North Carolina speeding law is more than 40 years old

The declare: A brand new North Carolina regulation says you can not go 5 miles per hour over the pace restrict

In a majority of states, it’s unlawful to exceed the pace restrict – no matter whether or not it’s protected for drivers to extend their pace. Nevertheless, a extensively shared Fb publish means that rule is new to North Carolina drivers. 

The publish, which accrued greater than 4,000 shares in in the future, claims a regulation was handed April 10 to codify pace restrictions in North Carolina.

“Simply handed into regulation as we speak: You cannot go 5 miles over pace restrict in NC. You may be stopped for 1 mile over posted pace restrict!!,” reads the April 11 publish.

However no such regulation was enacted. Actually, the regulation the publish referenced has been on the books since 1979. 

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USA TODAY reached out to the Fb person who shared the declare for remark.

North Carolina didn’t replace dashing regulation

North Carolina didn’t lately replace its dashing regulation, Christopher Knox, a public data officer for North Carolina’s Division of Public Security, advised USA TODAY. 

“I can affirm that there has NOT been a change to North Carolina regulation almost about dashing statutes nor has there been any adjustments to our company’s enforcement of those legal guidelines,” Knox stated in an electronic mail. “The North Carolina State Freeway Patrol points citations or makes arrests just for particular, clear-cut and substantial violations of the regulation.”

The North Carolina Governor’s Freeway Security Program is operating a marketing campaign referred to as “Velocity a Little, Lose a Lot,” which a number of social media customers identified within the feedback on the publish. 

Extra:San Francisco police pull over a driverless automobile

Nevertheless, that program just isn’t a brand new regulation. The state, which noticed 424 speeding-related deaths in 2021, runs this annual program to advertise protected driving. 

North Carolina is an absolute pace restrict state

On July 18, 1979, North Carolina adopted a dashing regulation that’s nonetheless on the books as we speak.

“No particular person shall drive a car on a freeway or in a public vehicular space at a pace larger than is affordable and prudent below the situations then present,” the regulation reads.

If a driver goes over the pace restrict, the regulation says they might be given a ticket.

The regulation consists of set dashing limits for sure areas, resembling 35 mph inside municipal company limits, which embrace cities and cities. That sort of rule is called an absolute pace restrict.

No matter whether or not it’s protected, exceeding the pace restrict is illegitimate if a state has an absolute dashing regulation, based on the Uniform Car Code. This mannequin code is really helpful to states by the Nationwide Committee on Uniform Visitors Legal guidelines, a non-public nonprofit group. 

Whereas most states comply with absolute dashing limits, some have presumed or prima facie dashing limits, based on a database created by Massachusetts Institute of Know-how software program engineer John Carr. That means drivers can argue that, although they had been exceeding the pace restrict, the pace was nonetheless protected. Some states have a mix of each sorts of pace limits. 

Our score: Partly false

Based mostly on our analysis, we fee PARTLY FALSE the declare {that a} new North Carolina regulation says you can not go 5 mph over the pace restrict. North Carolina regulation does say drivers can’t drive over the pace restrict, however that’s not new. The regulation has been on the books since 1979. 

Our fact-check sources:

• North Carolina Division of Transportation, accessed April 12, Velocity a Little, Lose A Lot
• North Carolina Division of Transportation, accessed April 12, Marketing campaign Knowledge 
• Christopher Knox, April 13, E mail trade with USA TODAY
• Massachusetts Institute of Know-how, accessed April 12, State Visitors and Velocity Legal guidelines
• North Carolina Division of Justice, accessed April 12, Motor Autos; Failure to Lower Velocity
• Uniform Car Code, accessed April 12, Millenium Version 
• North Carolina Normal Meeting, accessed April 12, Enacted Laws
• PolitiFact, April 14, Pump the brakes: no regulation stipulating that drivers can’t go 5 miles over restrict in North Carolina

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Our fact-check work is supported partly by a grant from Fb.