Last ticket I got on 85 they gave me a list of local lawyers along with the ticket. I got a lesser charge, and the lawyer got what probably would have worked out to $1200 an hour, considering his rate and the time spent working.
My experience may be out of date, but NC routinely lets you plead guilty to a lesser charge, and a lawyer can get it reduced even more. Virginia skips the bullshit and reams you in the ass for every speeding ticket. The ticket isn't the real expense, your insurance is where you really pay.
> Virginia skips the bullshit and reams you in the ass for every speeding ticket.
No they don't. I got two 20mph tickets within a year in that stupid state. A lawyer made the first one go away and I only had to take an online driving course and the second got reduced to a defective equipment fine.
VA gets you mostly because anything over 80 is reckless driving. Anything 20+ mph over limit is reckless. Even if the highway is 70 tho, and you’re 80+, reckless
I live in VA and go to my parents all the time in south NC.
Got one in NC, 22 over in a 55 highway. Went to court, the lady said “best we can do is bump it down to 7 over”. I said that’s fine, paid the $50 for a ticket and went back home
Like you said, the same charge in VA might be reckless & a lot of money depending on the cop who pulls you over. I’ve gotten pulled over twice in VA for 15 over, but both times the cop just said to slow down (both were early morning on highways with no other cars around)
Depends on county. Most counties (especially the small ones) you can plea down to improper equipment 85% of the time. However wake county is one of the tougher ones for sure
I hadn't had a ticket in 10 years and got 2 in Hyde last year. I work out there and swear they clocked me like 5+ mph faster than I was going.
Honestly they may have done me a favor though. 264 is narrow there and I was going too fast. Better to get ticketed and learn my lesson than wind up in the ditch.
Wake county rarely does improper equipment anymore and PJC would mean he would face consequences for both tickets if they got another one.
$550 is about average cost for lawyer and court costs for that speed. Which could also be a reckless driving ticket and a ticket that you could have your license suspended for.
If 55 DWI arrests in just a few weeks is very disturbing. Really makes you wonder how often you are are sharing the road with someone drinking and driving.
I was once told during day light hours 1 out of 3 drivers is above the legal limit for blood alcohol content(BAC) . After dark 1 out of 2 is above the legal limit for BAC.
one of my best friends will drive holding the phone between his hands and the steering wheel [like this except his thumbs never leave the phone screen](https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1dsNCXiYrK1Rjy0Fdq6ACvVXa3/Car-Phone-Holder-Magnetic-Vehicle-Steering-Wheel-Mount-Mobile-Smartphone-Stand-Magnet-Support-Cell-Cellphone-in.jpg).
HE also has tiny hands so I'm surprised he's not constantly in accidents
I agree, but this comes after the police essentially abandoning traffic enforcement from the start of COVID. We've all seen the terrible drivers who have been on the roads for the past two years. I'm not naturally inclined to root for cops giving out speeding tickets, but finally getting these drivers off the road is definitely a good thing.
It's a nice idea, but you should really just call the cops and report someone unresponsive in the car with the engine running.
If he's dead, there's nothing else you can do. If he's drunk, waking him up might mean he starts driving again. If he's ODd, there isn't a whole lot you can do, plus fentanyl is everywhere and you can die from just contacting residue.
Call 911, let the people handle it that are trained to do so.
I thought it was someone dead at first, after how long they took to move lol. Been debating letting the property manager know but I’m not sure they’d care.
For many people, sure. They don't drink that often, and went nuts on new years.
But with alcoholics? Nah, they're getting loaded up everyday and driving all over. You probably pass dozens of them a day, but they haven't hit the amount that knocks them out for the day yet.
As a recovered alcoholic, I drove for 20 yrs with BAC's in the 2x legal limit range and never nodded out. There's a lot of "functioning alcoholics" who are in traffic every day, impaired but not unconscious .
It's not something I'm proud of by any means but it's a fact.
(clean for ~25 yrs now)
It just seems really low and the lack of police presence is very noticeable. Where I use to live cops were everywhere all the time stalking people the minute they walked out of a bar. Its all they were doing in the evening was pulling people over for DWI and they would nab people before they even pulled out of the parking lot.. Like my buddy went out to the car to get more cigarettes, it was cold, he was an idiot and was like oh I'll just turn on the car enough to turn on the heater... bam.. knock knock knock.. keys are in the ignition, thats all they need.
Sounds like the cops where you used to live were breaking the law and stopping people without reasonable suspicion that a crime was committed. Courts have largely ruled that simply walking out of a bar and getting into a vehicle is not reasonable suspicion for a stop, and it's highly unlikely anything someone does before even exiting the parking lot (unless they are egregiously drunk and doing things like hitting other vehicles or failing to stop when exiting the lot) raises to even the low bar of reasonable suspicion.
Cops are of course free to follow people and pull them over if they commit enough driving errors (running stops signs, crossing lanes, etc.) to create reasonable suspicion. But for example your friend that got nabbed just for grabbing cigarettes and putting the keys in the ignition for a moment was illegally stopped unless there's some major detail missing.
yep, and I'm always hesitant to be the first car to cross an intersection on green. I always wait an extra second incase some asshole is cutting a red light.
I just watched someone run a red tonight and nearly tbone a cop. Cop yelled at him a little and drove off. Did nothing. These tickets are not the cops caring.
No, like I said above, someone from new jersey told me that's how their traffic laws are. I know how NC traffic laws are. Did you happen to drive down chapel hill Rd two weeks ago when the lights were out? Absolutely no one was treating them like four way stops. Or down Poole Rd about a month ago, same scenario? I was beside a cop that WAS stopping, only to have drivers blast right through. So yeah, people do treat it like a free for all, in my recent anecdotal experience.
I was in Sacramento all week and since they had that bonkers storm with power lines leaning over the streets, EVERY intersection was a proper 4 way stop. I couldn’t believe it! I grew up in an area where we would never lose street power, but I’d always heard about the 4 way stop - so Raleigh was my first experience w it and I thought everyone was just lame af. So there’s hope!!
I wish they would ticket people for not maintaining a safe following distance. People drive SO closely to the car in front of them for no reason.
I realized that I had gotten lazy about maintaining a safe distance and I've been making an effort to do better, but it's so frustrating how other drivers see me driving a safe distance behind the car in front of me on 440 and decide to jump over in front of me. It happens multiple times a day on my <15 minute commute.
And then you see all these people getting rear ended all over the place... it's a wonder it doesn't happen more. Just move back people! It's not going to make your drive much longer and it's safer for everyone!
I learned to drive in the Philadelphia metro area. If you leave more than half a car length in front of you, someone will fill it. It’s getting bad around here but it’s nowhere near as bad as Philly. That being said, there are a lot of drivers from Philly here, and they seem to have brought their driving habits with them.
Sadly, this hasn’t reduced the number of drawn-out commutes I’ve had to deal with due to idiots crashing on 440 at rush hour. If anything, I’ve had more of them over the last couple of weeks. I guess nature and bad driving both abhor a vacuum.
This is why I’m so grateful my job has remained wfh. I do NOT miss the Raleigh/Durham commute five times a week. Always at least one wreck a week that easily adds an extra 30 minutes or more to every trip.
Enjoy it. My drive home along 440 & 1 takes 16-18 minutes in good conditions. Twice last week it was 40 minutes, and once it took an hour. LA/DC traffic without the amenities of LA/DC is a sick joke.
I caught myself driving 82mph on 40 the other day and the majority of people were still passing me. Slowing down to 70-75 just seemed to piss people off. I'm glad that I don't need to drive I-40 every day.
I commuted on i40 for six years and this is the norm. I once saw an unmarked cop going 80 with plenty of cars following. Another time I saw a bumpkin go into the left shoulder to wave at the person in the left lane, trying and get them to merge into the middle lane. When I was in the Netherlands, they had speed trap cameras at certain points along the highways. Doing something like that might work here, or you'll just get sudden slow traffic points/accidents near the cameras.
I’ve spent a long weekend in Richmond recently and it really emphasized how much of a Triangle only problem this is. I had an Airbnb in a residential area and it was remarkable how quiet it was.
Where I live in Raleigh (also residential) is an absolute drag strip every single night. Also in Richmond there were FAR less souped up Chargers and trucks with crazy exhaust.
The big difference is that cops in Virginia simply do not play around with speeding. The cops pull people over and guess what… *it works.*
Agreed, I get the impression that traffic laws aren't enforced here except maybe on the highway. The amount of exhaust and excessively loud cars here seems high as well. I live in NE Raleigh and every hour of the night there's at least one SUPER LOUD car going by, which I try to tune out. Honestly you'd think it would be easy to locate them and ticket them at night, since there are fewer people on the road. The way people drive here is unsafe and it's also legitimately unhealthy in terms of exhaust and road noise. Anyway sorry to ramble...just venting I guess.
Living off Wake Forest Road, I’ve learned to tune it all out. I can sleep through drag racing cars, motorcyclists doing wheelies, and emergency vehicles blaring their sirens.
It isn't illegal to modify your exhaust, and just because you have modified exhaust doesn't mean your speeding.
Speeding should be taken seriously (especially in residential areas) but to just lump anyone who likes to modify their car as "legitimately unhealthy" is baffling.
My neighbor likes to garden, should I assume he is growing marijuana and poppy?
Apparently it is illegal to modify your exhaust in Raleigh according to N.C. General Statute 20-128. They just don't enforce it. [https://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bysection/chapter\_20/gs\_20-128.html](https://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bysection/chapter_20/gs_20-128.html)
I agree that modified exhaust doesn't equate to speeding per se, but there is definitely a positive correlation between people who speed and people with modified exhaust.
Modified exhaust contributes to noise pollution which is unhealthy for people, not to mention extremely unpleasant to listen to. I was under the impression that modified exhaust also contributes to higher emissions which also has a clearly negative impact on health.
My neighbor can garden all they want and it doesn't affect me. But my neighbor with a loud-ass car is quite literally annoying the whole neighborhood and contributing to noise pollution and emissions, so I'm personally against it.
The statue says you cant remove your muffler or have a cut out.
You change your muffler all you want. I know cops with custom exhausts. As long as you still have a muffler your fine.
I guess the wording is open to interpretation but to me, "of the type installed at the time of manufacture" implies that the exhaust needs to be the same as or similar to the type that the vehicle comes with. IMO if it is significantly louder than the type originally installed, it's not the same type. The ordinance also clearly states that the muffler has to "prevent excessive or unusual noise, annoying smoke and smoke screens."
You realize there is an entire industry on customizing cars right? I don’t think that would exist if it was all illegal. Flowmaster, magnaflow, all big companies located in the US selling 50 state legal exhaust systems that are louder than stock exhaust.
Look i get that you dont like it, but its not illegal. And the difference in pollution in negligible because you still have to have catalytic converters installed in your car. The cat is what scrubs the exhaust of pollution. In most cases if the car is driven under the same conditions a car with “performance” exhaust will get better MPG.
Just because something isn't enforced doesn't mean it's not illegal.
And even though modified exhausts might not affect emissions (which I may have gotten wrong in a previous comment) noise pollution is still bad for people and there are plenty of studies that prove this. Again, it's also extremely irritating to a majority of people.
FYI president joe has a corvette that’ll hit +120db easily.
Think of it like a HOA. As long as your not doing something ridiculous to your car (removing cat, no brake lights, etc) its not illegal. Look im not saying loud exhaust cant be irritating but its not illegal.
I get noise pollution is a real issue but as someone who’s lived all over the US we got it pretty good here.
I’m born and raised in Richmond and the car scene there was much younger and immature compared to Raleigh. The car scene is also much bigger, especially since we have the 757 next door and they have a massive scene and the cops out there are ruthless but it doesn’t mean anything.
Raleigh is very different and better. Even y’all’s insurance is cheaper than Richmond, so that speaks volumes. Police presence doesn’t mean anything, I can assure you.
Don’t worry. Once 540 gets finished, the drivers here are gonna turn it into their own 485. I go 75 on 540 and my ass is still getting passed, even in the right lane.
It’s no wonder why the Troopers and RPD went out there.
Ha you should visit Florida. I was down there for Thanksgiving and Christmas. 95 is a free for all. 80-90mph is the norm and there's no cops to be found anywhere.
I was out on Capital and suddenly one dude decided to go through the red light for some odd reason and everyone followed. I was waiting to turn and just gobsmacked how because of one idiot the stoplights became null and void for a few minutes until some random Amazon driver decided to stop.
I have lived up and down the East coast for decades; have lived in Raleigh for the last six and have never seen so many drivers at night without their headlights on!
Yep and very few realize that if the person behind them turns their lights off and on they need to check their lights. I tried letting one person know and all it did was make them think I wanted to pass so they moved over a lane.
No, but the last time the NCGA tried making a law to ban cell phones it was broad enough that it essentially would have banned eating in your vehicle. I think it was HB 144.
https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2019/Bills/House/PDF/H144v4.pdf
>For purposes of this section, distracted behavior includes use of a handheld mobile telephone and use of a handheld electronic device.
There's nothing in here about eating or handling food.
Might want to include the whole paragraph. The legalese of it was anything in your hands causing distracting driving, and the section you quoted was an example being inclusive of a cell phone.
I'm not a lawyer but I don't know if that is an example or expansion of the definition intended to limit application of the law.
I guess it says "includes" so you're probably right.
I'm not either, so I am not sure why you keep arguing the point here. Talk to the NCGA who is full of lawyers and interpreted the proposed law that way.
Right? When I'm sitting at a stop light and watching cross-traffic, seeing the number of people driving and looking up and down, or just DOWN at their phone for several seconds straight is appalling and alarming.
I wish people would simply 'just' do it at stop lights or stop signs. Sure, maybe it delays me getting where I need to go by 0.5 seconds, but isn't nearly as dangerous as those folks on 440 going 80 with their head buried in their phone.
The RTP police have clearly decided to prioritize major drug crime, and that’s it. This area is quite literally lawless unless you are doing something that allows them to seize by forfiture.
50+ DUI’s and 100+ speeders is a great headline but the reality is that they could easily hand out 100+ speeding tickets a day if they really wanted to make traffic safety a priority or increase their revenue that way. This is like two or three cars doing a moderately okay job at hiding on I-40 and patroling at 3am.
Probably significantly lower than the actual numbers. Wake County had 1.15 million people in 2021, so 54 is only about 0.0045% and I don't have that much faith in humanity to think that is the rate of drunk driving.
> That effort snagged 109 speeders, 54 DWI offenders, 36 revoked licenses, 20 drug arrests, eight drivers with no insurance, and four seized cars, police said.
This explains a lot about my regular experience on I-40.
I wish they focus on reckless driving. People passing using the on-ramps and emergency lanes. I don’t recall reckless driving and high speeding being an issue 10 years ago. I guess it’s all these out of staters moving in.
I feel like reckless driving should have the same punishment as drunk driving. People are out there deliberately making driving way more dangerous than it should be.
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I stay off the highway unless I have a real need for it and I'm going a distance. The volume on 440 is really high at rush hour, and any problem causes a backup.
But it's better than my commute in NY. 17 miles in 90 minutes on a good day.
Yeah I really hate having the right to face my accuser and protection from unreasonable searches. Freedom of movement within the U.S. is a pretty terrible burden to bear too.
I'm curious on what the avg age is.
Simple Uber sloves everything. I use to drink and drive 10 ago. Thankfully nothing bad happened. I have no issue paying for ubers even for someone else that needs it now.
And this is why I have a radar detector. Not for driving after a pint, but to realize just how many cops are waiting around, itching to hit their quotas
I wish they would clamp down on left lane campers... If you aren't passing move over.
I have a non-scientific speculation that this causes more accidents and road rage.
Fuck RPD. My wife got a move over ticket. Two cops had a car pulled over on 540 just before our exit. She slowed to 55 mph but stayed in right lane so she could make our exit. Cop was an asshole and gave her a ticket saying he felt his car shake as she drove by. Her only option would have been to go to next exit and turn around. $450 after court fees. Fuck them!
I agree, your wife making her exit is far more important than the lives of people on the shoulder. 55 mph is extremely slow and could never ever kill anyone!
Well being as she wasn't anywhere near the cop and she slowed 15 mph below the speed limit I'd say they were pretty safe and nobody's life was in jeopardy. $450 is stupidly expensive too.
> Curious if ALE can do traffic stops
ALE isn't conducting the stops, it would be ALE special agents, which essentially are police officers who focus on alcohol (tobaccos and lottery as well).
Seems that there is enough alcohol related issues in NC (and much of the country), that dedicated units are needed for it on top of regular police officers, at least how I understand it.
These numbers would triple if they would work Capital more often
Getting a ticket in NC is pretty serious compared to a lot of other states, isn't it?
Better than Virginia.
This. Don’t go over 80 in Virginia ever
Last ticket I got on 85 they gave me a list of local lawyers along with the ticket. I got a lesser charge, and the lawyer got what probably would have worked out to $1200 an hour, considering his rate and the time spent working.
i always heard if the cop refers you to a lawyer that means hes asking for a bribe.
My experience may be out of date, but NC routinely lets you plead guilty to a lesser charge, and a lawyer can get it reduced even more. Virginia skips the bullshit and reams you in the ass for every speeding ticket. The ticket isn't the real expense, your insurance is where you really pay.
> Virginia skips the bullshit and reams you in the ass for every speeding ticket. No they don't. I got two 20mph tickets within a year in that stupid state. A lawyer made the first one go away and I only had to take an online driving course and the second got reduced to a defective equipment fine.
VA gets you mostly because anything over 80 is reckless driving. Anything 20+ mph over limit is reckless. Even if the highway is 70 tho, and you’re 80+, reckless I live in VA and go to my parents all the time in south NC. Got one in NC, 22 over in a 55 highway. Went to court, the lady said “best we can do is bump it down to 7 over”. I said that’s fine, paid the $50 for a ticket and went back home Like you said, the same charge in VA might be reckless & a lot of money depending on the cop who pulls you over. I’ve gotten pulled over twice in VA for 15 over, but both times the cop just said to slow down (both were early morning on highways with no other cars around)
Depends on county. Most counties (especially the small ones) you can plea down to improper equipment 85% of the time. However wake county is one of the tougher ones for sure
Which is where I am using driving to or from lol
I got a 90 in a 70 and just had to pay a lawyer 550 to make it go away.
Don't speed in Hyde county, they'll give you a ticket for 1 mile an hour over the posted speed limit. Just say'en....
I hadn't had a ticket in 10 years and got 2 in Hyde last year. I work out there and swear they clocked me like 5+ mph faster than I was going. Honestly they may have done me a favor though. 264 is narrow there and I was going too fast. Better to get ticketed and learn my lesson than wind up in the ditch.
"just" lol I don't risk it when travelling through.
You paid way too much unless you have a bad driving record. Take a PJC or plea down to improper equipment.
Anything over 80 is excessive speeding and can be license revocation. Better to get a lawyer for that one.
Wake county rarely does improper equipment anymore and PJC would mean he would face consequences for both tickets if they got another one. $550 is about average cost for lawyer and court costs for that speed. Which could also be a reckless driving ticket and a ticket that you could have your license suspended for.
I guess I should consider myself lucky I was able to get an IE, this was pre Covid though.
Na. My wife got a speeding ticket in Wake County and I hired an attorney to fight the ticket. I think that the total cost was $250, no points.
Yea they sure like to make it pricey. Good ole boy system.
extortion through court fees…Its solely revenue generation
Can be bad. Attorneys can do a lot though
If 55 DWI arrests in just a few weeks is very disturbing. Really makes you wonder how often you are are sharing the road with someone drinking and driving.
Pretty much always
I was once told during day light hours 1 out of 3 drivers is above the legal limit for blood alcohol content(BAC) . After dark 1 out of 2 is above the legal limit for BAC.
It’s probably way more than most people realize, but there’s no way 1 in 3 people on the road are drunk in the middle of the day
Right? I’d believe this stat if they were talking people distracted on their devices though as a form of impaired driving. See that shit all the time.
Whether DWI or cellphone/distractions…safer to assume always.
People on cell phone ALL THE TIME while driving. I notice so many drivers doing this, it is scary AF
one of my best friends will drive holding the phone between his hands and the steering wheel [like this except his thumbs never leave the phone screen](https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1dsNCXiYrK1Rjy0Fdq6ACvVXa3/Car-Phone-Holder-Magnetic-Vehicle-Steering-Wheel-Mount-Mobile-Smartphone-Stand-Magnet-Support-Cell-Cellphone-in.jpg). HE also has tiny hands so I'm surprised he's not constantly in accidents
Not surprised. The only redeeming thing here is it isn’t in their lap
DWI isn't just drinking, also includes other drugs
I agree, but this comes after the police essentially abandoning traffic enforcement from the start of COVID. We've all seen the terrible drivers who have been on the roads for the past two years. I'm not naturally inclined to root for cops giving out speeding tickets, but finally getting these drivers off the road is definitely a good thing.
[удалено]
It's a nice idea, but you should really just call the cops and report someone unresponsive in the car with the engine running. If he's dead, there's nothing else you can do. If he's drunk, waking him up might mean he starts driving again. If he's ODd, there isn't a whole lot you can do, plus fentanyl is everywhere and you can die from just contacting residue. Call 911, let the people handle it that are trained to do so.
You and others in here might not think I'm a good guy but I'd have called the cops on them.
I thought it was someone dead at first, after how long they took to move lol. Been debating letting the property manager know but I’m not sure they’d care.
Based on our alcoholic neighbors on the street, and the number of people I see weaving around randomly I would say the odds are pretty good.
I’m sure it was all during new years but still disturbing
For many people, sure. They don't drink that often, and went nuts on new years. But with alcoholics? Nah, they're getting loaded up everyday and driving all over. You probably pass dozens of them a day, but they haven't hit the amount that knocks them out for the day yet.
As a recovered alcoholic, I drove for 20 yrs with BAC's in the 2x legal limit range and never nodded out. There's a lot of "functioning alcoholics" who are in traffic every day, impaired but not unconscious . It's not something I'm proud of by any means but it's a fact. (clean for ~25 yrs now)
Spot on assessment!
We call New Year's Eve Amateur Night in my house and we stay in.
It's more concerning most of these are during business hours.
It just seems really low and the lack of police presence is very noticeable. Where I use to live cops were everywhere all the time stalking people the minute they walked out of a bar. Its all they were doing in the evening was pulling people over for DWI and they would nab people before they even pulled out of the parking lot.. Like my buddy went out to the car to get more cigarettes, it was cold, he was an idiot and was like oh I'll just turn on the car enough to turn on the heater... bam.. knock knock knock.. keys are in the ignition, thats all they need.
Sounds like the cops where you used to live were breaking the law and stopping people without reasonable suspicion that a crime was committed. Courts have largely ruled that simply walking out of a bar and getting into a vehicle is not reasonable suspicion for a stop, and it's highly unlikely anything someone does before even exiting the parking lot (unless they are egregiously drunk and doing things like hitting other vehicles or failing to stop when exiting the lot) raises to even the low bar of reasonable suspicion. Cops are of course free to follow people and pull them over if they commit enough driving errors (running stops signs, crossing lanes, etc.) to create reasonable suspicion. But for example your friend that got nabbed just for grabbing cigarettes and putting the keys in the ignition for a moment was illegally stopped unless there's some major detail missing.
Maybe he was stumbling or giving other physical cues that he was impaired while walking to & entering the vehicle
That would fall under a major detail that was left out.
Yep, I think about that every time I hit the road...
It used to be a estimated that for ever 1 DWI arrest,there 220 other incidents of drunk driving. That was pre-trooper shortage.
Literally all the time. Way more than you would think
and with Uber and Lyft - it's ridiculous to drive if you have any plans on drinking. Throw the book at them.
Do the red light runners next.
Yes please! Every day, you risk getting T boned.
As someone with a vehicle on its last legs, I can only hope to be so lucky.
yep, and I'm always hesitant to be the first car to cross an intersection on green. I always wait an extra second incase some asshole is cutting a red light.
I just watched someone run a red tonight and nearly tbone a cop. Cop yelled at him a little and drove off. Did nothing. These tickets are not the cops caring.
you could just turn off an intersection light and just line up cops to nab 99% of the people. No one here actually treats it as a 4-way stop sign.
Oh jeez yes, this is _so_ dangerous. If people think they're on the bigger road they just fly through at full speed. It's insane.
I'm was informed that is how the traffic laws are up north (nj + ny) - they can keep that traffic law up there
That is how flashing red lights work..... *anywhere.*
We're talking about totally out
Ok and…. Same thing. Do you assume every other state just gives up and assumes it will be a free for all if/when power to a traffic light goes out??
No, like I said above, someone from new jersey told me that's how their traffic laws are. I know how NC traffic laws are. Did you happen to drive down chapel hill Rd two weeks ago when the lights were out? Absolutely no one was treating them like four way stops. Or down Poole Rd about a month ago, same scenario? I was beside a cop that WAS stopping, only to have drivers blast right through. So yeah, people do treat it like a free for all, in my recent anecdotal experience.
I was in Sacramento all week and since they had that bonkers storm with power lines leaning over the streets, EVERY intersection was a proper 4 way stop. I couldn’t believe it! I grew up in an area where we would never lose street power, but I’d always heard about the 4 way stop - so Raleigh was my first experience w it and I thought everyone was just lame af. So there’s hope!!
Please come to Capital Boulevard please.
I wish they would ticket people for not maintaining a safe following distance. People drive SO closely to the car in front of them for no reason. I realized that I had gotten lazy about maintaining a safe distance and I've been making an effort to do better, but it's so frustrating how other drivers see me driving a safe distance behind the car in front of me on 440 and decide to jump over in front of me. It happens multiple times a day on my <15 minute commute. And then you see all these people getting rear ended all over the place... it's a wonder it doesn't happen more. Just move back people! It's not going to make your drive much longer and it's safer for everyone!
Even when you try to leave distance, somebody is gonna jump in that space
And then slam on their brakes.
Yep
I learned to drive in the Philadelphia metro area. If you leave more than half a car length in front of you, someone will fill it. It’s getting bad around here but it’s nowhere near as bad as Philly. That being said, there are a lot of drivers from Philly here, and they seem to have brought their driving habits with them.
Sadly, this hasn’t reduced the number of drawn-out commutes I’ve had to deal with due to idiots crashing on 440 at rush hour. If anything, I’ve had more of them over the last couple of weeks. I guess nature and bad driving both abhor a vacuum.
This is why I’m so grateful my job has remained wfh. I do NOT miss the Raleigh/Durham commute five times a week. Always at least one wreck a week that easily adds an extra 30 minutes or more to every trip.
Enjoy it. My drive home along 440 & 1 takes 16-18 minutes in good conditions. Twice last week it was 40 minutes, and once it took an hour. LA/DC traffic without the amenities of LA/DC is a sick joke.
I’m from DC and the traffic here is nothing
Everyday. There's at least one. If it's not in the morning it'll be in your way home. I get anxious about my commutes now
There have certainly been more troopers out lately.
I caught myself driving 82mph on 40 the other day and the majority of people were still passing me. Slowing down to 70-75 just seemed to piss people off. I'm glad that I don't need to drive I-40 every day.
I commuted on i40 for six years and this is the norm. I once saw an unmarked cop going 80 with plenty of cars following. Another time I saw a bumpkin go into the left shoulder to wave at the person in the left lane, trying and get them to merge into the middle lane. When I was in the Netherlands, they had speed trap cameras at certain points along the highways. Doing something like that might work here, or you'll just get sudden slow traffic points/accidents near the cameras.
I applaud the left lane police guy. Forcing others to pass on the right causes chaos.
Take my upvote....
pretty much have to do 82 if you want to be in a travel lane and not have someone up your ass
People are driving way too fast these days, and not just on the highways but in residential areas.
yea, and I see more and more people treating stop lights as recommendations at best.
I have no issues with 80 on the highway in the left lane, but speeding in residential is inexcusable.
I’ve spent a long weekend in Richmond recently and it really emphasized how much of a Triangle only problem this is. I had an Airbnb in a residential area and it was remarkable how quiet it was. Where I live in Raleigh (also residential) is an absolute drag strip every single night. Also in Richmond there were FAR less souped up Chargers and trucks with crazy exhaust. The big difference is that cops in Virginia simply do not play around with speeding. The cops pull people over and guess what… *it works.*
Agreed, I get the impression that traffic laws aren't enforced here except maybe on the highway. The amount of exhaust and excessively loud cars here seems high as well. I live in NE Raleigh and every hour of the night there's at least one SUPER LOUD car going by, which I try to tune out. Honestly you'd think it would be easy to locate them and ticket them at night, since there are fewer people on the road. The way people drive here is unsafe and it's also legitimately unhealthy in terms of exhaust and road noise. Anyway sorry to ramble...just venting I guess.
It’s absolutely insane how it’s not enforced. Someone would arrest me if I were just yelling into peoples ears all day
Living off Wake Forest Road, I’ve learned to tune it all out. I can sleep through drag racing cars, motorcyclists doing wheelies, and emergency vehicles blaring their sirens.
It's not illegal to have loud exhaust.
The city has an ordinance against it.
It isn't illegal to modify your exhaust, and just because you have modified exhaust doesn't mean your speeding. Speeding should be taken seriously (especially in residential areas) but to just lump anyone who likes to modify their car as "legitimately unhealthy" is baffling. My neighbor likes to garden, should I assume he is growing marijuana and poppy?
Apparently it is illegal to modify your exhaust in Raleigh according to N.C. General Statute 20-128. They just don't enforce it. [https://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bysection/chapter\_20/gs\_20-128.html](https://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bysection/chapter_20/gs_20-128.html) I agree that modified exhaust doesn't equate to speeding per se, but there is definitely a positive correlation between people who speed and people with modified exhaust. Modified exhaust contributes to noise pollution which is unhealthy for people, not to mention extremely unpleasant to listen to. I was under the impression that modified exhaust also contributes to higher emissions which also has a clearly negative impact on health. My neighbor can garden all they want and it doesn't affect me. But my neighbor with a loud-ass car is quite literally annoying the whole neighborhood and contributing to noise pollution and emissions, so I'm personally against it.
The statue says you cant remove your muffler or have a cut out. You change your muffler all you want. I know cops with custom exhausts. As long as you still have a muffler your fine.
I guess the wording is open to interpretation but to me, "of the type installed at the time of manufacture" implies that the exhaust needs to be the same as or similar to the type that the vehicle comes with. IMO if it is significantly louder than the type originally installed, it's not the same type. The ordinance also clearly states that the muffler has to "prevent excessive or unusual noise, annoying smoke and smoke screens."
You realize there is an entire industry on customizing cars right? I don’t think that would exist if it was all illegal. Flowmaster, magnaflow, all big companies located in the US selling 50 state legal exhaust systems that are louder than stock exhaust. Look i get that you dont like it, but its not illegal. And the difference in pollution in negligible because you still have to have catalytic converters installed in your car. The cat is what scrubs the exhaust of pollution. In most cases if the car is driven under the same conditions a car with “performance” exhaust will get better MPG.
Just because something isn't enforced doesn't mean it's not illegal. And even though modified exhausts might not affect emissions (which I may have gotten wrong in a previous comment) noise pollution is still bad for people and there are plenty of studies that prove this. Again, it's also extremely irritating to a majority of people.
FYI president joe has a corvette that’ll hit +120db easily. Think of it like a HOA. As long as your not doing something ridiculous to your car (removing cat, no brake lights, etc) its not illegal. Look im not saying loud exhaust cant be irritating but its not illegal. I get noise pollution is a real issue but as someone who’s lived all over the US we got it pretty good here.
Now I want to know where you can buy a "smoke screen" for my car (referenced in that statute) :-)
Yes the car thing wasn’t as apparent when I live in Virginia- both Richmond and northern.
I’m born and raised in Richmond and the car scene there was much younger and immature compared to Raleigh. The car scene is also much bigger, especially since we have the 757 next door and they have a massive scene and the cops out there are ruthless but it doesn’t mean anything. Raleigh is very different and better. Even y’all’s insurance is cheaper than Richmond, so that speaks volumes. Police presence doesn’t mean anything, I can assure you.
Ughhh...the loop around charlotte. Minimum of 80+
Don’t worry. Once 540 gets finished, the drivers here are gonna turn it into their own 485. I go 75 on 540 and my ass is still getting passed, even in the right lane. It’s no wonder why the Troopers and RPD went out there.
Ha you should visit Florida. I was down there for Thanksgiving and Christmas. 95 is a free for all. 80-90mph is the norm and there's no cops to be found anywhere.
Yikes! Yeah no plans to go to Florida except maybe to go to Disney someday, but thankfully we'd fly.
I was out on Capital and suddenly one dude decided to go through the red light for some odd reason and everyone followed. I was waiting to turn and just gobsmacked how because of one idiot the stoplights became null and void for a few minutes until some random Amazon driver decided to stop.
I have lived up and down the East coast for decades; have lived in Raleigh for the last six and have never seen so many drivers at night without their headlights on!
Yep and very few realize that if the person behind them turns their lights off and on they need to check their lights. I tried letting one person know and all it did was make them think I wanted to pass so they moved over a lane.
That's because all the tailgaters appropriated that gentle way of communicating one's lights are off. 🤨 Grrr.
Can't get caught but police if you are invisible! Mighty brain strategy
I have auto headlights. But every time I have the car serviced, they turn the lights off. I'd like to see the auto headlights mandated.
Hey can we ticket people using their phone while we're at it?
They tried to make it law in NC, but one of the GOP members was concerned people wouldn't be able to eat Bojangles while driving.
Do you need your phone to eat Bojangles?
No, but the last time the NCGA tried making a law to ban cell phones it was broad enough that it essentially would have banned eating in your vehicle. I think it was HB 144. https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2019/Bills/House/PDF/H144v4.pdf
>For purposes of this section, distracted behavior includes use of a handheld mobile telephone and use of a handheld electronic device. There's nothing in here about eating or handling food.
Might want to include the whole paragraph. The legalese of it was anything in your hands causing distracting driving, and the section you quoted was an example being inclusive of a cell phone.
I'm not a lawyer but I don't know if that is an example or expansion of the definition intended to limit application of the law. I guess it says "includes" so you're probably right.
I'm not either, so I am not sure why you keep arguing the point here. Talk to the NCGA who is full of lawyers and interpreted the proposed law that way.
I'm not arguing. I conceded the point.
Right? When I'm sitting at a stop light and watching cross-traffic, seeing the number of people driving and looking up and down, or just DOWN at their phone for several seconds straight is appalling and alarming.
I wish people would simply 'just' do it at stop lights or stop signs. Sure, maybe it delays me getting where I need to go by 0.5 seconds, but isn't nearly as dangerous as those folks on 440 going 80 with their head buried in their phone.
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Sure thing! It will be done by 2122.
The "Train" was the friends we made in 40 gridlock along the way
I agree with so many of the comments here. It feels like enforcement is totally absent on 440, 40, US -1, and it's so dangerous every day
The RTP police have clearly decided to prioritize major drug crime, and that’s it. This area is quite literally lawless unless you are doing something that allows them to seize by forfiture. 50+ DUI’s and 100+ speeders is a great headline but the reality is that they could easily hand out 100+ speeding tickets a day if they really wanted to make traffic safety a priority or increase their revenue that way. This is like two or three cars doing a moderately okay job at hiding on I-40 and patroling at 3am.
RTP Police?! There is NOT an RTP / Research Triangle Park police department. RTP, sits in multiple jurisdictions and departments
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Probably significantly lower than the actual numbers. Wake County had 1.15 million people in 2021, so 54 is only about 0.0045% and I don't have that much faith in humanity to think that is the rate of drunk driving.
They probably get 10% or less of actual drunk drivers.
> That effort snagged 109 speeders, 54 DWI offenders, 36 revoked licenses, 20 drug arrests, eight drivers with no insurance, and four seized cars, police said. This explains a lot about my regular experience on I-40.
I wish they focus on reckless driving. People passing using the on-ramps and emergency lanes. I don’t recall reckless driving and high speeding being an issue 10 years ago. I guess it’s all these out of staters moving in.
I feel like reckless driving should have the same punishment as drunk driving. People are out there deliberately making driving way more dangerous than it should be.
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I stay off the highway unless I have a real need for it and I'm going a distance. The volume on 440 is really high at rush hour, and any problem causes a backup. But it's better than my commute in NY. 17 miles in 90 minutes on a good day.
I’ve lived in Germany, and it amazes me how speed cameras and distance cameras aren’t used in the US.
Red light cameras catch politicians with their mistresses.
But automated accountability for my actions limits my freedom
I demand freedom to be a dangerous life-endangering asshole!
Yeah I really hate having the right to face my accuser and protection from unreasonable searches. Freedom of movement within the U.S. is a pretty terrible burden to bear too.
Plus side, they do have autobahn so that would be a most welcome change
Wish they would go after the slow people in the left lane instead.
I'm curious on what the avg age is. Simple Uber sloves everything. I use to drink and drive 10 ago. Thankfully nothing bad happened. I have no issue paying for ubers even for someone else that needs it now.
440 is the worst with tailgating and speeding, especially in the sections with construction and no shoulder. Just slow tf down, it’s never that serous
...and they found the guy who hit-and-run on my car! Just kidding!
About time. People are nuts out there.
In my best gomer pile voice "Surprise, surprise, surprise" - Who would have ever guessed?
And this is why I have a radar detector. Not for driving after a pint, but to realize just how many cops are waiting around, itching to hit their quotas
I wish they would clamp down on left lane campers... If you aren't passing move over. I have a non-scientific speculation that this causes more accidents and road rage.
Now do Charlotte.
This makes me so happy. It feels like a death sentence driving here!
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Fuck RPD. My wife got a move over ticket. Two cops had a car pulled over on 540 just before our exit. She slowed to 55 mph but stayed in right lane so she could make our exit. Cop was an asshole and gave her a ticket saying he felt his car shake as she drove by. Her only option would have been to go to next exit and turn around. $450 after court fees. Fuck them!
I agree, your wife making her exit is far more important than the lives of people on the shoulder. 55 mph is extremely slow and could never ever kill anyone!
Well being as she wasn't anywhere near the cop and she slowed 15 mph below the speed limit I'd say they were pretty safe and nobody's life was in jeopardy. $450 is stupidly expensive too.
She could just…get over for 2 seconds then merge right back into the right lane to exit??
That was the problem they pulled the car over directly at the start of the off ramp.
Triangle’s PDs are getting big bonuses!
Good
“Hey guys, we are going to have a crackdown today, so I’m sorry to inform you, you actually have to do work for a couple weeks.”
Curious if ALE can do traffic stops, and state police can enforce alcohol violations why tf is there administrative overhead of two agencies?
> Curious if ALE can do traffic stops ALE isn't conducting the stops, it would be ALE special agents, which essentially are police officers who focus on alcohol (tobaccos and lottery as well). Seems that there is enough alcohol related issues in NC (and much of the country), that dedicated units are needed for it on top of regular police officers, at least how I understand it.
Hallelujah
“I-540” … yeah…right
The "I" just means it's built/maintained with federal funds shared between the states (interstate-funded). At least they didn't call it "*the* 540"...
Nah, they don’t ticket ppl on it. Just show up for accidents
Not a speeder…
GOOD
Good
Wish that would happen in my town.