Speed limits vary around the United States depending on where you are driving. For example, in a school zone, the speed limit might be as low as 15 mph or as high as 70 mph on most Interstate highways. Most drivers do not travel at the posted speed limit. Usually, they are going at least 5 mph over the posted speed limit.

Police are charged with enforcing the law including driving over the speed limit. Chances are that there are more police patrolling the roads in urban areas than in rural areas. As you might expect, there are more motorist on the road in urban areas than in rural areas. This is especially true during the morning and afternoon compute times during the week. In a number of cases, the driver is late for work. And they try to make up the time by driving faster. This would be the worst time to be pulled over by a patrolman because you were going 10 to 15 mph over the speed limit.

One of the methods used to detect speeders is by the use of a hand-held radar gun. These devices use Doppler radar technology similar to the storm detection radars used by the National Weather Service. Doppler radar detects motion toward and away from the source. If you didn’t have a radar detector or a laser detector in your car, then you would have no idea that your speed is being monitored.

In a report by Driverside.com, the most likely place to get caught for speeding is in our nation’s capitol. The Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. issued over 400,000 traffic tickets for speeding in the latest survey. Fines for speeding are based on the number of miles per hour over the posted speed limit. The fines range from $75 for 10 mph over the posted speed limit to $250 for 30 mph over the posted speed limit. Assuming the average fine is $150, the Metropolitan Police Department collected over $60 million in fines.

You would think that states with the most population would be more likely to get caught for speeding. They would have more patrolmen available to look out for traffic violations. But that is not always the case. There are three states in the wide-open West where speeders get caught. These states include Wyoming, North Dakota and New Mexico.

Other states that have the highest number of speeding tickets are Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, South Carolina and Vermont.