Drive Like a Banshee but NO speeding Tickets in 20 Years

shawsan, you may want to be careful with your modified front licence plate because it's ICBC's property and you could get a ticket for modifying it. I've heard of drivers getting ticketed for simply bending their plates!

 

I drive about 35,000 miles a year. One of the things you will find in Southern California is that it is pretty hard to drive at a sustained high speed. I use the cruse control alot in my work car. I set it at the speed limit (65mph) and then try to see how long I can go with out touching the breaks. You would think I'm driving 10 - 15mph over the speed limit as slow as some of the drivers around hear drive. It really is a sorry situation.

Now for the times you can open it up. Here as some of the things I have found.

I watch how the cops will stalk other cars before they nail them. They will sneek up on the outside lanes. If there is a big semi-truck up ahead, they will use it to sprint up a few car lengths. Then when they get into striking distance, blam, they turn the lights on. So I figured whats good for the goose is good for the gander. So I use the same technique to drive at bit faster than the rest of the cars. I call the cars blockers. Because I use them to block the view of my car from the rear, and block from radar. If I'm behind or next to a semi the radar will pick up the signal from the bigger object. So it gives me a chance to slow down before I get to the cop car. I have been saved a few times by this. Basicly be sneeky about speeding.

The other thing I have found is that cops come in two's. If you see one there is usually another one near by. Most of the time with in just a few miles.

Another trick I have seen the cops do, I call the "peek-a-boo". The cops will get off the freeway, then get right back on. Now you see me, now you don't, now you see my lights. I have seen cars rocket off as soon as the cop pulls off, only to get busted a few seconds later. It's a pretty good trick. So anytime a cop gets off the freeway, especially if it is a motor cycle cop, watch the on ramp just past the off ramp, to make sure he doesn't try to pull a peek-a-boo manuver on you.

Watch the on ramps. The cops love to just sit and hide out at the top of the ramp, waiting for someone to speed by. Kind of like a spider waiting for the fly.

Pay attention to the signs. If you see one that says patroled by aircraft, keep an eye on the sky. There is a stretch of the 101 fwy between Ventura and Santa Barbara that they use planes and cars to patrol. I always slow down anytime I see an airplane in the sky on that part of the 101, or even a helicopter for that matter. I will constantly scan the sky in front of me, on the side, and in my rear view mirror. The cop cars will wait a few miles down the road, and then the air plane will give them a decrpition of the car and the speed. So watch the skys if the sign is posted.

Now if you are changing lanes, be smoooooth about it. Cops look for lane changers. If you are making quick, sharp, and sudden lane changes that will send up a red flag to the cop. If I'm coming up on a car that I need to pass, I will make a nice gradual, smooth, lane change, but maitain my speed. From a quarter of a mile back, it will be very hard to tell if a guy is speeding if it looks like he is just making a "normal" lane change. A very good tick I use is to try and make the lane changes, especially if I'm driving fast, on a curve. If you watch the cars as they go around a curve, you will see that they visually cross one another. So if you are making a lane change around a curve it will be even more difficult to tell you are speeding. Plus there will be time were the line of sign on your car is completely gone. This is a good time to duck behind a "blocker". Another good time is on the other side of a hill. Watch your mirrors, and when you see the cars disapear, make your lane change.

Watch your mirrors. Cops pull you over from behind, so that is were they will be. Don't just look right behind you but watch back a few hundred yards also. Check your mirrors every time you pass an on ramp.

But if you really don't want to get a speeding ticket, then don't speed.

 

I'm actually a huge fan of threads that provide good advice to avoid attracting police attention while driving spiritedly. Kinda sad but it's a game society forces us to play - speed limits are usually far too low and make almost everyone into a scofflaw.

But the way it was originally written up sounded like he nailed it when some cop was trying to pull him over for something trivial.

If the sirens go on, and it's apparent that it's for me, I pull over. </wimp confessional>

 

A-yup, I've been doing this maneuver for years. Radar will see the larger reflection of the truck.

Also, if there's some speed demon who has just gotta be ahead of you, let 'em! They're usually darting in-n-out of traffic (signals optional) so all of their actions are sending up flares for cops. They are 'running point' for you, like a dog sent ahead to flush out the ducks I can't count the number of times I pulled right to let someone zoom ahead of me, just to see them a couple miles later on the side of the road with a cop

Oh, and my Valentine 1 has paid for itself time and again. Best damn detector out there and mine is 11 YEARS OLD! Those directional arrows and bogey counter are what make it the cherry on the sunday. Or the implants on the stripper...whatever floats your boat.

 

Another tip - don't go round telling everyone you have never had a ticket. It only tempts fate!!!!

 

Nope, we have no coastal mountain ranges where I live. Police always hide over the crest of hills and on curves where I live. It's common sense not to be the first one over the crest of a hill. Around here, you're playing Russian roulette if you do that. "Or do you feel lucky today, punk?"

 

Riding the Ducati one day on a 3 lane hiway, straight road, center lane. Coming up on a car, looked in mirrors, clear, passed on left, picking up speed substantially. Pulled back into center lane, checked right mirror and I noticed the outside edge of the mirror was black. WTF?? Backed off throttle and allowed image to come into view. A #$% CHP intentionally put his car in the perfect position so as to be in my blind spot. He was right next to me, for who knows how long, and I couldn't see him one bit. And when I passed on left, he passed on right and was able to stay in my blind spot the whole time.

Learned a valuable lesson that day. Cops use blind spots to maintain stealth.

 

Another stealth story -- watch out for shady areas along hiways (Nevada has lots of shady areas ...). Black cops cars like to hide in the shade. While I was passing a car on divided hiway, a cop car sitting in shade hit me with instant-on radar. Hard to see a black car in the shade on a sunny day from a distance.

 

I've been riding for several years and I took the motorcycle safety course. One thing they teach you is to look in your mirrors AND glance over your shoulder. It's saved me a few times and I even have wide-angle mirrors.

Nice info, though, I never would've thought of that (trailing in blind-spot).

 

Yo DO REALIZE you are creating bad "Cop Karma for yourself, right?

 

The point I was getting at is when one normally drives in a mountainous area (Rockies, Cascades, etc.) -- and the West coast has a lot of them! -- it's virtually impossible to be driving and not hit a curve or hill...or both at the same time! Same thing goes for inland mountains WEST of Denver. You would be forced to drive the speed limit the whole drive The good side of our mountains is that there aren't a whole lot of places for a cop to sit and wait so they drive with radar on if they have it (at least in the Oregon coastal range). And if you travel a route often enough you'll find the occational sit spot that may hold a cruiser or bike and THOSE are where you slow down.

You are correct, in certain areas around here (like I-5 Washington) the occational hill/curve will yield at least two revenue-collectors

 

Paul, I love ya man. Some guys one here seem like little lemmings when it comes to "following the law" and don't understand that speading isn't nessicarly dangerious. Love your post and tips and a courtious law breaker is always nice to here about. I do the exact same thing with cops trying to do u turns to come after me....all the time; yellow REALLY stands out.
Preach on!!!!

 

I remember reading a book, "Spy, Counterspy," by Dusko Popov, a WW2 double agent from a privleged European background, in which he recounted how an acquaintance of his, a "spirited driver," would avoid undue hassles from the local gendarmes. Upon arriving in town, he would seek out the local police chief, and give him two envelopes of cash, the first as "pre-payment" for any traffic infractions he may incur while visiting, the other being a donation to the local policeman's benevolent association. Story was that he drove the way he wanted and never had any problems.

 

The cops LOVE to do this on PCH in Malibu.

Another dirty trick they do is wait at the bottom of a hill. I think that is totally not cool. They know you are going to be going fast, even if you don't have your foot on the accelerator. The weight of the car makes it go fast by itself. I think it really is a dirty trick.

 

Drive fast in your minivan and save the slow cruising for the Ferrari. Just kidding. Although it is less likely to be pulled over in a grey Odyssey than a red Ferrari, it just isn't much fun.
BT

 

Let's see, last speeding ticket (only one I ever got) was the day after Christmas in 1992 driving a Toyota Camry.

Since then, I've had the following:

Lexus ES 250
Ferrari 365 GT4
BMW M3/4
Lexus GS300
MB 500 SEL
Porsche 964 C4
Ferrari Mondial 8
Ferrari 308 GTS QV

and not a single ticket. Got pulled over once in the BMW for failure to come to a complete stop at a stop sign, but beat that in court.

Know how I did it? By driving within the rules of the road.