traffic stop story

[stubblejumper]

Yes, I admit I was speeding, I too was on my way to work and not technically "on patrol".

 

That is enough to convince me that you should be charged and fined for speeding.You should be setting a good example by obeying the laws that you are paid to enforce.

[bendbill]

upflying, 2 comments:

 

1--I drove 30 years on Cal freeways. Very few people--and CHP I saw--ever enforced 10 over as speeding. Ever. Ten-over in dry daylight conditions was not considered excess speed unless other factors were present.

 

2--you should have been been going exactly the speed limit so the usual harumphers could accuse you of being a by-the-book chickensh*t. Or better yet, 5 under, so they could hiss that you're a badge-heavy goon holding up traffic. Or 10 under so they could . . . well, you get the drift.

[Boone60]

upflying, 2 comments:

 

1--I drove 30 years on Cal freeways. Very few people--and CHP I saw--ever enforced 10 over as speeding. Ever. Ten-over in dry daylight conditions was not considered excess speed unless other factors were present.

 

 

If ten over is fine, not enforced, and safe, shouldn't the limit be raised by ten?

[DaveTheAffable]

..... so a ticket for driving safely at the speed limit in adverse conditions would be a cash grab-as are most speed traps. Waldo or Stark FL anyone?

 

Don't you think that's a contradiction? 50 well equipped vehicles traveling the speed limit slammed into each other here a few days ago. Even though visibility was only a few hundred feet, I guess by your standards it's perfectly acceptable for them to keep going the posted (65 mph or 70mph on that stretch of road) speed limit.

 

50 car pileup in fog...

[Dave McReynolds]

upflying, 2 comments:

 

1--I drove 30 years on Cal freeways. Very few people--and CHP I saw--ever enforced 10 over as speeding. Ever. Ten-over in dry daylight conditions was not considered excess speed unless other factors were present.

 

 

If ten over is fine, not enforced, and safe, shouldn't the limit be raised by ten?

 

That's fine to say, but what if the limit is not raised by ten, due to political gridlock, the same as so many other things that ought to be changed under the law? When the political system that ought to be helping us turns out to be dysfunctional, people have learn to cope in other ways.

 

And before you say that it's just me and a few like-minded maniacs who are dysfunctional rather than the system, read the posts again about what's really happening. It started with a post by a LEO who was traveling at what he knew was the defacto, as opposed to the posted, speed limit. He knew this because he had patrolled that same highway for years with thousands of other motorists and many other LEOs behaving in the same way. Clearly a situation where the law should change to accomodate reality, the same as it has for marijuana (what! did I say that! ), but it won't change, so people make accomodations around it.

[jasonTDI]

Yes, I admit I was speeding, I too was on my way to work and not technically "on patrol".

 

That is enough to convince me that you should be charged and fined for speeding.You should be setting a good example by obeying the laws that you are paid to enforce.

 

Yeah by impeading traffic flow....THAT causes pissed off drivers and THAT causes FAR more accidents.

[upflying]

And if posted limits were raised to 75 mph, the defacto speed limit would be 85 mph.

With politics the way they are right now, I wouldn't be surprised to see the return of the nationwide double-nickle. All in the interest of fuel savings and preservation of the planet of course.

[stubblejumper]

If ten over is fine, not enforced, and safe, shouldn't the limit be raised by ten?

 

Exactly.Raise the limit,then deal with the offenders.The job of the police is to enforce the laws that are written,not to make up their own as they go.

[upflying]

If ten over is fine, not enforced, and safe, shouldn't the limit be raised by ten?

 

Exactly.Raise the limit,then deal with the offenders.The job of the police is to enforce the laws that are written,not to make up their own as they go.

 

On this topic, are there any Texas LEO's out there. As I recall there is a section of I10 between El Paso and San Antonio where the limit is 80 mph if I recall correctly. How does the Texas DPS handle speed violations on this stretch of I10? Is 81 mph ticket time? Or do they give you a fudge factor of 10 over and start writing only at 90 mph?

[4wheeldog]

Yes, I admit I was speeding, I too was on my way to work and not technically "on patrol".

 

That is enough to convince me that you should be charged and fined for speeding.You should be setting a good example by obeying the laws that you are paid to enforce.

 

California ain't Canada by a long shot. My BIL, who lives on an island in Washington, while visiting SoCal, got told over the loudspeaker twice in one day by the CHP to "Get going or park it". He felt he was going the limit......In the slow lane.........But he was obviously holding up traffic.

 

Traffic studies have repeatedly shown that most people will travel the fastest safe speed regardless of the legal speed limit. Do what you want at home, but pick up the pace down in California.

 

I now live in New Mexico. Most folks travel at the limit (75) or plus five on the upper end. I have to give myself a syringe full of adrenaline to keep up when I visit back in my native state. And the roads are in far better shape here, by the way.

[stubblejumper]

California ain't Canada by a long shot

 

For that I am very thankful.I have no problems with people driving safely at any speed,as long as they realize that they could be ticketed for doing so.My issue is with police officers that make up excuses to flaunt the very laws that they are paid to uphold.

[Deek]

"...If driving the speed limit creates a danger, then the limit either needs to be raised or a better means of enforcement needs to be implemented..."

 

Roger that!

[PBee]

Bob, you got an interesting thread going here and now I've got to throw two of my experiences with "Officer Discretion".

 

Back in the late 60s I was moving my family in Southern California up to Washington state and that many of my belongings packed in a U-Haul trailer I was towing with my car. Back then the speed limit for a car towing a trailer was the same as for trucks, 10 mph below the car speed limit. For the first few hours I was adhering to the truck speed limit but as time went on I simply forgot about the truck speed limit and unconsciously increased my speed to the car speed limit. Eventually I passed a CHP, (this is on a 4 Lane Hwy.), he's doing 55 mph, the truck speed limit, and I'm doing 65 mph, the car speed limit. As I exited the highway going into Sacramento to look for a hotel I noticed the CHP exiting behind me. Yup he pulled me over and issued me a reward for going 10 mph over the speed limit, in his mind-deserved it. No, I did not give him any lip.

 

A couple days later I was on my way back to the LA area, without the trailer in tow, to get the remainder of my furnishings and, admittedly, was it just a little bit of hurry. I literally did have the pedal to the metal with the needle pegged all the way around back to zero. All of a sudden I saw this bubble blanket in my rear view mirror, I have no idea where he came from but, by golly, the CHP really got me this time and I knew I was in deep yogurt not only because I was speeding but also I hadn't bothered to renew my expired license tabs.

 

CHP Officer: “Do you know how fast you were going?”

Me: “No sir I don't.” (This was an honest answer I just didn't bother to expand by saying something like, "perhaps over 100 mph").

CHP Officer: “I don't either; I only know I've been chasing you for over 5 miles just trying to catch up. Let me see your registration.” Okay, now what do I do, admit I don't have a current registration? Nope not yet so I fumbled through my glove box until I find my previous years registration.

Me: “This is the only one I can find, sir.”

CHP Officer: “Come on back to my car with me.” (Is he going to cuff me now or later?) As I sit in the front seats with him he radio's Sacramento with my license plate number and confirms the car is actually mine.

CHP Officer: “Since I wasn't able to pace you and don't know how fast you were really driving do you think that ticket for 80 mph would be fair?”

Me: (With a surprise and relieved look on my face), “Yes sir I do believe that would be fair.”

CHP Officer: (With a big grin on his face), “The next time you're in such a big hurry coming through this area do it between midnight and 8 AM, we're not patrolling then unless we're called out to an accident.”

 

[SWB]

With politics the way they are right now, I wouldn't be surprised to see the return of the nationwide double-nickle. All in the interest of fuel savings and preservation of the planet of course.

 

That's a great point, Bob! I can really get behind this too.

 

If we really want to be patriotic, rather than 55mph we ought to make it 45mph max speed limit nationwide -imagine how much fuel that would save America and the kind of "lower carbon footprint" it would create! And we could mandate installation of electronic monitors in all vehicles to automatically transmit any violations, raise ticket penalties to $1000 per violation, and guarantee near-universal compliance. Paying for the administration of this would be a breeze - just increase the tax on gasoline enough to get gas up to $10.00 a gallon. (Don't worry; any extra $$ collected over admin costs can go to "paying down" the National debt.)

 

All of this would REALLY make America the world's best friend. Man, I think I could find a job in Washington to help implement all of this too. Except, it's kind of crowded there with other nuts right now.

 

sarcasm>

 

(sometime's ya just gotta laugh a little so that you don't cry so much ...)

[BailyD]

With 5 to 10 over an officer might be taking into consideration differences in speedo readings on various cars.

 

When is the last time the average citizen had their speedo calibrated? Another idea is you might want to spend your time going after the faster, more dangerous drivers, rather than stopping a car for a few over while drivers whiz by at much faster speeds.

 

The idea of consistency is a nice one but no one would wants the patrol car driving at the exact speed limit in front of them for miles on end.

 

Using discretion allows the officer to stop the driver who knows he/she is speeding rather the person who drifted over the limit by 5/10 while (going down hill, talking to a passenger, getting ahead to move right to allow the tailgater past....)

 

There is the letter of the law and the spirit of the law.

[skinny_tom (aka boney)]

Yes, I admit I was speeding, I too was on my way to work and not technically "on patrol".

 

That is enough to convince me that you should be charged and fined for speeding.You should be setting a good example by obeying the laws that you are paid to enforce.

 

If you lived in Califonia and dealt with what we do here it wouldn't.

[skinny_tom (aka boney)]

This is one reason I reject being called a criminal for excessive speed, or speed being the primary focus of traffic enforcement. "Figures lie and liars figure" goes the saying, but while speed is almost certainly a factor in the majority of accidents, that is only so because traffic speeds are set slower than the roads are engineered for due to legal and political considerations. Almost everyone is speeding, so excessive speed is a coincidental factor in every accident, but that doesn't prove it's "the" cause.

 

Speed is a factor in EVERY accident. If you're moving fast enough to bump into another car, you're going too fast.

[lopaca]

 

Speed is a factor in EVERY accident. If you're moving fast enough to bump into another car, you're going too fast.

 

...and or following too close!

[smiller]

On this topic, are there any Texas LEO's out there. As I recall there is a section of I10 between El Paso and San Antonio where the limit is 80 mph if I recall correctly. How does the Texas DPS handle speed violations on this stretch of I10? Is 81 mph ticket time? Or do they give you a fudge factor of 10 over and start writing only at 90 mph?

I'm sure to find out one of these days and will let you know...