Q
quadelirus
Guest
In the US it probably matters whether you are in a presumed or absolute speed limit state. In a presumed speed limit state the law generally says something like, “you must go a reasonable speed”, and then you are presumed to be going an unreasonable speed if you go over the posted speed limit. However you are not necessarily breaking the law, you are just presumed to be breaking the law and can argue in court that you weren’t (for instance if you were going 5 over the posted limit on a perfectly clear day on a stretch of highway with no other cars on the road in a non-residential section then you probably are not breaking the law even though you are presumed to be). However, in an absolute speed limit state even going 1 mph over the speed limit is breaking the law. In those states there is no arguing in court whether you were breaking the law or not, the only relevant fact is if you were or were not traveling in excess of the speed limit.
TLDR; In a presumed speed limit state the posted speed limit is not the point at which the law is broken, so reasonably going over the limit is not in violation of the law even though you can still get a ticket for it. In an absolute speed limit state any excess of the posted limit is a violation of the law.
TLDR; In a presumed speed limit state the posted speed limit is not the point at which the law is broken, so reasonably going over the limit is not in violation of the law even though you can still get a ticket for it. In an absolute speed limit state any excess of the posted limit is a violation of the law.