On Easter Sunday, with about 125 miles on Big Bird, I drove the wife and two kids to the in-laws for dinner and to show off the new car. No problems, had a great time, and everyone LOVED the yellow paint.

This morning my wife called me from work (she works with security in our town's high school), and she said that she was chatting with a town cop. He was talking about a speed trap he had set up on Easter Sunday, and how he clocked a new yellow Mustang at 42 mph in a 25 mph zone. He claimed he considered pulling the car over, but didn't because it was Easter, and he was basically only pulling over cars that were doubling the speed limit. Before he went any further with the story, my wife told him that was our car. Then, in a friendly way, he gave us a warning that the town cops are aware the new Mustang is in town, and they're keeping an eye on it. :notnice:

I think the cop was just embellishing the story, however, because there's no way I was going 42 in a 25 zone. I saw him on the side of the road with his radar gun, and looked at the speedo, and I was going just under 35.

I'm a little ticked off now, but as long as I don't get any unwarranted tickets, then I guess I have to expect a little extra attention. Ford doesn't call it Screaming Yellow for nothing.

 

I think you would have noticed if you were going that much over the speed limit. I know I have to watch my back because everyone and their brother looks at my car, especially the cops. I get followed everywhere and ever since I got my car they setup speed traps a few times a week on a road I take to work. They never did that before, buggers. Oh well, I honk and wave at them as I pass on by. Can't give me a ticket for that.

 

the best way to not get a ticket when you see a speed trap or a cop coming the other direction is not to hit the brakes.

I had a motorcycle cop move to the yellow line and litteral turn his head and watch me go by (doing 65+ in a 55). I just turned off my cruise control and let it glide down to 58, reset the c.c. He never followed me.

I was told that's what they look for. the diving of the front end and the brake lights lighting up.

 

Thanks for the pointer good to know!!

 

I agree with that. If I ever pass a cop or see a cop coming opposite of me, I will lightly put the brakes on until right before I pass him and then I let off the brakes so that he never sees my brake lights on. If he sees your brake lights (or sees the front of your car going down because you are braking), it's basically like you are admitting guilt. I have been speeding for 10 years now and have only gotten one ticket (many years ago before I had a radar detector). I always go at least 10-15 over. As long as you keep your eyes open and have a good radar detector you should be fine.

Back on topic... as far as the cop saying 42... I don't see why he would make up 42. I could see him rounding up to 40, but why the number 42? I think it may have just been that his radar gun was off. It seems like you live in a small town, by reading your post. I'm sure the cops in smaller towns don't get their radar guns calibrated as often as they probably should, or like cops would in a bigger city. If he had stopped you, you could have found out the info on when the gun was calibrated last and would have probably got off.

 

Ya, my police buddies always tell me to use the calibration trick. Unfortunately the 1 time I did get pulled over in my Jeep I said, when was the last time it was calibrated. The cop showed me a slip that showed it was calibrated that morning. Drat!

 

Does the message center have the features like digital speedometer??? Most of them are calibrated a little high. The SVTF is about 3mph high by the dial, it even says somewhere that the 'actual' speed is hidden in the digital odometer. If I go through the cycles to toggle it on, lo and behold it is about 3-4mph higher then actual over 40mph.

 

Dang, that stinks. I guess he got you there. :cop2:

 

acadian,

I remember on ticket I got on my motorcycle (1978 Yamaha XS1100). I was riding home from work on the road out front. It was 45 mph zone. Right when the police office hit his lights, I checked my speed (54 indicatred, which worked out to about 53 mph as that bike always read a bit fast). When the officer pulled me over, he told me that I was doing 65 in a 45! There was no way in heck that I was going 65. It didn't agree with the speedo and it didn't agree with the wind blast (if you can't guestimate your speed within a few mph on a motorcycle, you shouldn't be riding one...) I then told him there was three possible explinations for this discrepency:

1) Your radar gun is out of calibration
2) You don't know how to run it
3) Your a crooked cop.

And then I asked him which one it was. The bastard. And just for the record, he already had the ticked 90% filled out before he ever came up to the bike. Stangely enough, it was farily late at night on the last day of the month. Quotas anyone? Also, he did write the ticket for 55 in a 45 as well.

Now that I think about it, in the three times I have been pulled over for speeding, not ONCE did the cop actually have my true speed. The speed they quoted was ALWAYS at least 5 mph and once 10 mph faster than I was going. You would think that if it was random error that the quoted speed would be slower than actual speed occasionally... And yes, I always calibrate my speedometers, so I always know my true speed vs indicated speed.

I won't even go into the time a cop pulled me over at 2:30am on a Sunday morning (just after the bars would have been let out..) and said he pulled me over because I was "Swerving all over the road". I don't drink. I was stone sober. The car I had at the time tracked perfectly. I once drove it for over a mile down a straight road without touching the wheel and without going outside the lines. He was fishing for some drunk going home from a bar. And I'm supposted to automatically "respect" the law????

 

I totally hear you. There are definitely crooked cops out there. And it seems like all of them work traffic detail. Here in Lousiana (New Orleans to be exact) we had a huge quota problem a couple years ago. It's still going on there. Luckily though, I moved outside the city and the cops here are much more laid back. A deputy I know said that they can't even chase anyone here. They are insane about school zones though, and I never speed in a school zone. But everywhere else, speeding tickets are the last thing on a cop's mind. I don't think I've ever seen a speed trap or even a cop who pulled someone over for speeding.

 

A little legal help...

As an attorney, it's amazing what games cops play.

How many of you have the cop come up to the window and say, "License and registration please...do you know why I stopped you?"

If you respond yes, that is an admission that can be used against you in court. You will lose automatically on that statement alone.

"How fast were you going back there?"

That's a tough question. You don't want to admit if you were going fast, and you don't want to say "I don't know." Both would again be an admission and you'd lose your case for sure. The best response, in my opinion, is "The speed limit."

Also, never argue, answer the officer's questions with answers that are short and to the point. Most people don't know, but officers make notes on the back of their copy of the ticket, right after you leave.

Don't give them anything to write, make the traffic stop as unmemorable as possible. Then, when you get a court date, ask for as many continuances as possible. If you can get your court date 4-5 months from the incident, the officer will have literally written thousands of tickets since then. His memory will be clouded, and he will not be completely sure about what exactly happened.

In my opinion, never ask the calibration questions on the side of the road. Take the ticket and go to court. Nolo Press makes an excellent book on how to beat a traffic ticket, there are a lot of procedural tricks, such as subpoenas for reports and documents, that the police must comply with, if you ask. If they don't, the case can be dismissed!!!

I also have some good tips on beating photo red light cameras, but that's for another post!!!

Fly low and fast, but always below the radar!

 

man. that is some good advice sam

 

Both times I was pulled over it occured just after I saw the cop and tapped my breaks. The second my break lights lit up the cops lights flipped on. Both times they got my speed exact though but fortunately only one issued a ticket (which is good because I was going 35 in a school zone before school and that would have killed me but I was let off with a warning).

I can also vouch that there is no "quota" thing that so many people think the cops are out to get by the end of the month. Quota's would in itself lead to crooked cops trying to get certain numbers and hitting up anyone with even the smallest problem. I have many friends in the local Sheriff's Department and City PD and all of them have stated that there is no such thing primarily for the reason stated above.

The logic some of my officer friends use for pulling cars over is either 10mph+ over the speed limit or twice the limit. Usually if you are 10 or under they don't nail you unless you ride your breaks when they roll up behind you. In mosts cases 5 or less they don't care about. There is no quota but all my friends like to write the big fat juicy ticket.

 

Apparently the quota thing varies state to state. I have Trooper friends here who say it does indeed exist.

 

I have family members who are police officers, whom I have asked about quotas. There reply is something as follows:

There is no Quotas. However, if you are assigned to traffic, and you come in at the end of your shift, and show too few tickets, the supervisor is going to ask you what it was you were doing all day. He is then going to encourge you to have a more productive day tommorow.

 

Good points! One more thing, know what you are up against. One of my friends called recently to say he'd gotten pulled over and wanted some advice from my hubby who is the County (District) Attorney. He said he'd been written up for 80 in a 65, and wanted to know if he should plead guilty and take traffic school or fight it. Out here in the great open West, you can pretty much do that speed on the road he mentioned. When I asked my hubby what he should do, he asked me a lot of questions about the incident. Where was it, who pulled him over, what time of day, etc... It turns out that my friend is boned because it was a Department of Public Safety officer. He said that the officer, who is from Yuma (about 90 miles away in a different county) was out in our area for DUI enforcement. He probably wrote a lot of tickets that day, so he will show up to court. DPS guys always come to court prepared. He will have his radar callibration certificate, he will have the information of when the last time it was tuned, he will present his case matter of fact and so trying to drag the case out won't work well in this situation. It will make the judge mad, and if you go to court and try to fight it traffic school is taken off the table. My hubby said if it was a town cop, or a sheriff department guy, that trying to drag it out might work better, but not in this case. Point is, do some checking to see what the best options are in your area.

BTW, no quotta's here either.

 

The quota thing does vary from state to state, or actually city to city. There was definitely a quota in New Orleans, and probably still is, although nobody will admit it now. But years ago, there was a big issue with quotas because N.O. had them, and people wanted them gone. It really depends on where you are. Just because they don't have them where you live doesn't mean every police department doesn't have them. Quotas are wrong IMO, and should be done away with. But speeding tickets are big business for some cities.

 

There is an inappropriate/ illegal use of horn ticket you can get, dont ask me how i know that.

 

Dallas had a quota system. They even tried to get a legal quota system by naming it something else.

And if there are no quota systems, why do I see more cops and traps near the end of the month? I'm a pretty obervant fellow, and I always see the disgusting practice of cop-on-bridge-with-radar-to-radio-the-ten-cops-on-the-on-ramp-to-pursue near the end of the month.

 

I read this with great interest just before leaving for work this morning. There's a motorcycle cop that sits at the end of a street near me and radar's cars on the expressway. He get's a lot of speeders. Everytime I go by I give him a , if for no other reason than respect and to stay on his good side.

He was there this morning so I gave him the , he smiled and said "Nice Car!". I told him I was going to drive around the block and asked if he'd clock me and tell me what he reads so I could get an idea of his read and my speed-o. He smiled and told me to do it twice at different speeds. Speed limit on the road is 45. First pass my speedo read 45-46.........2nd pass; 50. I drove around and asked him and he read 46 and 51. I'm comfortable with that. Nice guy. (wonder if he'd let me do 80 for a 3rd read?) :scratch: