Important day in Military History.....

[Nikademus]

Ron White had a some funny "Texas" comments regarding some of these items. I particularily liked the Death Penalty jokes. [:D]

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: AW1Steve

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: m10bob

FYI, Texas still maintains a semblance of its' independence as it is the only state in the union which was allowed to have in its' constitution the ability to break itself into 5 sections(states), should it ever feel the need.

That's a nice historical artifact, but states don't have the right, no matter what's in their state constitution, to force the federal governemt to accept new states into the Union. That would lead to geographic gaming of the US Senate, at the very least. The government in question must petition Congress for admission and be accepted; they can't simply announce. See West Virginia's admission for one interesting case, or the other terriitories, Hawaii and Alaska being the two most recent.

Actually they did have that right , as Texas came into the union , not as a territory , but as a republic. The Articles of Annexation did indeed promise Texas those rights. When Texas came back into the union having left during the civil war, those privilages went away as a condition of re-admittance. [:)]

I know they DID, but they don't.[:)]

We have lots of old treaties with nations that don't exist any longer. I think they use them for place mats in the White House Mess . . .

[Cribtop]

Nik,

It is still a defense to a murder charge around here to say "he needed killin', your honor."

Just kidding, of course. [:)] We have laws and law schools and everything now. A long way from Judge Roy Bean.

[anarchyintheuk]

There was a really good Simpsons episode that had a gf of Bart playing a video game about committing felonies. Ending up on death row she gets a conservative judge and desperately starts hitting the change of venue button but the game ends when she gets Texas. I always liked that. Besides nobody would ever have believed in a film titled Connecticut Chainsaw Massacre.

[TulliusDetritus]

Sorry for this OT thing but I always was curious about one thing. From what they told me American drivers in general "respect" road rules, and I am thinking about the speed limit thing. Is this true or what is (according to your road experience) the real average speed in American HIGHWAYS? Over here in Europe, er, going at 120 km/h (74 mph) is "slow". Average speed has to be around 86 miles per hour (140 km/h), I guess (I am talking about highways)... And yes, it is illegal (except in Germany, if they didn't change the law) [:D]

[anarchyintheuk]

The speed limits on highways around Dallas are 55-65 mph. I usually drive 80-90mph depending on road rage, time of day, open space, type of music playing, etc. I don't get passed that often.

[TulliusDetritus]

I try to drive at 120 km/h (74 mph) maximum --although I don't respect that rule sometimes--, simply because above that speed you really CANNOT control your car if something goes wrong (physic laws). And most of the cars pass me.

So, according to your (anarchyintheuk) experience most of the American drivers respect the speed limits, which sort of confirms what I was told. WEIRD! [:D]

[LST Express]

I had a misunderstanding with a truck driver on I-35 this morning. We worked it out with sign language. 70 miles an hour will get you run over!

[Whisper]

ORIGINAL: captskillet
on this day in 1836 @ around 3:30pm with Sam Houston in Command a ragtag band of 910 Texicans attacked the Mexican Army under Santa Anna encamped near Buffalo Bayou (near the present day monument and the USS Texas) and the rest is history! [;)]

All you edudite experts can pontificate all you want, but Gulf Coast people know San Jacinto Day as a significant milestone in the development of the nation that will become the United States.

I think a lot of them Texicans were from Louisiana maybe that's why ya'll won so big [;)]

[anarchyintheuk]

ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus

So, according to your (anarchyintheuk) experience most of the American drivers respect the speed limits, which sort of confirms what I was told. WEIRD! [:D]

I guess I should be clearer, few people obey the 55mph limit. I would estimate 10-15% at the high end. Probably 30-35% obey the 65mph areas.

[sfbaytf]

Out here in California the freeway speed limit varies from 55 to 70. Most of the time people ignore it and will drive 10 to 20 miles over the speed limit. Don't know about other states, but the speed limit is also subject to discretion. In other words if the posted speed limit is 25 miles, but there are other factors involved like poor weather or road conditions, you can be ticketed for driving at or below the speed limit for not taking into consideration the current road conditions.

Traffic court is not the same as criminal court. The judge will not be interested in guilt or innocence. All the judge is concerned about is whether the ticketing officer followed the proper procedures when stopping an citing you.

It has been said and proven in studies that if you drive a red car or high performance car your chances of being pulled over increase. I do know from personal experince that when I was able to afford a sporty car and sold my college day beater, I ended up getting 3 speeding tickets in a year and I was always being tailed by the Highway Patrol. It certainly was a magnet for attention. When I sold the MR2 and bought a White truck I never got a speeding ticket eventhough I still drove like a maniac.

ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus

Sorry for this OT thing but I always was curious about one thing. From what they told me American drivers in general "respect" road rules, and I am thinking about the speed limit thing. Is this true or what is (according to your road experience) the real average speed in American HIGHWAYS? Over here in Europe, er, going at 120 km/h (74 mph) is "slow". Average speed has to be around 86 miles per hour (140 km/h), I guess (I am talking about highways)... And yes, it is illegal (except in Germany, if they didn't change the law) [:D]

[TulliusDetritus]

sfbaytf, only 10 or 20 miles above the limit still makes American highways safer, but they don't obey the speed limit, I see, just like everyone else: they joined the Dark Side of the Force [:D] But they don't push the accelerator like psychos: in Europe, cars at 180 km/h (and more) --111 mph-- was simply common... The road is the most silly place to die [;)]

[sfbaytf]

In general normal Americans won't push the speed limit more than 20 miles over the posted limit for the simple reason that doing so is a different set of circumstances and penalties. You get pulled over doing 110 or so and you're looking at possible criminal charges and siezure of your vechicle. The Highway Patrol and courts generally frown on that sort of driving behavor and your insurance will go up dramatically.

We do get plenty of drivers who put the pedal to the metal though-it's called a high speed chase and you often see them on the news in live coverage. I'm pretty sure down in the LA area it's an everyday occurance...

Europe is a different set of rules and customs.

[2ndACR]

Main rule of thumb is 10 mph over posted on highway and you will probably be safe. Depending on the city etc. Some of the small ones around here, Fairview, Mellisa, Anna will nab you at 5 above the speed limit. If going THRU a city, you better be cruising along at the posted or a tad above. Or you will get popped. This being anywhere near the DFW metroplex.

Above 10 mph your fine will jump something fierce. Like over double in alot of city's.

Long live Texas. The greatest state in the Union.

[BrucePowers]

ORIGINAL: Nikademus

Texas scares me. I still remember driving in the slow lane on my way to see the Texas........at 65 miles an hour...only getting blown past by trucks all going 90 and giving me the finger in passing. Only place where i've seen more aggressive driving is in Lithuania.

[:D]

The last 3 times I have been to Houston most everyone was doing no more than 5 over the speed limit.

[BrucePowers]

ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus

Sorry for this OT thing but I always was curious about one thing. From what they told me American drivers in general "respect" road rules, and I am thinking about the speed limit thing. Is this true or what is (according to your road experience) the real average speed in American HIGHWAYS? Over here in Europe, er, going at 120 km/h (74 mph) is "slow". Average speed has to be around 86 miles per hour (140 km/h), I guess (I am talking about highways)... And yes, it is illegal (except in Germany, if they didn't change the law) [:D]

On I-95 in Florida I would guess the average to be 72-78 mph.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: BrucePowers

ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus

Sorry for this OT thing but I always was curious about one thing. From what they told me American drivers in general "respect" road rules, and I am thinking about the speed limit thing. Is this true or what is (according to your road experience) the real average speed in American HIGHWAYS? Over here in Europe, er, going at 120 km/h (74 mph) is "slow". Average speed has to be around 86 miles per hour (140 km/h), I guess (I am talking about highways)... And yes, it is illegal (except in Germany, if they didn't change the law) [:D]

On I-95 in Florida I would guess the average to be 72-78 mph.

I've been on German autobahns, and the level of engineering is quite different than in the US interstate system. I've read that ours were engineered for a 70MPH max, but with 1950s auto hardware. It's better now, but you'd be dumb to routinely try 90+; they aren't banked for it. And, maintenance being a state function, the repair status varies a LOT as you go across the continent. Sometimes it will go from concrete to asphalt at the state line. Or concrete with many patches.

[sfbaytf]

Some other interesting tidbits on driving on American roads I've learned over the years:

1. If you get pulled over avoid sudden movements and put your hands on the dashboard and leave them in full sight. Most cops get shot at routine traffic stops and are sometimes "keyed up". If you put them at ease immediately by demonstrating you're no threat you may get off with just a warning-depending on what you got pulled over for. This is no guarantee you'll get out of a ticket, but anything helps.

2. Some cops when off duty drive like maniacs. There is an unwritten rule that cops don't ticket other cops. This doesn't always apply as there are other factors that may be involved like rivalry between different jurisdictions etc, etc, but in general cops tend to cut slack to other cops. I've heard the same can apply to firemen.

3. Some people like to wise off to cops when they get pulled over. If you're going to try and fight the violation in court wising off to a cop is a very bad idea. If you show up in court and the cop doesn't the judge will dismiss the case. If you're a wisea** the cop will take notes after ticketing you and he will be sure to show up in court. Traffic cops and the traffic court can make your life a real hell, I've heard some really interesting stories about "ammended violations".

4. Women who been pulled over have been known to pull some pretty fast ones to get out of a ticket. When I was in college a girl I knew got out of a ticket by crying. All I could think was life just isn't fair...other women are a bit more adventurous.

I'd be curious to hear how traffic violations and courts work in other countries. I heard in Germany if you're speeding they catch up to you in their police cruiser and put something on your windshield and you pull over?

My experience overseas where I was is if you got pulled over for whatever reason you'd get hassled, mabye slapped around a bit. You may then have to bribe the cop on the spot. If you did get hauled off to jail, you'd better have someone come get you asap as they didn't feed you and jail was very unpleasant to say the least-I still have images of arms hanging out of the local jail bar windows like it was yesterday. Not a place I wanted to end up in thats for sure.

Once you were in jail the amount of the bribe when up dramatically and the number of people palms you had to grease also increased.

[AW1Steve]

As with all  things, speed limits vary with local. So does obedianance to them. In built up areas (urban metros) the speed limit is generally 55MPH and absolutely NOT obeyed. In rural areas it can be 65 to 80 MPH and is generally followed. I have been amazed to drive cross country and be in the middle of nowhere and find people exactly folloowing the speed limit. In coastal cities I've been sworn at , horn blared at an visually communicated at (think about using one finger as a signalling device!) for being only 10 miles over the limit, or stopping at red-lights or stop  signs. These are strickly my own observations , but generally the more urban the less urbane (and more likely to blow off the law). The more rural , the more respectful to the law.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: sfbaytf

3. Some people like to wise off to cops when they get pulled over. If you're going to try and fight the violation in court wising off to a cop is a very bad idea. If you show up in court and the cop doesn't the judge will dismiss the case. If you're a wisea** the cop will take notes after ticketing you and he will be sure to show up in court. Traffic cops and the traffic court can make your life a real hell, I've heard some really interesting stories about "ammended violations".

I've been driving since 1974 and have been pulled over exactly three times:

1. Home from college, driving a rusty VW Beetle at 0230 coming home from work at a motel at Virginia Beach. I had, after leaving work at 2300, gone to a disco with six beautiful young nurses from Rochester, NY, who bought me all the beer I could drink so long as I kept drunken sailors away from the table. On the obligatory "walk on the beach" after the bars closed, I had chosen the one (1) who was actually engaged to be married. (Stupid, stupid.) Driving home, highly frustrated, I was speeding, I made a left turn at a red light (I could see two miles in each direction. Crickets.), and I ran a stop sign. Red flashing lights in the rear-view. When the cop said, "Do you know why I pulled you over?" I copped to the whole deal, including the beer. He said, "Damn. Nobody ever did that before" and made a deal: If I could drive home, with him following me, and not exit 2nd gear, and park, he'd let me go. Which I did and he did.

2. Driving my 280Z Turbo across Utah at 105MPH. That section where the interstate ends and you have to jog across state roads for 100 miles to get back on (at least you did in 1984.) I had my girlfriend in the car and was in transit from Charleston, SC to Oakland, CA to ship the car to Hawaii, my next duty station. I went airborne over a rise, landed at about 95MPH and there was a sheriff coming the other way. Boom. He asked me what I was doing, and I said I was on orders, late, and needed to get to Oakland. He saw my base sticker, told me he had been in the Army and understood, but that "folks let their stock walk on the roads around here, and a sheep in the grille is the start of a bad day." I agreed, he said that my wife should make me be more careful, and to enjoy Honolulu. No ticket.

3. Driving west down Afton Mountain into the Shenandoah Valley, downhilll on a steep, widow-maker stretch of I-64, bright sunlight, dry road, no traffic. State trooper got me doing 64 in a 55! Said he had a quota to make. Got a ticket. Go figure.