Got pulled over this morning . . .

[widebody911]

Originally posted by Jamie79SC
[BYou have to ask yourself why these traffic court judges have made such a horrible boring job for themselves. [/B]

Traffic court is probably something they get punished with.

[DavidI]

SoCal Jeff, when do you want to go on a ride along? You will have a blast. Jack Olson went out with me and we had a good time.

David

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally posted by Jamie79SC
Jeff,

Get ready for a first:

I agree absolutly with your observation of traffic court. It doesn't matter how lame or valid your case is, the verdict is the same - reduced fine, pay the bailif...

You have to ask yourself why these traffic court judges have made such a horrible boring job for themselves.

I bet their wives are proud of them though. I wonder if there is some bizzar system by which they get rated or ranked based on conviction rates or something. Maybe part of it is that they see the same cops all the time and have formed some kind of relationship with them, making them reluctant to tell their "friends" they don't have a case.

At any rate, it is an axiom that people perform to their measures. In the case of the Kittitas County Court, the traffic judge has set the bar so low concerning an officer's testimony, verbal or written, that the officers just don't have to put much into it. The officers' written report is no more than a single page with some boxes to check, mimicking the ticket almost exactly. I could fill out these "reports" given a stack of them and the tickets that needed to be recorded without even having been at the stop. I wouldn't be surprised if some clerk does that and simply has the officers sign their stack.

The bigger issue here is, how did we let it get this way? These are OUR courts are they not? How did we let such a lazy and corrupt system get a foothold? I understand (I think) the difference between a "civil" and "criminal" infraction and the corresponding rules of evidence. It has finally reached the point, however, that it would seem no evidence is required at all. Just the officers' word. We, as citizens, are supposed to have protections against authorities that would treat us this way. Why don't we in traffic court? And where are the white wigs for those corrupt and lazy bastards?

[Don Plumley]

Earlier this year, my son (14 then) and I were on a road trip back from Chicago in our new Cooper S. After dinner we were cruising on a two lane in the middle of Kansas. I just passed a group of cars (man, that Mini has accelleration), and in the other direction, I see a car signal left, veer right, then cross behind me. Looks like this:



No kidding, I have not been pulled over since 1985.

I say to my son, "Great learning experience coming. Be calm, leave your hands in your lap, pay attention to the old man."

I roll down the window, leave my hands on the steering wheel. Dialogue goes like this:

Officer: Do you know how fast you were going?

Me: No sir. I was watching the tachometer. I just picked this car up yesterday in Chicago, and was following the break-in procedure and not holding it steady at one rpm.

Officer: Oh. I had you at 69 in a 55. May I see your license and registration?

Me: Yes sir. I am going to take my hand off the steering wheel and reach into my rear pocket, okay?

I do so.

Me: Officer, as the car is brand new, I don't yet have the registration, but I have papers from the dealership. I am going to reach into my backpack behnd me and take the file out, okay?

I do so.

He asks a couple of questions, and as he walks back to his car, I say out loud to my son, "I think I just closed the deal."

Officer walks back, and says, "Well sir, I'm going to give you a warning tonight. Please drive through Kansas a little slower and be safe."

And I did. Good lesson for both of us in terms of taking the anxiety out of the officer, being polite, non-confrontational, and honest.

Don

[bryanthompson]

Good lesson for both of us in terms of taking the anxiety out of the officer, being polite, non-confrontational, and honest.

I've posted this before... I always immediately turn the dome light on, turn the car off, turn hazards on, put both hands on the wheel. From then on, it's all yes sir, no sir, and I tell him what I'm reaching for every step of the way.

I was pulled over for rolling through a stop sign (I was in a group of about 30 cars leaving a gathering of honors students at 3am), and my girlfriend was in the passenger seat. I went through my whole procedure and as the officer was walking up to the car, she took off her coat and started pushing it into the back seat! I was like, nonononononoo, don't move! It's all about making the officer feel comfortable. They can be the biggest ass in the world... but they never know if the car they are appraoching is going to take off or pull out a gun.

[Hugh R]

When I was 14 in Tennesse, almost 40 years ago, I got a speeding ticket for doing 70 on my Honda 50 (5 hp and less you could get a license at 14). I went to court and told the judge that it was impossible because the bike wouldn't do 70. The judge asked if the bike was there and he said (with dozens of people in traffic court) "Well, let's just find out" They had a cop get on the bike and drive up the road about a mile and open it wide up and he raced by the radar at 66 mph. Ticket dismissed.

[island911]

hmmm, so no tickets from the cycle cop w/o a seatbelt . . w/o a front plate.

Seems kinda tough to preach seatbelt safety from a motorcycle.


.. .of course we all know what its about.

[Icemaster]

It's called "revenue" these days....

[legion]

Bryan, Don, I'm nothing but courteous to police officers. I still always get the ticket...

[Rikao4]

Did the same dance recently (like Jeff) after sitting for hours.got tiresome.. the no insurance tickett are the best, they drove to court with NO insurance,don't have any money= judge giving them an extension to drive another 90 days to get insurance ..me "I want to pay the fine! puzzled look by the dweebs..you want to pay?.nobody pays, ah what to do? ..get the Man..you want to pay? YES! get the JUDGE..who tells me this is unusual..just tell me where and how much...got probation 60 days and 100 bucks to somebody..wasted day..reinforced my opinion of traffic court system.
well I'm of to speed again.
Rika

[Jims5543]

Originally posted by Shaun 84 Targa
I was pulled over earlier this year for doing 100 in a 55 and racing another 911. Reality was I wasn't. A 996 did pass me very fast, and I did make a lame attempt to catch up with him, but there was too much traffic, I hit 75 or so before slowing down to traffic speed. $375 fine. When the officer pulled me over, with the other 911 who had gotten caught up in heavy traffic some 10 miles down the road, I was doing 55 at most. He said someone called in that 2 red Porsche's were racing. He asking me how fast my car could go. He gave me the ticket for doing 100.

Went to court, must have been 200 people there and I was sure I would be called last. First person was called. No show. Next person was called, I went up to the bench, an officer who looked exactly like the one who pulled me over was conferring with the judge. the judge asked if I was racing another Porsche. I said no. He said "dismissed" and told me to slow down.

I went home.

Why do people feel the need to drop a dime on a couple of guys speeding? This happened to me and a friend one night.

We were in our RX-7's heading back home from somewhere, I cannot remember now. We decided to open them up about 4 miles from our exit. We hit about 130-140 not sure but we were moving. It was about 11 at night, we were on a 3 lane interstate pin straight, a few cars on the road mostly in the right lane. We let off, which with the RX-7's results in 5 foot flames out the exaust for about 10 seconds.

We get off our exit and have this moron in a Camaro trying to run us off the road. He pulls up next to me and acts like he is flashing his badge while talking on his cell phone.

I took off.... fast, and ducked into a subdivision and lost him. My friend, who's father is a cop, calle dthe police and reported the moron in the Camaro as a road rager trying to run us off the road.

We went home incident free.

I have also heard truckers will report you to the cops for speeding.


Ticket Clinics,

I used one for an airplane ticket. I was pulled over in my MINI on a desolate road for doing 64 in a 50. I had a hambrger in one hand a drink in the other and fries between my legs. We picked up lunch in the last town we passed through. I was driving with my knee and was not speeding.

The Trooper asked me how fast I was going FOUR TIMES. Then finally gave me the 64 ticket. I hired the Ticket Clinic and they went to court and pleaded NO CONTEST!! I was outraged! I demanded to speak to the counsel and was blown off.

I will fight my own tickets from now on.

[Seeeu911]

I used to travel a lot for a national retailer, supervising a local crew who did server installs in new stores.
They always booked my hotel, usually next to the location we would work out of. I like to fly 1st class and usually travel nicely dressed as it always helps the ticket folks feel good about bumping up a business man ... Safe late night flight….I get in my rental car follow the map and rive to the client site to check it out, then to the hotel. Its about mid night and I pull into the hotel lot and there are prolly 10 cop cars lights on and door open and guys with guns in hand and people on the ground. I stopped, looked around and realized that I had actually pulled in to the wrong hotel; I looked up the street and then saw the correct hotel sign a few hundred yards away.
I put the car in reverse and backed out of the hotel and then drove away into the correct hotel lot.
I get less than 10 feet into the correct hotel lot and then the car is blocked front and side by two police cars both officers jump out and are waving guns. The one closest to me is in the classic Weaver stance with light and very very serious, he yells at me to exit so I do... hands up and moving very very slowly…then the cop in front of me starts yelling ! I mean screaming at me to get down get down...the first cop is now yelling don’t move don’t move..WTF I am thinking. The second cop is very very nervous shaking, a single handed grip, while he is fumbling for his belt...I begin to get really scared. The second cop is now behind me and then I am face down in the snowy slushy water
I am cuffed and then forced to kneel now wet and dirty in snow/water as my car is uncremeonsusly emptied. As I try to speak the second nervous cop is in my face waving the gun...I am still kneeling in the snow..and then they tell me we got you now smoky we got you now. To make a long story short I am kept kneeling for more than 30 minutes until finally the rentalcar/florida DL/ airplane ticket make sense to them. They fnaly understand I am not a fleeing drug dealer named smokey…I explain again and again who and why I am there. As they uncuff me and begin to calm down I am furious and demand a supervisor and watch commander. The whole thing including adamant refusal by both officers (white) to apologize to me (black) and the trying to be soothing watch commander (black) takes about 1 hour to sort out.

To add insult to injury the hotel management who has been watching the whole thing from behind the front door REFUSES to honor my reservation. Claming they are booked full.

Fast forward 3 months, 2 lawsuits settled out of court with police dept and hotel. The terms of the settlements prohibit naming names and terms, however: I new Ducati and equally expensive earrings for my wife I still will not fly into that town.