Getting ticketed

[Book Lover]

A thread over in the Lounge prompted me to think about this: I have never gotten out of a ticket, once pulled over. Every time I've been pulled over, though, it's been for speeding. Anyone else have better luck than me?

[DelawareValleyDem]

1. Never gotten out on the spot

Once got a completley bogus 'No Insurance' ticket which I fought in court and won. Since then, I've fought every ticket I've gotten. Win some, lose some.

[Blue_Tires]

2. lol...i think it's only the cute ladies or famous people

that can actually talk their way out of a ticket...usually, when i go to court, i get out of them (but NOT since they started using those blasted cameras!)

[Book Lover]

3. But I'm a cute lady!

Maybe I just get the assholes...

[democracyindanger]

4. A couple times

I'm not a celebrity or a pretty girl, either. I pull over right away, and my attitude is one of, "You got me, fair and square." Got let go twice with a warning, and once I was doing 85, but the cop wrote it out as 76 so I could go to traffic school. A pleasant attitude goes a long way.

[HamstersFromHell]

5. You nailed it exactly!

Cops are so used to hearing all the bullsh!t from indignant drivers that when they enounter one who just let him/her do their job it take 'em totally out of their "mind set".

Note: I got in a huge flame fest here on DU some time back with some of the "safety nazi" types for telling this story in the lounge, but I'll repeat it anyway.

Used to work as a H-D mechanic in a small town about 20 miles south of the town I lived in. Therefore I had a nice ride each day on a two-lane well paved mostly straight line road through farm country. Since I was a mech. at the dealership, it's cost on goodies, so I built a nice 98 cu. in. stroker with the best of the best of everything. Not a rice rocket by any means, but one fast Harley.

Upon completing the 500 mile breakin, I changed oil at the shop and headed home. Now that I can open it up, it's time to check the jetting for the carb. Of course, only way to check jetting is to open it up all the way and let it roar for a bit, and listen for pinging or other symptoms of being too lean or rich.

I passed out of the last of town and crossed the creek and opened it up. Unbeknownst to me, there was a State Trooper parked in between two semi-trailers in an open parking lot about a mile past the bridge. When I passed him I was already slowly rolling out of it, and about another mile down the road I was maybe doing 70 when he topped the hill behind me with headlights on. (Before the days of DRLs, so I knew it must be a cop.)

I chopped it down to 55 and was cruising when he blue lighted me. I pulled over, cut the bike off, took off helmet and got off the bike, arms in the air and a bit of a smile on my face as he was getting out of the patrol car.

I told him "You caught me dead to rights, so let's make this pleasant for both of us as possible". He asked me "I just can't wait to hear your excuse." I told him I had no excuse other than this was a new engine and I had to check jetting at least once to make sure I wasn't gonna burn the engine up. He then asked "Do you know how fast you were going?", to which I replied that I had no idea, the speedo only went to 85 and I had pegged it all the way around to the zero stop. (Why lie? He already knows, obviously.)

He told me I clocked you at 119 in a 55. (Damn, better than I thought and I was slowing down when I passed him, I found out later once he told me where he was parked.)

But I guess my "no lie" and "you got me" attitude softened him up. He ran me and my bike through, we came up clean, then we talked bikes for about 20 minutes. He then got in his car and came back with my ticket. He'd written me for 64 in a 55. (No points for less than 10 over.) He then advised me to go to court.

I went to court a few weeks later and the judge was tossing maximum fines out to everyone. Figured I was gonna get the shaft too. Clerk called me, judge asked me how I plead. I told him "guilty" and was set to take my medicine. The Trooper then stood up and asked to address the court. He told the judge that I even though I was speeding, I was a model of a polite, intelligent motorist and he'd ask the judge on my behalf to fine accordingly. Judge fined me court cost only. I freaked. Nothing from a Trooper is less than $100 (ex-wife's muffler ticket from a trooper cost me $120) and I was walking for $35. Bailiff escorted me to the cashier and exclaimed "I don't know how you got off so easy." I told him "Buddy, you don't know half of it!"

Attitude is *everything* with a cop. They expect a smartass and when it doesn't appear, it takes 'em right out of their stance. Yeah, I broke the law, he's doing his job. We cooperate and maybe we both have a better day. It's gotten me out of that one above, and one more "slightly more serious" charge. (20 mph over written for loud mufflers.)

Play nice and admit it when you get nailed. Never know what good might happen, it's not like you're gonna lie you way out of it and copping an attitude gets you nowhere fast.

Drive safe!

Hammies!

[Longhorn]

6. I got stopped recently going about 80 in a 65 on a rural Texas highway

by a DPS officer. I also had an expired insurance certificate (by about ten days) -- the insurance was in place but I just didn't have the new certificate in the car.

He asked me if I knew I was speeding and I said, "Not until I saw you." We were both polite. I was shocked when he gave me a warning on the speeding ticket and told me how I could send in a copy of the certificate to get the insurance ticket dropped.

On the back of my car at the time, I had a couple of USMC yellow magnets (my son is a Marine,) a "I hear there's rumors on the Internets" sticker, and a "Slash-W" sticker. I don't get tickets that often but this is the first time I've ever gotten away with just a warning. :shrug:

[onager]

7. Longhorn, was that in the Saleen Mustang?

Heck, I'm surprised he didn't nail you just for the car!

One of my favorite ticket stories: I live in Los Angeles but grew up in South Carolina. I had an annoying business trip to make to Georgia and then Washington, DC, and decided to stop off and see my Mom. Planned to rent a car in Atlanta and drive up to DC, then fly home to L.A.

Well, guess what those assholes at Hertz in Atlanta did to me? They gave me a rental car with NEW YORK license plates!

Jebus! I might as well have strapped a neon sign to the roof saying "Please Stop Me."

Amazingly, I got thru the first part of the trip with no hassle.

Then after visiting Mom, I got on I-85 North.

I was nearly to King's Mountain...the damn STATE LINE...when the South Carolina Highway Patrol nailed me. (And not without reason--I was running late, it was pouring rain, and I was driving like a bat outta Crawford.)

Fortunately, I still have a deep Southern accent, so I convinced Barney Fife that I wasn't really a DamnYankee from New York.

We had a pleasant chat, and I dropped the name of my nice and most attractive unmarried aunt who worked for the SC State Highway Dept.

By gosh, he knew her! Then he allowed that we might even be kinfolks, since he had relatives in my old home place...as he finished writing me a ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR speeding ticket.

As he walked off, I was muttering: "No, we're not related, my side of the family didn't canoodle with the cousins...@#$%$@#@!!!"

[Longhorn]

8. Yes, it was.

When we made the same trip the year before, we got stopped just south of Lubbock but not for speeding -- for not having the license plate displayed in the front. She gave me a warning. I'm pretty sure she stopped us because of the car, though. I can imagine her surprise when it turned out to be a couple of old farts listening to jazz! :D

Because of the Saleen body style, it's not easy to attach the front license plate but my husband figured out a way to attach it in that recessed area, though it still isn't very visible. (License isn't attached in this photo.)