How Fast You Have To Drive To Save 10 Minutes
So, just how fast do you have to go to save 10 minutes on a trip? Has the thought ever crossed your mind? Even if it hasn’t, we’ve all been guilty of pressing the pedal a little more to get somewhere a little quicker from time to time. Maybe you’re running late, maybe you’re trying to race a friend to your destination. Or, maybe you just have a lead foot. You can include me in the last group.
I’ve gotten a lot better with age but, my lead foot cost me thousands in unnecessary speeding fines when I was younger. I could probably make up a bunch of different excuses but the reality is: (Insert Ricky Bobby’s voice here) I just like to go fast! It took a few years but, I soon realized that I wasn’t a fan of giving money to the government for no reason, hundreds of dollars at a time.
How I feel when playing the “Beat the time on the GPS” game
If You Ain’t First, You’re Last
I once heard a driving school instructor say that it’s useless to speed because, on the road, you’re never going to get to the front of the line. Personally, I don’t care about the front of the line, I just want to be in front of whoever is in front of me.
Sometimes, we feel like we have to speed. If we’re running late for something, we have to try to make up for the lost time, right? As it turns out, that’s not probable. Assurance did the math and this is how it works out…
How Fast You Need To Go
The average American drives just under 29 miles per day. For reference, it’s 29 miles from Evans Towne Center Park to Aiken Regional Airport. Google Maps says it’s a 38-40 minute trip. In Georgia and South Carolina, the maximum speed limit is 70 mph. To save 10 minutes on that 29 mile trip, we’d have to drive 45 miles over the speed limit!
How Fast Is Too Fast?
According to DUIguru.com, the fine in Georgia for 24-33 miles over the speed limit is $500. You’ll also have a $200 “Super-Speeder” charge added onto that. In South Carolina, the highest fine listed is $355 for 25 mph over with an additional $250 “Super-Speeder” fine for anyone going 15 mph over the speed limit. That’s a lot of dough just to save a few minutes on your trip.
There’s also the obvious risk of wreck and injury. 45 mph over 70 mph is 115 mph (I math good). I’ve never had a wreck at 115 mph, but I’d imagine it’s not fun. Heck, I’ve never even owned a vehicle that would go that fast!
How I would look going as fast as I need to go to shave 5 minutes off of my drive.
How Fast Can We Go?
So, how fast can we go without getting pulled over? Before I continue, I should say: DO NOT SPEED. However, I asked a couple of police officer friends of mine, on a retired local officer, the other a state trooper and this is what they said:
The Local officer said “Legally you can stop anything over the posted limit. But I typically didn’t even look at stopping a vehicle unless they were at least 10 over. Once I did stop cars the driver’s attitude dictated if they got a warning or citation. If it was a school zone I was a lot more strict. Almost zero tolerance. Same with passing stopped school buses.”
The GSP officer added: “There (are) laws regarding speed for local municipalities I believe that have to allow 10 over. Georgia State Patrol is absolute speed. So 1 mph over is allowed.”
Bad Boys, whatcha gonna do?
So, it seems like 10mph over is the general allowance. How much time will that save you? In states with a maximum speed limit of 70mph (GA & SC), we can save 3 minutes and thirteen seconds over that 30 miles. It can still get you a ticket, depending on how strict the observing officer is feeling that day and how you treat them when they pull you over.
The safe bet? Leave early, don’t speed. If you’re running late, three minutes and thirteen seconds isn’t likely to make that much of a difference.
