This is why I run a radar detector with a clear conscience...

[Super_Dave_D]

I am reading this and low and behold - they are covering this on Fox News!!! Blew my mind! They had the guy on - they ragged on him a bit too, saying it was wrong.

[Rick Lee]

Oh, the traffic court scam is a whole another highway robbery racket. I have gotten off in traffic court so many times for just showing up. And my favorite story is when the judge dismissed the entire courtroom and said she wanted to get home in time to watch Nancy Kerrigan skate (during the '94 Olympics). I am not joking! Yeah, it's all about safety and the law.

[teenerted1]

Originally posted by tsinger873
Wait until someone gets anal and requires cars to keep logs of miles and fuel purchases and you file fuel tax returns. Their wont be ways to skirt the problem areas.

i think some kind of mandatory GPS thing was on the ballot in Oregon. doubt it passed.
this from the only state out west that doesn't have a speed limit above 65mph?

[Racerbvd]

Yea, if sucks the way the FL. road nazis abuse the system, and don't forget, we have waldo, a town funded by speed traps

[Sonic dB]

Too often, the police...or some of them, seem to enjoy this game of antagonizing the public.

For example: The jackazz officer in Hermosa Beach who wrote me the ticket for honking my horn at the reckless vehicle in front of me (a ticket which I defeated by protesting with a letter/declaration to the courts).

As a taxpayer who contributed about $70,000 to the kitty last year...I should have a say in how this money is spent. Unfortunately some of it goes to stupid people, apparently.

Is the point of writing a ticket for honking a horn, to generate more revenue...or just to show who is "boss"?

And they wonder why we don't want them around, until we need them.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

If ya' want a real hoot, pull a FOIA request on your local P.D.'s response time for violent crimes in your community. In mine (five years ago) I did this and found out it was over EIGHT MINUTES for response to a violent 9-1-1 call. I'm certain it's gotten worse since, not better. Yet they can still find time to sit on their asses for hours on the roadside with a radar gun and to patrol the streets issuing $50 parking violations tickets in the residential neighborhoods. Yep. Lets you know right where the priorities are. . .

Originally posted by Sonic db:
As a taxpayer who contributed about $70,000 to the kitty last year...I should have a say in how this money is spent. Unfortunately some of it goes to stupid people, apparently.

Oh, but you DO have a say in how the money is spent - you can vote for your elected representatives, remember? (tongue jammed firmly in cheek)

Anyone that believes in the functional working of our "democracy" and this principle when such B.S. is rampant and only one small segment of government "revenue first" policies is either very naive or very stupid. Or a politician themselves.

[Racerbvd]

A few years back, someone started getting back at the FL. road nazis. They went around to where the road nazis would stake out, and dump roofing nails Cops got lots of flats

[legion]

I'd like to clear up some insurance conspiracy theories.

I interned in the actuary division of an insurance company for a year in college. (I no longer work for that company and am not an actuary so my knowledge is a little dated.) I learned some interesting things. For example, the single factor that has the highest correlation with likelihood to file a claim is credit score. Number of speeding tickets is pretty far down on the list, until you hit three speeding tickets in year. The correlation there is pretty high all of the sudden, yet still not as high as credit score.

I think there are other factors that probably have a much higher correlation with likelihood of filing a claim (because of causing an accident), like aggressive driving and left lane vigilantism, but the ONLY thing cops ever write tickets for is speeding. Therefore, it is the ONLY data insurance companies have to go on.

The insurers I have personally worked with have not done things like funding LIDAR, though GEICO is not a company I have ever worked with. One that I know awards grants for redesigning unsafe intersections...

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by teenerted1
i think some kind of mandatory GPS thing was on the ballot in Oregon. doubt it passed.
this from the only state out west that doesn't have a speed limit above 65mph?

NOT on the ballot, it was a thing people were never allowed to vote on...ordered by the Governor, who recently got re-elected. A pilot program is in place, the real deal slated to be in effect soon. Most folks here aren't even aware it's happening.

[Jims5543]

Originally posted by Racerbvd
Yea, if sucks the way the FL. road nazis abuse the system, and don't forget, we have waldo, a town funded by speed traps

I got lost looking for a hotel in Gainesville about 4 years ago. I drove past the race track and started heading East. I was towing my RX-7 so I was below the posted limit, then I saw a sign lowering it, then my V1 went off, I run it for kicks when towing I rarely exceed the limit towing. Now I knew there was a speed trap ahead, then the limit dropped again, then again, then again until it was 25 MPH. As soon as I saw all the speed limit drops I knew exactly where I was, I read about it in AAA publications and online. I was in WALDO!!!

And yes, there was a local cop sitting in the dark on the side of the road running his radar.


Porst St. Lucie, the next town North of me is notoriuos for setting up huge speed traps on roads with rediculasly (sp?) low speed limits. One 4 lane divided boulevard has a 35MPH limit while some of the 2 lane residential side roads feeding into it are 40 and 45 MPH. It makes no sense.

Until the set up their speed trap. 2 Motorcycle cops stand in the middle of the road in the divide where you can barely see them and shoot in both directions with laser.

About 17-35 Police cars are parked on the side road waiting for their next customer.

When the cops are driving this road they travel it at 55MPH+ I have clocked them, they are not racing to a call because in one direction they are heading back to their station, this is the speed they travel on the road but they fine us for driving it.

Now, my brother in law was approached in his rental apartment building parking lot by a guy who just got out of his nice Mercedes and was asked if he needed any drugs. Pot, coke, crack he had it all. My borther in law told the guy he was all set, went inside and called the Port St. Lucie Police. The guy selling drugs hund out for 30 minutes soliciting his wares to the communuty while to police took 1 hour and 15 minutes to show up.

I think I can guess where the priorities are in this town.

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by Bill Verburg
Wait till Photo radar moves in

Have heard that paintball guns work well with photo radar and red light cameras...

[Joeaksa]

Jim,

You need to get a letter writing campaign started sending things to the city council about this crap. Tell them that they can and will be replaced if they do not realize that safety in the town is a bit more important than lining the bank account.

[Rick Lee]

And all this just reinforces my belief that speed limits are arbitrary and capricious and speed enforcement is nothing but legalized mugging. I will never feel guilty about driving with the flow of traffic AND running a detector, leaving off my front plate, spraying photo blocker on my rear plate, fighting every single ticket in traffic court, etc.

[legion]

Originally posted by Sonic dB
Too often, the police...or some of them, seem to enjoy this game of antagonizing the public.

I agree. I once overheard a cop say something to another cop to the extent of: "Everyone is a perp--most we just haven't caught yet." Kind of reminds me of the old adage: "When your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."

[speeder]

I wonder if it would be illegal to stand 300 yards upstream of the jackhole in the santa suit w/ a huge sign that warns motorists about a speed trap ahead?

1st amendment and all.

[David]

One of the good things Bush did as governor of Texas was stop the small town speed traps in Texas. He put a limit on the number of tickets a town could write based on population.

This work pretty good for a while and still does in many areas. Most of these towns have learned to suggest motorists ask the judge for deferred adjudication where they pay the ticket plus an extra fee and after a set amount of time the ticket is off the record. This is good for the motorist but now it's good for the small town too since the ticket doesn't go against their limit.

This was all well and good until some small towns started charging $300 for this option. So you can avoid the ticket if you're willing to pay for the ticket plus $300.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Originally posted by Joeaksa
Have heard that paintball guns work well with photo radar and red light cameras...

So does simply walking by at 4 in the morning with a can of black spraypaint. So I've been told anyway. . . >

[Rick V]

Ok People speed ( I would never do such a thing ), Cops write speeding tickets. This is just a fact. The thing that ticks me off is when you are going down a highway and a cop is running in the left lane doing 15-20 over, no lights on just cruising. How in good concience can he write me a ticket for doing the exact same thing? I have a good cure for that one. I simply fall right in behind him, keeping a 3 second distance, and enjoy the tow. This is a fairly safe place to ride, he can't pull you for doing it, and nobody will jump in front of you. I might add the cop has no lights on. I would never drive around a cop going to an actual emergancy. My father is a cop and my brother-in-law is chief of police for one of our 4 police dept.s here, they give me all kinds of good info.

[Moses]

Originally posted by Rick V
I simply fall right in behind him, keeping a 3 second distance... he can't pull you for doing it...

Of course he can.

[Rick V]

Originally posted by Moses
Of course he can.

And why is that, if he isn't running his lights he HAS to follow the rules of the road just like the rest of us. Oh sure he can slow down and try to get behind you but as he slows so should you until the posted speed limit is reached. he can't touch you. He can't claim a "pace" since you were following him. He can try to write you but the court will throw it out and make the cop look foolish in the eyes of the judge. That isn't good for him, too many of those and the judge will have a tainted opinion of the officer.
I do this all the time, I dare a cop to pull me for doing it.