“Officer, I am so sorry that you had to take time out of your day to pull me over just to give me a warning” doesn’t work.
“Words fascinate me. They always have. For me, browsing in a dictionary is like being turned loose in a bank.” - Eddie Cantor
International Driver’s Licence, huh? ::scurries off to find information on this::
Excellent info. Hey, DreamWorks, care to verify any of the above info?
I planned on pulling the chick move when pulled over, but when the time came, the cop had been following me for about an mile, I was so nervous I failed to notice the speed went from 50 to 30, and he pulled me over. I was just so ANNOYED that I couldn’t muster up fake tears. Feh. But I did get the fine reduced eventually. (to the minimum: $90. Yahoo.)
A little persistance goes a long way. Announcing:
“I go on guilt trips a couple of time a year. Mom books them for me.” A custom made Wally .sig!
I usually won’t go in excess of 5 mph over. If I do, it’s because the traffic flow is also going faster, and I’d get run over if obeyed the limit.
Anecdote:
A couple of months ago I was heading up the highway, and came up behind a trooper. I just fell back 4 seconds behind and paced him. A lady in a mercedes came up from behind fast, and then also paced. After a few miles of this, she got bored and pulled around. She crept very slowly past the trooper, and the instant she cleared his front bumper his lights came on. Stooooopid! But at least I could speed up again, and not worry about him in my 6!
VB
I’ve performed a complete diagnosis of your car. It’s broken.
- A Wally original!
I just stay within 5-10 mph of the limit. They don’t ticket you for that around here. I used to drive faster, but finally decided it wasn’t worth it.
I did the math and figured out that if I drove 90 (which I wouldn’t do anyway) I would get home about 90 seconds to two minutes earlier. This assumes I don’t get pulled over or hit traffic. I then figured that 75 (now we’re talking) would get me home about 45 seconds to one minute earlier. Same assumptions.
That is simply not enough time savings to make it worth my while to speed too much. The time lost getting pulled over one time would eat up weeks of time saved. Plus there is the money issue. And the stress of worrying about getting a ticket all the time.
So, now when I am driving around the city, I just don’t drive fast enough to get a ticket. If I’m going on a long trip where faster driving will really save me some time, then I usually use the “runner” method discussed above. Even better if the runner has a radar detector.
MtnMan
In regard to Vestal’s story:
Don’t pass police as a general rule. If a cop is going 90, as long as your behind him, you arent likely to get a ticket (its kinda hard to point a radar gun behind you while driving); however, if the cop is going 90 and you pass him, you can be stopped without a radar reading (i believe) because the cop has paced you. Be especially wary of police travelling 25 on a 25 road…they are just looking for someone to pass 'em.
Can anybody verify the truth or falseness of the following? My cousin told me that if you get a speeding ticket, pay it by check, but write the check for an amount that exceeds the fine (say $37.50 for a $35.00 fine). Then the RMV/DMV will have to send you a rebate check for the difference-according to him, if you destroy the rebate, the computer will still hold the ticket as open, and the RMV will not inform your insurance company to post a surcharge.I don’t mind paying a fine, but a surcharge for 6 YEARS is a little much.
see… this drives me crazy! women can get out of tickets all the time… me? Ive never been pulled over and NOT gotten a ticket… even if it wasnt that far over the speed limit! Grrrr…
Malaka,
You give some good advice. Especially about the days off thing. As for occ, those FOP stickers mean very little, especially to me. Cops have sweet spots, if they were a Marine, and you’ve got A Semper Fi sticker on your bumper, you’ll probably get over. If they like volunteer firemen, and you’ve got the sticker, you’ll probably get over.
However, if you’ve got 6 FOP support stickers on your window, that really means that you speed a lot and worry about getting tickets, but don’t know any cops, so you had to buy these dumb sticker. I also belong to a PBA (Patrolman’s Benevolent Association) which is a local union, whereas the FOP is more national and for smaller departments.
actually most departments now have radar detetors mounted in the rear window, but the fact still holds the same. If your following him doing 90, that means the cop is doing 90. W/O the lights and sirens on, its just as wrong for him as it is for you. Take it to court and tell the judge. He’ll have to give himself a speeding ticket.
…for more silky smooth segues, write to “silky smooth segues” 610 n 10th street, Albuquerque NM 87109.
I myself drive very fast. Every time a cop turns on his little lights and sirens, I laugh. I’ve never been caught while trying to out run the law. Living in west virginia with all of these little country roads helps too. Also try to make several series of turns and loops. It may also help to head straight for your house and have the garage door opener with you, but make sure the cop isn’t close enough behind you. Going down a one-way street has worked before too. Oh, going onto a parking lot and turing it off and walk in to a store very fast has worked too. But, I wouldn’t advise you to let them get close enough to get your tags in the first place and if they do you might as well pull over, because you’d still be fucted. Now in all honesty I have gotten tickets before but only because I knew they saw my tags or because traffic was to bad to maneuver around all the slow people. By the way it helps if you have a fixed up sports car, so if you ever see me in your rear view mirror, move please, I might just be trying to evade and elude the boys in blue. vaarrrooommmm 
Please disregard the above post, what he meant to write was : “I am an idiot.”
Now would someone please turn off that damned “Deliverence” music ??
Thank you.
Why the hell would you run from the police for a simple traffic violation? Be ultra-polite to the cop, then plead not guilty and get out of the ticket. I know, people do occasionally outrun a cop (or more likely, lose the cop somehow), but its just not worth it. You’ll get arrested if you flee the police and are caught.
Brian, are you saying you go 10 mph over speed limit with cops pointing a radar gun at you & never got caught? No offense but people who look like you that I know locally say they get pulled over for nothing. Guess the cops don’t like long hair?
Hey, what happens these days if you don’t sign the ticket?
Of course he never gets caught. He’s the Prince of Darkness. He’s the Lord of All Things Evil. He’s SATAN, for the love of peanuts. Huh? What? Wait, that’s just a handle? OOOOOOOOh. Nevermind.
A little persistance goes a long way. Announcing:
“I go on guilt trips a couple of time a year. Mom books them for me.” A custom made Wally .sig!
I hope to survive until I have enough $$ to take my car to the shop. Either the speedometer is calibrated wrong, or there’s something very wrong with the engine, because when I’m supposedly going 75, people are passing me right and left, and the engine doesn’t sound like it’s up to speed. And no, I’m not surrounded by speed demons; I used to be able to keep pace with the traffic when the gauge said 65, but now 75 feels more like 50. I dread getting pulled over, telling the cop, “My speedometer is miscalibrated” and having him say, “Yeah right; traffic school for you.”
“Hush, village idiot!”
Only ticket I ever got was proof positive that Splat’s theory is a bad one…
Whipping through the Berkshires in a little sports car at night. No problem of control, but the trooper thought that 60 was excessive when the speed was posted as 25.
I’ve done a lot of cross-country and up and down the East Coast driving. NJ Turnpike used to be hellacious, with cops hanging out all over the place. But driving at a brisk pace (10 mph over the limit), especially at night, and obviously not a hot-rodder or a drunk, seems not to attract unwanted attention.
Rilchiam, do you have the right size tires still? If you change them, so does the speed ratio.
I almost always drive between 5 and 10 over, but on some roads with absurdly low speed limits, up to 30 over. So far I have not gotten even a warning in roundabout 38 years of driving, let alone a ticket.
My approach is:
o Don’t do anything unsafe or stupid. There are times when even driving the SL is too dangerous. Don’t tailgate. Don’t dart around and change lanes unpredictably. Drive defensively. Leave your ego at home, and be polite to other drivers, even when they do something stupid. I think cops are more likely to pull you over if you’re driving like an ass, then if you are clearly trying to drive safely.
o Don’t drive radically faster than everyone else. Not only is does a high speed differential fall into the “unsafe” category, it makes you stand out visually. There is usually enough traffic going 10 over that you don’t have to be the one guy going much faster than everybody else. If it’s a desolate road, lower your speed when you come up on that next car so you don’t blow by him at a large differential speed.
o Pay attention. IMHO, photo radar is a crock, but OTOH, if you get caught by it, I almost think you deserve the ticket just for not paying enough attention - those vans are conspicuous. Be aware of your surroundings, and don’t just focus on a spot 50 feet in front of your car. Maximize your situational awareness at all times. You should never see a nearby car and wonder how it got there. If that happens, it’s time to reassess your driving habits.
o In the countryside, don’t outdrive your visibility. Traffic is often sparse enough that you can see a mile or more in both directions. If there is a hill or obstruction you can’t see past, slow the heck down, not only for safety, but because it can often be a speed trap.
o Don’t speed in school zones or residential areas. It’s not safe. There are pedestrians and little visibility around parked cars and so on. I will drive 120 MPH on a long, straight, empty roadway in the middle of Nowhere, Nebraska, but I will often drive under the limit in residential subdivisions.
I’ve used this approach for almost 4 decades in 3 different major cities in the US, and have never had an accident or been pulled over by a cop for any reason, even while driving sports cars.
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peas on earth
Oh, the other one I forgot to say: don’t overdrive your car. I have several cars, but my econobox has boat-like suspension and lacks the high quality brakes and tires of my other, more performance oriented cars. I won’t drive faster than 65 in it. There just isn’t enough control.
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peas on earth
Hmmm. Well, I’ll check that out.
“Hush, village idiot!”