Will a Michigan Police Officer Ticket You For Just 3 MPH Over the Speed Limit?

There's a longstanding joke that speed limits don't matter much on Michigan highways. 75 is the new 70 and 80 is the new 75. The excuse a speeding driver may give is they are just "keeping up with the flow of traffic." While some patrol officers describe catching speeders a lot like going fishing - there are lots of fish in the lake but only one ends up on the hook.

So what kind of grace would you be given if caught speeding? The law is the law and if you're over, even by a single mile-per-hour, you are technically breaking that law.

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The topic came up recently on the always lively, often NSFW Midland Complains Facebook group. A commenter there claimed to have received a ticket for doing a 43 in a 40 mph zone. Is that justified?

Of course, there are many factors we just don't know. A 40 mph active school or construction zone may be very different than 43 in a 40 in a wide open stretch of road with no other drivers. We don't know the tone and tenor of the interaction during the stop.

READ MORE: Visitors to Michigan Can't Fathom How Fast Highway Speeds are in Downtown Grand Rapids

Maybe it's a Midland thing? The east-west road into and through town is M-20. A commenter in the thread claimed they got ticketed for 57 in the 55 zone there. And M-20 is an interesting road entering Midland. The city's limits include quite a bit of rural area, so the 4-lane M-20 feels like you can go a little faster than the posted speed. But you're inside city limits, don't forget.