Speeding Ticket

Turns out, here in NZ, they take speeding very seriously. They have implemented a zero tolerance policy, where anything over 4kph (2.5mph) over the speed limit is a ticketable offense. Let me just reiterate that: if the speed limit is 30mph and you are going 33mph, you can get a ticket! Yikes! Although I knew this, it didn't seem to me like they would really follow through with something like that, especially since it seems that people speed about as much here as they do in the States.

To make matters worse, the speed limit is always 50kph (31mph) in town. Always, no matter what kind of road it is, unless there is construction, in which case it is 30kph (18.5mph). As any American or Canadian will understand, that is not very fast. Especially on the Anzac Parade, which runs down the side of the river, has wide lanes, and feels very much like a highway. I am trying valiantly not to speed, but it feel so unnatural to drive so slowly on that road. In the states the speed limit on that road would be 72.5kph (45mph) at least, if not higher.

Despite my struggles, I have been doing a decent job of not speeding in Whanganui, and have not gotten pulled over. On the highway, the speed limit is 100kph (62mph), which is still slower than I'm used to, but since the highways are rather curvy and usually only one lane, I don't have a problem not speeding there. J has been reminding me every time he rides with me that I need to be more careful in town, and so I have been trying.

Then yesterday, I got a letter in the mail, which I always find exciting, even though it was official-looking. I opened it up and found a ticket for $30.00! It was from a little town called Bulls, which I drove through on the way to and from Palmerston North when I went to pick up my laptop. Turns out, they have a traffic camera. I can accept that, but here is what surprised me: the speed limit was 50kph (31mph), and I was recorded going 55kph (34mph). That doesn't sound like a criminal act to me! Of course, J got to have a charming "I told you so" moment, I paid the ticket, and I am sure it will go a long way towards making me more careful in the future. So it is really okay. But still.

What I do find funny is that when I first started driving (in Kansas), I was terrible about speeding! Really terrible! I was in the habit of speeding almost all the time, and I once got pulled over going 128kph (80mph) in a place where the speed limit was 72.5kph (45mph). However, even with that mistake and all my other escapades, I never got a ticket! Not once! And now that I've learned that speeding is not worth the danger, and that I very seldom go more than a couple kph/mph over the speed limit, I get a $30.00 ticket! Ironic.