Got a Speeding Ticket Today :(

What does any of this have to do with the initial topic of this thread? I'm going to assume that the police officer was honest (as is almost always the case) and that the original poster was correctly busted for going 74 in a 30. Do you really think the officer would have let the offender go on their happy way if it was a soccer mom in a minivan? Get real.

You seem to feel that the police are out to get drivers of high end cars but in real life I find this is not the case. I frequently drive by cops sitting on the side of the road in my Aston Martin at over the limit (usually just slightly so but sometimes at speeds at which it would be legitimate for them to pull me over if they wanted) and haven't been stopped yet. I can assure you that the large majority of cops have much more on their minds when they go to work each morning than looking to bag an exotic trophy. You yourself state that you haven't been pulled over so what is your basis for your wide ranging generalizations?

The original poster should try getting busted doing 150 in a 60 sometime. He won't find himself posting threads complaining about it on Internet forums shortly after the stop because he'll find himself in jail. He should consider himself lucky and take the ticket for what it is: a wake up call that he needs to slow down. Maybe next time it will be a child stepping out in front of him from nowhere rather that an officer with a radar gun. The officer did his job, nothing more and nothing less.

 

My dad made me do ride-alongs with a local highway patrolman long before he'd let me drive. That pretty well worked for me until one night when I had to get a date home before her curfew!


A few mistakes later and I have come full circle; for speed or drifting, take it to a track!

 

I encourage anyone who wonders what an officer deals with on a daily basis to go on a ride along--Almost every dept. across the US allows them. Then AFTER you have seen the other side can you come here and throw stones!!

 

Enough police bashing, without effective police our society would be in more chaos than it is and I would have to constantly fear for the safety of my family. I am glad of the police, having said that I know that they are not saints...but I give them their kudos nonetheless.
Enough speeder bashing.
I do not believe for one second that speed is a linear correlate to danger. There are numerous variables that go into the safety of a particular driving situation; including but not limited to:
1. The attention of the driver. For 2 vehicles travelling at the same speed the one paying attention is far safer than the one not. This is so obvious it hardly bears mentioning, except that it does because everyone seems to be concentrating on the "speed" as a solitary issue here.
2. The performance of the car matters. When an emergency arises, 2 drivers of equal skill paying the same attention, the driver in the higher performance car may be able to avoid the accident better than the low performance one. A Ferrari is better performing than an Escalade, and I'd rather take my chances in the former.
3. The condition of the car and it's tires, brakes, suspension, engine, safety equipemnt, etc.
4. The skill of the driver.
5. ....
In sum....me enjoying the act of driving and paying attention to driving in my Maserati, no radio, no phone, listening to the engine, "feeling" the car flow from corner to corner is much safer, much much safer, than inattentive driver in 6000lb SUV on the phone with kids screaming in the back, DVD playing, pulling fries out of a McD's bag...even if I am going 20mph faster than that SUV. And you kow what?....the police know this. That is why I most often see them exercise judgment when considering a high-performance exotic driving fast. The officer in this case seems to have understood this as well, and was being decent enough to "put in a good word." I also belive many younger officers are auto enthusiasts themselves.

I think an officer is smart enough to tell the difference between a jackass rich punk screwing around in a Ferrari (someone he wants to bust) and a learned professional getting a little spirited in his hard-won toy (someone he respects).

 

My 75 year old grandmother did one recently where she lives in Detroit (I believe now the most dangerous city in the US). She said it really opened her eyes to what they have to go through. In the time time she was with them, they responded to a domestic dispute, robbery, and pulled over a car that they suspected to be owned by a drug dealer.

After that expereince she enrolled in some sort of citizens on patrol class.

 

I encourage all parents to compel their kids to go on a ride-along with the Highway Patrol before letting them drive on public roads. Ditto for a good track class.

Then your kids will have seen why tracks are for speed and drifting and why roads are for defensive driving. Seeing is believing.

Hey, we all want to be smart parents, right?!

 

As a police officer--I agree with your statements whole heartedly!!! And most officers will agree with you 100%

 

+++++++10000000, Bingo, Robbie. It seems our young friend needs to learn some respect as well as for the safety of others and himself.
Hey, we've all pushed the envelope a few times owning these marvelous machines and have probably deserved many more citations than we've recieved...basicly skated. Hopefully, some of us have gained more respect for others, our cars and our personal capabilities as drivers in our experiences. If you play hard expect to pay hard.....that's just the rules of the road. Consider yourself lucky to get off with just a citation and not seriously injuring or killing someone. You screwed up and got popped so quit whining about it and learn something from your experiences, as you can see, don't expect much sympathy from from your fellow enthusiasts for your personal brain fade.

 

I've helped with state police K9 training, those dogs are GOOD! No ride alongs yet though...

And to the cop who caught the genius in the 430...nice catch!

No tickets for 7+ years, despite a ricer daily driver with 400+ hp. Sure I've hit 3 digits...just not on residential roads! How many track days / autox events have you done SilverTT? that's where speed belongs...

 

+1000

 

Right or wrong, it never fails to amaze me that people with the money to drive an exotic, facing points or worse on their license, decide that spending several hundred dollars on a lawyer is a waste of money.

 

haha, good observation, that is funny!

 

If one is going to do 75mph, at least do it getting onto a freeway were the speed limit is alot higher and hence maybe not even get a ticket.... 75mph in a residential is just wrong in so many ways............ to put it simply, that is "asking for a ticket".........

 

74 in a school zone is just unthinkable. Just think of the children....the ticket wasn't issued in a residential area. it was issued in a rural area where there are no homes, no schools, no nothing. just a barren stretch of road a little over a half mile long. Someone on here just kinda threw the residential thing in there, kind of a safe assumption i guess since the posted limit is 30. It was wrong to do, he knows that, and he'll get everything that he deserves.
oh and 285 you sure are a great defender for your cause. you really come off as a dickweed with shortman syndrome. you picked a good job. hopefully one day you will get everything that you deserve

 

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/04/462.asp
State Patrols Collect Billions From Speeding Tickets
Speeding ticket revenue amounts to as much as $2.3 billion for 40 state highway patrol agencies, with a list of the top ten ticket states.

Forty state highway patrols issued over 8.1 million citations for speeding in 2003, generating as much as $2.3 billion in revenue, according to an analysis of data found in the Governors Highway Safety Association "Survey of the States: Speeding" report. The number reflects the maximum base ticket amount for a first offense, not including common surcharges such as court costs and driver responsibility programs. Ten states reported that they do not collect data on the number of speeding citations issued.

The number of tickets issued by state patrols is only a fraction of the number of speeding tickets issued statewide by local police forces. In Florida, for example, state police issued 396,252 tickets worth up to $99 million in revenue. City and county police in Florida issued an additional 394,752 tickets worth up to $98.5 million. Insurance companies also generate revenue by increasing the annual insurance rates for speeding ticket recipients, which often exceeds the cost of the citation.

Although not a state, the District of Columbia has a population greater than Wyoming, the state issuing the second highest number of tickets per capita. Residents of Washington, D.C. are twelve times more likely to be issued a speeding ticket than residents of the neighboring state of Maryland. District police pulled over only 10,391 motorists, but speed cameras issued 423,910 tickets.

 

Speed Cameras & Red light cameras should be banned!.... it goes against your due process rights...Im suprised that no one has fought this one, and won.

 

People have tried to fight them before they were installed..and failed. They are too great of a money making machine. The thing that bugs me is that it has been found that in a lot of places they shortened the length of the yellow light after installing a red light camera. So its all about the money!

 

The last few posters have succeeded in convinced me that traffic laws are enforced exclusively as a money making opportunity. All traffic laws should clearly be suspended as the general public can be counted on to drive prudently in all circumstances. If our driving practices rapidly become similar to those seen in Mumbai India, so be it.

Seriously though, speeding is illegal. When one is caught breaking the law, a penalty is applied. The two main choices are: jail time or monetary fine. Since jail is generally considered an excessive penalty for speeding, it follows that issuing tickets will generally result in money being made. Should law enforcment be a money losing proposition?

Red light cameras are a different issue but since it has been brought up. Red light running is a serious problem in Dallas, generally several fatal or severe injury accidents each and every week are the result. Red light cameras decrease this behavior: http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/tv/stories/DN-redlight_20met.ART.State.Edition1.3712d45.html

IF a circumstance arises where yellow times are decreased to increase red light camera citations, this is clearly an abuse of the system and it does not follow that red light cameras should be banned as a result. I know some feel it is their god given right to run reds as long as a real life cop isn't around. However, cops have better things to do that sit at intersections all day. Red light cameras are quite effective and active 24/7 365 days a year. Not a problem in my book. If you don't want to receive a small fine in the mail with ample photographic evidence that you did indeed run a light, then obey the law (and potentially avoid t boning an inoccent family as an added bonus).

 

You are totaly right ! Here's what you should do:
Start driving just below the speed limit. Then you can convince everyone else to drive just below the speed limit. This will rip the "billions" of dollars right out of the sweaty, money grubbing little hands of the government (who are out to get us).

Then you can go on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher and tell the world how you beat the government at it's own game. Then you and Al Gore can fly on a private jet lecturing everyone how Ferraris cause global warming but driving below the speed limit reduces your carbon footprint almost enough to compensate for the fuel you just used on your private jet. Unfortunately at this point the government will need to raise taxes by billions of dollars to compensate for the lost revenues that You caused them to loose from lost traffic ticket revenues.

At this point you will be so depressed you will find yourself driving aimlessly on the highways not paying attention to your speed when suddenly, you look in the rear view mirror and see
RED LIGHTS !!


Regards,

Stew

 

I did a report on red light cameras in college, taht is why I know a little bit about them and speed cameras. I agree that red light running is a big problem so I don't have a problem with red light cameras. There were instances where it was found that they reduced the duration of the yellow light once the camera was installed. I think there are laws against this, but it was done anyway.

There were a few arguements against speed cameras. One of the main ones is that if the ticket is to assess points, you would have to be able to prove who was driving the vehicle. A speed camera can't do that, since the ticket would just get sent to who ever registered the vehicle. So if a man has all of the family vehicles registered in his name, anyone in the family (wife, son, daughter) would have their ticket and points sent to their dad. The other problem with the speed cameras is that you have a right to a fiar trial. When you get pulled over, you are aware of your violiation and the circumstances in which it happened. This allows you to defend yourself in court if need be. If you are just mailed a photo of your car and a ticket, it makes it much more difficult to defend yourself.

I am in no way an expert on any of this, jsut trying to provide some information that I remember from when I researched all of this.

 

I would not want a policeman's job for lots of reasons. They have just about always been polite to me. I did have a female cop in Carbondale say she had me on radar at 47 mph in a 25 mph zone. Told her I would like to see the reading on the gun. She told me she already erased it. When I told her thaty radar detector didn't go off she took my license, registration and insurance. Came back and told me she wouldn't give me a ticket this time. If she had we would have gone directly to the police station and filed a protest. I was driving my M3 with my wife at the time.

If you are polite and courteous to others, they will usually be polite and courteous back. This also applies to the police. If you are a wise guy they have the power to show you the error of your ways. They have a choice when issuing a ticket. The less hassle you give them, the less hassle they will give you.

And don't lie. They hear so many lies from people every day it must be refreshing to hear someone tell the truth.

Best to take your medicine like a man and go on with your life.

Keep the shiny side up and may the horse be with you.

 

Right, we all know that every cop considers himself above the law.

How about Houston as an example:

"But the courts apparently treat the officers like everyone else with red light cameras. They're given a $75 fine and a day in court if they chose to fight it. " (Source: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=local&id=5726603)

 

Stew I LOVE IT. Lets all start driving the speed limit . Great idea. Just so we can get a data base on our driving habits lets start a poll on when we last got a speeding ticket and see if we are a responsible crowd. I'll start : NONE and I got my licence in 1960. Must be those Corvettes and Jags that couldn't be seen by the troopers. I hope I don't get to depressed and loose my focus. Ha

 

There should be GPS locators hooked up in every police cruiser. When the officer exceeds the speed limit per location and not on an emergency call he/she should get a ticket. Lead by example.