Phantom Speeding Ticket

[viperct2001]

Thought I'd share my story on getting pulled over today by the police for no apparent reason - other than the fact that I was driving a Dodge Viper.

Check it out:
VoIP Blog-Phantom Speeding Ticket

 

[1TONY1]

Just be glad he wasn't a [******] and gave you a ticket based on how fast it "looked" like you were going.

 

[CitySnake]

Hard to judge based solely on your account, but couldn't you have been pulled over because they were concerned your car was stolen? I'm not suggesting that cops "do it right" all the time (or even most of the time for that matter), but I don't see why you're so upset.

Alternative interpretations of your accounting immediately come to mind. Is it not possible that this "back dirt road" is used by car thieves? If the cop was near the intersection as you believe, wouldn't your "speeding" through the intersection DRAW his attention as if you were a thief (he figuring that you also saw him and were making a run for it)? If your Viper WAS stolen, wouldn't you be pleased that they were checking?

Seems to me from my VERY limited vantage point that your use of the "dirt road" in and of itself is "incriminating". I've had some VERY irritating police "stops", but those were far more unsubstantiated than this (how about for no seat belt when it was actually on and then how it was illegal to be secured from the "inside"!!!).

Anyway, IMO, both you and your Viper would be far better off taking the "long" way to your office on paved roads. Good to see that, ultimately, only your time was violated.

 

[viperct2001]

CitySnake - an alternative viewpoint is always appreciated.

To answer your theory, no this dirt road is not used by car thieves. It's a 1/3 mile straight narrow dirt road that has a river on one side and houses on the other - so it is a neighborhood with driveways. There are plenty of cars that travel the short dirt road. It's not "isolated" at all and it meets up with a fairly major back road that then joins 2 miles later with a major road.

Like I said, I didn't accelerate that hard through the intersection. What I neglected to mention in my account is that it's a very SHORT intersection with bushes on the opposite side as well obstructing the viewpoint from where the officer was located. So the officer only had maybe 1 second of seeing my car go across - not nearly enough time to judge how fast I was going. Which wasn't fast at all mind you.

In order for him to even think I was going fast through the intersection I would have had to "chirp" or "squeal" the tires. I did not squeal or chirp them. A stock Viper is fast, but in 1 second from a dead stop, I could not have been going faster than 30MPH. (also, my tires are stock originals with 17,000 miles on them - so they are less sticky and more apt to spin if I was going too fast. Plus they had dirt/gravel on them from the dirt road which would have caused wheel spin if I hit the gas too hard)

So I'm sorry, but I wasn't accelerating that hard.

There's no way he should have even thought I was going to fast.

Also, I just remembered that he told me "We have you on record now so if you get pulled over again you won't get off with a warning."

Ok, so the next time I get pulled over for "not speeding" they're going to write me up because I already had my "one warning"?

What the f- is that?

 

[CitySnake]

Well, as I mentioned, I can't judge from your brief description what really transpired.

But I can just as easily accept the simplest explanation....the cop was being an ass! LOL

 

[Johann]

When the cop said:

And what do you do for a living?

you missed a golden opportunity to say "I'm an ass**le stretcher, I stretch ass**holes until they're 6 feet wide".

Those who know the rest will see the appropriatness when dealing with a cop. Of course, a citation would then be a guarantee but it might be worth it.

 

[PDCjonny]

And keep in mind the mentality here. Many cops if they didn't get on the force by way of an "in" with a relative or family member, or transfer over from the fire department would be the guy picking up your trash twice a week, or working for the town scraping road kill up. I know many of them, and have relatives on the job in NY City. Not too mentally challenging work. But they got on the job and now have some power to wield and occasionally misuse. Huge superiority complexes can result on occasion. So they got a chance to f*** with a "rich" guy and took it for some laughs.

 

[AG98RT10]

And keep in mind the mentality here. Many cops if they didn't get on the force by way of an "in" with a relative or family member, or transfer over from the fire department would be the guy picking up your trash twice a week, or working for the town scraping road kill up.

Great comment,,

Yeah, piggies will be piggies, won't they?

Funny stuff...

 

[viperct2001]

>>you missed a golden opportunity to say "I'm an ass**le stretcher, I stretch ass**holes until they're 6 feet wide".

LOL!

I hear ya. Like my post said, I could tell he was going to let me off with a warning, so I was nice to the guy. I actually feigned a cheerful demeanor.

I probably would have went with an "angry tirade" instead if i didn't already have 3 tickets (ANY MOVING VIOLATION) on file in the last 3 years. In CT on your 4th ticket in 3 years (5 years?) you have to take a driving class. I already had to take a stupid 4 hour driving class. It was filled with mostly very young guys, (just 1 girl) many of which were in the class for their 3rd, 4th, or even 5th time. NEVER again! Was a big waste of my time and my evening.

Would you believe that 2 of the tickets were from the same damn town and occurred in the same town just 1 minute apart? One was for driving on the shoulder to make a right hand turn, and the other was for not stopping at a stop sign. The shoulder deal is done by everyone in the morning commute and the stop sign was recently put there. I did blow it though. Was ********** he wrote me up for riding on the shoulder so 1 minute later I blew through the stop and there was another cop. Must be a record for getting 2 tickets within 1 minute! LOL!

If I only had 2 tickets on file I probably would have went off on the guy. "What the f- are you pulling me over for? You got nothing else better to do? Isn't it time for your doughnut/coffee break?"

I've been driving squeaky clean ever since that stupid class! (well almost)