OK, so I didn’t so much fight the law as I evaded it. Sunday evening I was driving the family home to Maryland from a weekend with the in-laws in eastern Tennessee. It’s about 7:30, and traffic is fairly light. I’m heading north-east on I-81 approaching Roanoke. I’m comfortably settled in the left-hand lane doing a civilized 85 miles per hour. Coming around a gentle curve I don’t see the blue and silver state troopers’ car parked in a shallow depression in the median until his lighbar comes on and he starts to pull into traffic behind me.
Now I can’t swear he was actually after me, and not someone else. But discretion IS the better part of valor, and I’m in no mood for an expensive ticket. Fortunately, there was an exit just a few hundred yards ahead, and one with a nice curve to it, taking it out of sight. I goosed it hard, ducked in between two semis traveling in the right-hand lane, and took the exit ramp. A quick right at the cross street, followed by two random lefts, and my eagle-eyed wife spots a school. I pulled into the lot behind the school building, and decided this would be a good time to let the kids get out and play for a few minutes.
After about ten minutes, we piled back in the car, got back on the Interstate and continued on our merry way. But I did keep it mostly under 80 the rest of the way.
I only got a warning, since my last recorded ticket was in '97. Funny, because I’ve had at least 5 tickets since then. Maybe he just meant speeding tickets?
I’ve never even gotten a speeding ticket, but I have had a warrant out for my arrent on one or two previous occasions. Plus speeding fines have gotten pretty steep in Virginia these days, so I figured better safe then sorry.
Goodness, maybe it’s just me, but I would not think of doing anything other than immediately finding a safe place, pulling over, and sitting there with my hands on the wheel, should I see flashing lights behind me.
I have, however, also never had a warrant out for my arrest.
Dude, you just risked converting a small traffic infraction into a serious criminal charge. Plus you had kids in the car. Do you really want to have them taken into protective custody while you are being arrested for evading? Also, are you absolutely positive he did not get your plate number? If he did, you can expect a knock on your door anytime from now untill the statute of limitations runs out.
If he had ever been directly behind me, letting me know he wanted me to pull over, I would have. But I don’t think I have an obligation to help him put me in that position. Even if he got my plate number, what’s he going to do? If he’s far enough behind me that I could evade him that easily, I could certainly claim to have never seen him. Plus, how would he know who was driving the car? It could have been either me or my wife. Anyway, I did pull over. Just not on a busy, dangerous Interstate. But like I said, he might not have been after me at all.
Driving 85 mph, accelerating at the site of a police car, “ducking” between two big rigs to exit and this w/ your wife and children in the car. Then you actually come here to boast about it. Can you not understand what’s wrong w/ this?
You are a dangerous driver!!
I never get a warning! I have been pulled over twice in my life, and got dinged for the full shot both times. My theory is that it’s because I look like the kind of person who deserves a ticket.
Technically, the police were not in pursuit of the OP’s vehicle so technically, the OP didn’t evade the police. If they had their lights on and were directly behind him, doing that would have been considered evading a police officer.
I have no problems with what you did, Emilio Lizardo (with the exception of the speeding). I am glad you kept the speed down for the rest of your trip.
Perhaps I wasn’t clear. By “behind me” I simply meant “at some distance behind me.” Before he could enter into any type of pursuit he had to wait for a gap in traffic and accelerate into the left-hand lane. By the time he got that far I was long gone. As I tried to clarify in post #7 he was never directly behind me.
Sure, if you’re a liar. I’m curious: in that situation, having lied to the police, if you were still ticketed and had to go to court, would you be willing to repeat the same lie to a judge?
No; if your attitude were “better safe than sorry” you wouldn’t be driving at 85 mph. I wish you had been ticketed.
There is absolutely no proof that the cop was after our OP. He could have received a call and been responding to that. Or, he could have simply been pulling back into traffic to go to another hideout, using the lights to safely get back into traffic.
Or, he might have radar’d the guy in front or Emilio and been after him.
Still, the OP was foolish for driving like he was and I doubt he “got away” that easily from the cops. I’m sure the cop was well aware that there was an exit up ahead that could be accessed easily by anyone that he pulled out after.
My impression has always been that if a state trooper wants to pull you over, then he will let you know, and if they’re not letting you know then they don’t want to pull you over. That is, they pull people over for a living, they’re very good at it, and making it hard for them isn’t going to make them change their mind about the stop. Is that not correct? I have no real experience in law enforcement, other than getting a few tickets myself.
