was a Racine County, WI deputy sheriff who worked on I94 for two years, I’d like to make a couple of observations:

1. I had a rollover accident on a snowy day. Everyone was doing 40mph on the interstate and so was this guy. Most people (including other officers) just say too fast for conditions, and leave it at that. However, I wanted to know why he lost control and other cars didn’t at the same speed. When I saw tires that were bald in parts, I realized that THE TIRES were the cause of the accident and NOT SPEED.
2. We had a car crash into a state trooper’s car which was pulled off of the road (not hurt seriously, thankfully). The argument was made that since he couldn’t stop in time, he was going to fast. I investigated the accident and he told me that he WASN’T PAYING ATTENTION. As far as I was concerned, the accident would have happened at any speed. So I don’t blame speed, it was the fact that he wasn’t paying attention that was the root cause of the accident.
3. Semi vs. car accident. Semi driver says he didn’t even look when he changed lanes. Easy cause there.
4. On an exit ramp, one car rear ends another. Rear driver said she didn’t notice the other car slowing down. Cause- not paying attention.
5. Major crash stopping all three lanes for a while. Road rage incident where one driver threw a water bottle at the other car, and other driver just instinctively jerked the wheel at impact. Both were speeding. But it would have happened at a slower speed. Cause- road rage and throwing stuff at other cars.
6. And of course, many drunk driving accidents.

I’m not saying accidents don’t happen because of speed. They do, but they are much rarer then all of the others. People not paying attention, having proper equipment, getting distracted, and simply not driving properly are the cause of the vast majority of the accidents I dealt with. Doing 75 while leaving yourself enough room to react and paying attention to your driving is far safer then doing 65 fiddling with your iPod while tailgating the car in front of you.

There are also people out there who’s driving skills or the type of vehicle they are driving are simply not conducive with higher speeds. If you’ve never driven in snow, you’ll need to go slower then an experienced snow driver. If you’re driving a 1989 Oldsmobile with bad springs and a soft suspension, you’ll need to go slower then someone driving a recent model Audi A4 capable of higher speeds.

Also, note that many accidents are considered “speed related” when speed was not the primary cause of the accident. It gets noted that they were speeding, and that becomes part of the statistic.

I much prefered to sit at exit ramps and get people blowing stop signs, and sit at construction zones where that car has to stay in a lane until the last second when the lane ends and force their way in and cut someone off then I prefered to write speeding citations.

 

[AHapka]

Similarly, if you temporarily speed to get out of a tight spot – such as a truck drifting into your lane – then that is not a sin. What we’re talking about is knowing something is wrong and saying “screw it, I know what’s best for me” even when there is no tight spot to get out of.

Speeding to avoid an accident is not illegal, in fact it’s a legal defense to a charge of speeding.

I was once on a snowy road stopped at an intersection where traffic was stopped four ways. I saw my wife lose control behind me, and purposely pulled into the intersection so no one could go…then moved just in time and she slid through the intersection wihout an accident cause no one went while I was in the way. Perfectly legal, even though I entered on a red light (and traffic the other way wasn’t moving yet).

 

[dsears]

I’ve had one speeding ticket in my life. It was here in Ohio, I was going 81 in a 65. It was rather embarrassing because I really had to use the restroom and was just trying to get to the rest stop. The cop pulled me over on the ramp leading to the rest stop. But i noticed one thing interesting on the slip of paper she gave me that explained the fines. They had the different amounts that you could be fined depending on speed and the list started at 5 over. So for the longest time I would go 69 through Ohio knowing that I could not be given a ticket for that. But that is not a good idea as most of the traffic is moving a lot faster than that and you will make someone angry with you if you do that. Still I only go about 69-71 while I’m here in Ohio, but as soon as I hit the Indiana State line (speed limit 70) I will speed up to about 75-78 miles an hour.

 

[wjp984]

The only time I think speeding on the open road can get dangerous is when animals are involved. I have hit a baby deer before going 68 and it did $4,000 damage to my car. Hoever, one of the scarriest moments of my life was when I was going 90 and there were three large deer standing with the deer in the headlights looks. I somehow missed all of them while screaming as I swerved right, left, right, like going through an obstacle course but ya, has I been going slower, this would not have been as hard to accomplish.

This incident slowed me down at night now, well at least where I see those animal crossing signs (they are really out there). But I still think the magic number is about 80ish to where it is safe to go. So regardless of what the speed limit is, I think I can safely go 80 and when I drive home at the end of the year and pass through Texas, I’m really looking forwards to that 80mph speed limit since that mens I’ll probably go 94.

 

[Jerok]

I know that I have a tendency to drive 5mph faster or slower than the speed I want to drive if I’m not on cruise control, just based on my human error. So if I’m already going 5 or 10 mph over the speed limit, then that would bring me up to 10 or 15mph over. Which is clearly against the law, so I just drive the speed limit. And the ‘5 mph leniency’ that cops give will be taken care of by my human error.

Now if I’m on cruise control, I usually set it 2 or 3 mph above the limit because I’ll get passed SO many times if I don’t and I think that’s more dangerous than the 2 or 3 mph over. But that’s probably not even the most justified argument.

 

[StrawberryJam]

Here are some thoughts:

How many of you don’t get into the left turn lane in time and cross the solid white line? That is breaing a law that is usually unenforced. Have you committed a sin? How many of you realize you are in the wrong lane and then when you see it is safe and there is no traffic, cross that same solid white line to get out? Would this be a sin? The traffic laws are not moral absolutes.

What about this thought. By getting a ticket I have now benefitted my bankrupt state so that they can somehow recover, preferebly before I graduate this year–probably not going to happen but I can pray. By getting that ticket **I have helped out society **more than harmed it.

You personally?

I assume you mean you pay for all your tuition and expenses at school, car expenses, and insurance, and payed for this ticket also.