Mich. Message Board Says Speed Limit 100 (MDOT contruction sign on freeway)

ap ^ | 4-8-05

[Dan from Michigan]

Mich. Message Board Says Speed Limit 100

Fri Apr 8, 4:13 PM ET Strange News - AP

VIENNA TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Drivers on southbound Interstate 75 got a surprise Thursday morning from a construction message board. The board, which for weeks had been alerting drivers in Genesee County near Clio that construction starts this month, instead greeted them with the message: "speed limit 100 mph go go go."

"We got a call from the state police before 5 this morning (Thursday) and we took care of it," Bill Shreck, regional spokesman for the Michigan Department of Transportation, told The Flint Journal. "We weren't amused."

The speed limit in the area is 70 miles per hour, Shreck said. The sign was the only MDOT message board affected.

The message boards are controlled remotely by a computer through a subcontractor, Shreck said. That company is looking into who changed the board and how.

"We know it wasn't a purposeful act by the contractor, but we don't know if it was hacked into or if it was a disgruntled employee or what," Shreck said.

[ChiefKujo]

On my way to work, there is no speed limit.

(Autobahn 45).

[Dan from Michigan]

Would the ticket be thrown out of court or would the gummint still extract its pound of flesh?

LOL. Since this is in Genesee County.....I'm certainly betting on the latter.

[Lurker]

Sounds like somebody figured out how to hack those signs.

It's not all that difficult to do....

L

[Spyder]

LOL! It's good to see someone in this country still has a backbone, a sense of humor, and some American know-how.

One of our more dangerous roads, frequented by soldiers, pineapple trucks, and tourists headed to the north shore driving 5 miles under the ridiculously low-set speed limit, has a speed limit sign of 35 posted not far from Schofield Barracks. Someone has quite neatly tagged the sign to close the 3 to an 8... and I do believe some take the "85" seriously.

[Salamander]

Hey now!
Mad Max's Interceptor is sacrosanct!
We'll have NO disparaging remarks, please!....;))

[Petronski]

My Vic disappears into traffic. That thing screams . . . ("no disparaging remarks") . . . something.

[Salamander]

My mother, for reasons unknown, once bought a bronze Vic.
She's a chubby little lady with a short curly perm but when she went down the highway, traffic parted for her like Moses and the Red Sea.
It was hysterical to watch.
We *almost* bought a decommissioned Vic with the MD state trooper colors still on it.
[no letters or badges left...just the olive drab/brown paint scheme]
That woulda been *so* cool....:))

[Petronski]

We *almost* bought a decommissioned Vic with the MD state trooper colors still on it.

They're a very good buy. Have a Ford dealer add cruise control and a cassette player, and more importantly, change all the fluids.

[spinestein]

On my way to work, there is no speed limit. (Autobahn 45).



I would say that you are lucky to live where you live because you can drive on the Autobahn...except for the fact that you live in Germany.

:^)

[Salamander]

The guy who had it backed out of the deal.....:(

[spinestein]

[I wish it was all 100. I could get to Downtown Lansing in 20 minutes]




I commute to work 48 miles each way and it's all straight and flat rural county roads at a ridiculously slow 55mph.

In a properly equipped performance car like I drive, it's possible to drive a sustained 120mph safely but of course it's considered reckless driving to do so.

This is the ONE typical American policy I would trade away to Germany in exchange for their Autobahn policy. .

[cyclotic]

Boogity, boogity, boogity

My favorite part of Michigan driving is teh first mile north of the Ohio border on I-75.

Everybody mashes it down from the strictly enforced 65mph in Ohio to the "Speed limits are mainly a suggestion" attitude in Michigan.

[corlorde]

I agree. On the interstate, a legal 75 or 80 as traffic permits, isn't unreasonable.

[Nick Danger]

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

No, I"m not a cop. But I do drive a Ford Crown Victoria with the police interceptor package.

"The day I get out of jail, my own brother comes to pick me up in a cop car..."-Jacob Blues, from the only musical I ever liked, "The Blues Brothers...

[Larry Lucido]

Hey! I'm the only ex-cop lawyer around here.

Yessir, I can arrest myself, interrogate myself, and get myself off, er, um, get myself acquitted.

[Slyfox]

I gotta tell ya. I have been living in Texas since 1975. When I drive in between cities outside Dallas I can drive 70 mph no problem. As long as its outside the city limits. Last time I visited my family in Michigan, I was driving between Fenton and Grand Blanc, and since I was out of the city limit of Fenton, I proceeded to head toward 70 mph. Yep, got stopped by a cop. I told him the truth and fortunately he let me off with a warning.

[rasblue]

In Michigan the law says that all speeding fine money goes to the Library Fund. Nice backdoor way to eliminate this annoying part of life. Thus no real incentive for cops to raise revenue, thus limited harrasment.
see www.motorists.org for details.

AAA lists Michigan as the "fastest state in America" by avg. speed driven.