Man ticketed @ 88mph in his Delorean DMC-12

[boffin]

He drove his DeLorean at 88 mph. Instead of time traveling, he got a ticket
http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/30/us/delorean-speeding-ticket-trnd/

[Ampera]

I didn't even know those things did 88. I once heard somewhere they put a different dial on the one in the movie because the original DMC-12 didn't even go that fast.

[TheSteve]

Doing 88 MPH in a DeLorean isn't that tough. The original factory speedo didn't go to 88 MPH due to US government regulation which prohibited it at the time.

[CJay]

He drove his DeLorean at 88 mph. Instead of time traveling, he got a ticket
http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/30/us/delorean-speeding-ticket-trnd/

He says he was out of plutonium so couldn't time travel but as a side bonus he (and I) are now on a government watch list for mentioning plutonium

 

[HighVoltage]

That guy must just not have passed the "attitude test" otherwise the police officer would had let him go.

88 mph in a DeLorean is slow!

[boffin]

I didn't even know those things did 88. I once heard somewhere they put a different dial on the one in the movie because the original DMC-12 didn't even go that fast.

It was illegal in the USA to have a speedo that went over 85MPH at the time.  The European ones had a speedo that went much higher.

For the movie, they took the USA spec 0-85, and changed it to 15-95

[skarecrow]

I didn't even know those things did 88. I once heard somewhere they put a different dial on the one in the movie because the original DMC-12 didn't even go that fast.

It was illegal in the USA to have a speedo that went over 85MPH at the time.  The European ones had a speedo that went much higher.

For the movie, they took the USA spec 0-85, and changed it to 15-95

I see they changed the numbers for KM too, but they're all in the wrong places.

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[Brumby]

I see they changed the numbers for KM too, but they're all in the wrong places.

They left the dots in the same place and just shifted the numbers around.

Fail.

[Zero999]

I see they changed the numbers for KM too, but they're all in the wrong places.

They left the dots in the same place and just shifted the numbers around.

Fail.

I supposed it made sense at the time, as they only had to drive the car at 78mph, although they might have not bothered and just doctored the speedo' movement too.

[james_s]

That 85mph speedometer law was ridiculous, I remember a few years ago the woman who pushed that law was still insisting that she firmly believed it saved lives. I'm not sure how stupid one has to be to think that will work. Back when we were younger and dumber my friend had a car with an 85mph speedometer and he used to take pleasure in burying the needle.

[Zero999]

That 85mph speedometer law was ridiculous, I remember a few years ago the woman who pushed that law was still insisting that she firmly believed it saved lives. I'm not sure how stupid one has to be to think that will work. Back when we were younger and dumber my friend had a car with an 85mph speedometer and he used to take pleasure in burying the needle.

Did the silly law also mean that harsher punishments can't be given for speeds above 85mph? Here in the UK doing 85mph down the motorway (max. speed limit 70) will get you in a bit of trouble: a fine and possibly a speed awareness course but doing over 100 will most likely result in an instant ban.

[skarecrow]

That 85mph speedometer law was ridiculous, I remember a few years ago the woman who pushed that law was still insisting that she firmly believed it saved lives. I'm not sure how stupid one has to be to think that will work. Back when we were younger and dumber my friend had a car with an 85mph speedometer and he used to take pleasure in burying the needle.

I remember my first car would hit 85 at 3500rpm in 4th gear. My friend did the math to figure out when I passed the 2 cops that didn't even bother coming out after me at 5500rpm in 5th gear I was doing about 136mph. I can only imagine what kind of ticket I would have gotten. I don't drive that fast any more. I was lucky.

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[Zero999]

That 85mph speedometer law was ridiculous, I remember a few years ago the woman who pushed that law was still insisting that she firmly believed it saved lives. I'm not sure how stupid one has to be to think that will work. Back when we were younger and dumber my friend had a car with an 85mph speedometer and he used to take pleasure in burying the needle.

I remember my first car would hit 85 at 3500rpm in 4th gear. My friend did the math to figure out when I passed the 2 cops that didn't even bother coming out after me at 5500rpm in 5th gear I was doing about 136mph. I can only imagine what kind of ticket I would have gotten. I don't drive that fast any more. I was lucky.

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I often find it funny when people talk about being lucking not getting caught for driving dangerously. I wonder how many people are actually lucky for being caught because it stopped them from killing themselves or having a nasty accident? Someone bitching about being stopped by the police doing 60 in a 30 could have had their life saved.

[skarecrow]

That 85mph speedometer law was ridiculous, I remember a few years ago the woman who pushed that law was still insisting that she firmly believed it saved lives. I'm not sure how stupid one has to be to think that will work. Back when we were younger and dumber my friend had a car with an 85mph speedometer and he used to take pleasure in burying the needle.

Did the silly law also mean that harsher punishments can't be given for speeds above 85mph? Here in the UK doing 85mph down the motorway (max. speed limit 70) will get you in a bit of trouble: a fine and possibly a speed awareness course but doing over 100 will most likely result in an instant ban.

Apparently law is a bit different on the other end of the pond.
Just a few weeks ago I was driving on I95 from FL to NC, at an average speed of 80mph, and apparently cops didn't give me a shit and when they thought I was driving too "slow", they just passed me at 100mph!
And I know a Chinese friend who drove at 100+mph on I40, racing, and got busted by a cop. He got practically no punishment but $180 court fee and $300 lawyer fee -- we all thought he would be deported because driving that fast in China definitely gets you in big trouble, but apparently US cops have a different attitude to speeding.

When I was 17 I got stopped for doing 120+ on I95 in Virginia. I was so scared I'd lose my license or have to pay thousands in fines and surcharges. A year later I phoned in a credit card payment of just under $200 and it was all settled.

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[skarecrow]

That 85mph speedometer law was ridiculous, I remember a few years ago the woman who pushed that law was still insisting that she firmly believed it saved lives. I'm not sure how stupid one has to be to think that will work. Back when we were younger and dumber my friend had a car with an 85mph speedometer and he used to take pleasure in burying the needle.

I remember my first car would hit 85 at 3500rpm in 4th gear. My friend did the math to figure out when I passed the 2 cops that didn't even bother coming out after me at 5500rpm in 5th gear I was doing about 136mph. I can only imagine what kind of ticket I would have gotten. I don't drive that fast any more. I was lucky.

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I often find it funny when people talk about being lucking not getting caught for driving dangerously. I wonder how many people are actually lucky for being caught because it stopped them from killing themselves or having a nasty accident? Someone bitching about being stopped by the police doing 60 in a 30 could have had their life saved.

I totally agree with what you're saying. After driving a tow truck and seeing the aftermath of so many accidents I have much greater respect for speed limits. As I already said, I don't drive like that any more. I was young and damn lucky. I didn't have to learn my lesson the hard way.

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[skarecrow]

When I was 17 I got stopped for doing 120+ on I95 in Virginia. I was so scared I'd lose my license or have to pay thousands in fines and surcharges. A year later I phoned in a credit card payment of just under $200 and it was all settled.

Maybe not now. It now has signs "speed enforced by aircraft" all over the place and VDOT cars are patrolling everywhere.
BTW, I just saw 7!!! accidents in 3 only hours on I95VA (DC to NC) a few days ago. I guess there is a reason why VA treats speeding a bit more seriously these days.
But that being said, it's (for me) weird to see people (aka everyone) driving at 70mph while it rains so heavily that the only thing one can see is tail light of front car.

Pretty sure those signs have been there for over 20 years. I haven't been down that way in a long time. Maybe they do patrol more now. My job keeps me on the road 12 hours a day, so I see a lot.

The thing I find funny is how some insurance companies offer discounts to people who rarely drive. Those are the people with no practice and usually end up in more accidents. Someone who drives 12 hours a day should be much more experienced (not always the case) and able to get out of just about any situation without an accident. I lost count years ago how many times I've been hit in my truck. Most often it's while I'm stopped at a red light. Not once have I been the cause of the accident. Where's my discount?

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[james_s]

That 85mph speedometer law was ridiculous, I remember a few years ago the woman who pushed that law was still insisting that she firmly believed it saved lives. I'm not sure how stupid one has to be to think that will work. Back when we were younger and dumber my friend had a car with an 85mph speedometer and he used to take pleasure in burying the needle.

Did the silly law also mean that harsher punishments can't be given for speeds above 85mph? Here in the UK doing 85mph down the motorway (max. speed limit 70) will get you in a bit of trouble: a fine and possibly a speed awareness course but doing over 100 will most likely result in an instant ban.

No, it only regulated the speedometer, so we had 160mph supercars with 85MPH speedometers. When the highway speed limits were later raised, cruising on the highway had the needle way around at 3 o'clock, it just looks silly. I don't condone reckless driving but making the speedometer top out at 85 does nothing to prevent that.

There is also a big difference between driving fast on a long straight section of sparsely used highway out in the middle of nowhere and speeding through traffic in a dense urban area weaving between other cars, that causes accidents. Of course these days the issue is not so much speed but distracted drivers who can't put their mobile phone down and watch the road. I see it every day, I was rear ended by an idiot using his phone, and weeks later a car cruised right through a crosswalk I was waiting at with the flashers on. I watched him looking down at his phone in his hand.

[rob77]

88mph is 141.622 km/h , if you go that fast on a highway over here then cops will not even start considering to stop you because the speed limit is 130km/h and for that 11km/s over they would fine you for approx 30Euros. the cops will rather wait for someone doing 30+ over the limit and fine him handsomely in short... "delorean" speeds are safe on highways over here
but if you would go those 141 km/h on a regular road (90km/h limit )then you would be 51km/h over the limit and that could cost you 600+ Euros and losing your driver's license as a bonus.

[rdl]

Where I grew up there was a law that basically said if you go more than 25 mph over the limit it's no longer speeding but reckless driving. There were significantly higher penalties for reckless driving vs. just speeding. I know because I got caught once.

[CJay]

That 85mph speedometer law was ridiculous, I remember a few years ago the woman who pushed that law was still insisting that she firmly believed it saved lives. I'm not sure how stupid one has to be to think that will work. Back when we were younger and dumber my friend had a car with an 85mph speedometer and he used to take pleasure in burying the needle.

I remember my first car would hit 85 at 3500rpm in 4th gear. My friend did the math to figure out when I passed the 2 cops that didn't even bother coming out after me at 5500rpm in 5th gear I was doing about 136mph. I can only imagine what kind of ticket I would have gotten. I don't drive that fast any more. I was lucky.

Sent from my XT1565 using Tapatalk

I often find it funny when people talk about being lucking not getting caught for driving dangerously. I wonder how many people are actually lucky for being caught because it stopped them from killing themselves or having a nasty accident? Someone bitching about being stopped by the police doing 60 in a 30 could have had their life saved.

Or worse, I've had two incidents where pedestrians were involved (no injuries and neither my fault, one of them I was stationary and a very drunk pedestrian ran into my car causing £1100 damage) and both shook me up, a lot, I suspect the guilt of having killed someone else would be far reaching in addition to the damage on other people's lives.

[EEVblog]

88mph is 141.622 km/h , if you go that fast on a highway over here then cops will not even start considering to stop you because the speed limit is 130km/h

The fastest speed limit here is 110kmh whith the exception of some unlimited speed roads in the Northern Territory.

[skarecrow]

Years back when the states started raising the speed limits New Jersey police joked that the speed limit signs should have a question mark, because people drive as fast as they want anyway.

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[Dielectric]

Adherence to speed limits seems to vary a lot from state to state in the US.  I grew up in Ohio, and you'd better start worrying at 10mph over the limit, very strict pretty much everywhere but notorious on the "Turnpike".  Chicago?  Total joke, just go!  Michigan drivers are pretty quick even on surface streets.  Crossing South Dakota the limit was something like 75mph, so I did 80-85 and still got passed pretty frequently.  They routinely go 100mph in Texas and don't seem to think much about it.

[skarecrow]

Adherence to speed limits seems to vary a lot from state to state in the US.  I grew up in Ohio, and you'd better start worrying at 10mph over the limit, very strict pretty much everywhere but notorious on the "Turnpike".  Chicago?  Total joke, just go!  Michigan drivers are pretty quick even on surface streets.  Crossing South Dakota the limit was something like 75mph, so I did 80-85 and still got passed pretty frequently.  They routinely go 100mph in Texas and don't seem to think much about it.

Even side roads in Michigan have higher speed limits than most other states I've been to. Every time I'm there (a few times a year, whenever possible) I have to adjust myself to the much faster average driving than NJ/NY. I did, however, get my first speeding ticket in at least 10 years about a year and a half ago in Michigan. Cop said I was doing about 83 (in a 70) at 3am coming back from a club on a pretty much empty highway. His main concern was if I was sober. Haven't had a drop in over 16 years, so I knew I was good on that. Well, didn't actually get a speeding ticket. I forgot what the ticket was actually for, but it was a pretty small fine and no points.

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[skarecrow]

I see they changed the numbers for KM too, but they're all in the wrong places.

They left the dots in the same place and just shifted the numbers around.

Fail.

I supposed it made sense at the time, as they only had to drive the car at 78mph, although they might have not bothered and just doctored the speedo' movement too.

But do you really think they got it up to even 78 in the Twin Pines mall parking lot? [emoji1]

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