North Carolina might ticket you for going 1 mph over the speed limit

If you're traveling to North Carolina for the Easter holiday, watch out: In anticipation of spring breakers, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (DOT) has directed state police to ticket cars driving in the "buffer zone" of one to nine miles per hour above the posted limit which is commonly believed to be acceptable.

Following outcry over the very reasonable interpretation of that announcement as a plan to ticket people driving just one mile per hour over the speed limit, some state police suggested there was no such cause for concern over the initiative, which runs through Sunday, April 3.

"We are going to be involved in the campaign, but for the Highway Patrol it's going to be business as usual, as far as we're concerned," said North Carolina Highway Patrol Trooper Kelly Rhodes, who is based in the Asheville area. However, Rhodes conceded, "You might get stopped for one [mile per hour] over and given a warning ticket," and if the trooper finds any other violations in the process, "then we would cite you for being one mile over."

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