siberian

Now I have to admit, I am sort of a lead foot. Not that I drive wrecklessly, drag racing or weaving through traffic or anything like that... but when conditions are right, e.g. light traffic, daytime, out on the highway and not in a residential area, I enjoy putting my car through it's paces.

So one morning early this summer I was on my way to work. I was in a 50mph zone heading north bound on route 83 just north of Irving Park Road in Bensenville, IL. I was sort of daydreaming, (about god knows what), and flowing with traffic. I pull up to a stop light and next thing you know, a cop pulls out from a side street and pulls up right behind me. He gets out of the car and walkes up to my window and instructs me to pull over to the side of the road when the light turns green.

When we get to the shoulder, I immediately start pulling out my license and insurance card. By the time he walks up to me, I already have it ready to hand to him. He tells me he clocked me going 73 in a 50. Instead of trying to make excuses or argue with him or something stupid like that, I decide just to be nice... just treat the guy like I would any other person I might casually cross paths with during the day. After all, he's just doing his job. So, as I hand him my license and insurance card I start making friendly small talk with him.... I said something to the effect of... "Well, I hope YOUR day is turning out better than MINE is so far"... and stuff like that. It was cool. He wasn't one of those rookie cops with a hard-on. He was pretty cool. He said something like, "aaaawwww, well, you know how it is... the seargent's been a real ******* lately... getting on everyone's case all the time, but I can't complain... I'm having a pretty good day" So I started busting his chopps... in a friendly sort of way... and I said, with a laugh..."ooohhhh... you mean he's getting on your case because he wants you to write more tickets huh?" And he laughed and said... "yup... that's exactly it." Then I pointed to my radar detector and said, "geez, I didn't even see this go off when you zapped me." He said, "even if it did, I got you with instant on radar, so by the time you would have seen it, it would have been too late." And I said,with a laugh, "Ahhhh the game of cat and mouse continues." Again, we both had a laugh.

Now all this time, I already knew I was probably going to get a ticket... I didn't have any reason to believe he was going to just let me go... and I deserved a ticket. No big deal... but I was worried I'd get a "mover" on my permanent record.

So then he says, "I'll be right back sir.. I have to run this thru in the computer".. and goes to his car. About two minutes later he comes back and hands my my ticket as expected... however... he "adjusted" the speed so the ticked said I was only going 69 instead of 73. He did me a favor. See, in Illinois, if you get pinched going 20 over or more, it's an automatic court appearance, higher fine, and a chance you might not get off on supervision. If it's less than 20 over, then you qualify for automatic supervision and no court appearance (assuming your prior record is clean, which mine is) and the fine is less.

So yes, he did give me a ticket. Hey, I deserved it... I was speeding and I got pinched... but he could have screwed me and wrote it for 73, which would have cost me a day in court, higher fine, and a possible mover on my permanent record. But, because I was nice to him, he returned the favor and let me off with only a $75 dollar fine, three months supervision... and no day in court... Plus, he could have said something about the "absense" of a front plate on my car... but he didn't.... and I know he saw it cause he looked. AND, he didn't make me post my license as bond.... he gave it right back to me... no staple holes!

The moral to the story... if you get pulled over, be nice.. just go along with it. Hey, these guys have heard every excuse in the book. They make their living dealing with BS like that. I know that not all cops are gonna be nice... some are hard-asses and they'll f*ck with you just because they can... but if you are polite and cordial, you might just get lucky and get off with a warning, or at the very least, a reduced ticket.

BCD

That's wise and responsible advice. Many folks blame the cops for pulling them over (duh).

e

Doing 94/55, HOV lanes in NoVa (Northern VA). Now, it was a late Sunday afternooon in July, BEAUTIFUL weather, and not a car in site......except of course for the State Trooper.

As soon as I saw him, I slammed on the brakes and pulled over. He had to drive, oh, a whole 20 yards to get to me.

He approached me and gave me the standard, do you know how fast you were going, and I was honest with him, told him around 90. Now, a lot, A LOT of cops, especially troopers would've berated me for going so obscenly fast, but he seemed to understand where I was coming from.

Here's the problem: He tells me that in Fairfax County, for every mile over 90, YOU SERVE A DAY IN JAIL. Ouch. (KNOW THIS ALL NoVA DRIVERS).

So, now I'm shi**ing. But he's real cool about it, gives me advice on what I should do to remedy the situation (driving school), etc. After he let me go, I gave a buddy of mine a call (a police buddy) to see if he can do anything. He calls up the trooper and the trooper tells him that he'd really like to help me, cause I was polite, considerate, etc, but the Trooper laws are so strict, that he can't just throw out or void the ticket. BUT he says that he'll do everything he can so I can avoid any jail time. Believe me, a lot of cops would've just said, "Sorry buddy, but you're friend did something really stupid", etc.

Well, after getting a lawyer, and sitting on pins and needles for 2 months, drivers ed, community service, the big day finally comes (yesterday actually!)

I'm the last case to be called, and the trooper had to leave, so the Prosecutor spoke on the Trooper's behalf. In a plea, we pled guilty because the Prosecutor basically wanted good points on his record. That's when some really strange things happened. The Prosecutor told the judge "Trooper Allander pulled Mr.Hernandez over at (blah blah blah). Trooper Allander also went on to let me know that Mr.Hernandez was extremely cooperative, and polite, and was, actually, one of the nicest people he has dealt with in a long time. Finally, he also wanted me to point out that since the incident occurred not too far from DC, Mr. Hernandez probably could've fled from Trooper Allander, but instead pulled over without having to flashed over." (This is the PROSECUTOR TALKING!!!)

After all that, and discussion of all my other good-boy points (community service, etc), COMBINED with the fact that I was the last case and everyone wanted to leave, AND that my judge was incredibly kind, I got off with no jail time, no suspended liscence, and a reduction of wreckless driving to speeding.

So, thanks to that really nice trooper, and a bunch of other stars alligning, I still have my lisence.

The ****ty thing is, I sprained my left ankle while playing ball last night. Can't drive.

God has an ironic sense of humor.<p>
e
99.5 1.8T QMS
APR V3.0
ATP S-5's
<a href="http://registry.audiworld.com/audi/registry/details.asp?car=5838"><img SRC="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/AudiWorldPics/2000/ea4a.jpg"BORDER=0>

e

I've totally learned my lesson. Believe me, there's nothing like the thoughts of jail AND losing your liscence to slow you down.

Besides, why rush? Sit in the car, open the sunroof, and enjoy the beautiful car, scenery, etc.<p>
e
99.5 1.8T QMS
APR V3.0
ATP S-5's
<a href="http://registry.audiworld.com/audi/registry/details.asp?car=5838"><img SRC="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/AudiWorldPics/2000/ea4a.jpg"BORDER=0>

Philip

Almost exactly a year ago--sometime over Labor Day weekend, '99--I was driving through the farm country of western Minnesota, returning from my aunt's lake cabin and heading for my home in North Dakota. Doubt many of you know this part of the world, but the western-most 20 miles or so of MN (and the eastern-most 20 miles of ND, for that matter) are absolutely flat as a pancake and quite empty. I was cruising on a two-lane, 55 MPH county road, with no traffic in front or behind me. For most of the stretch, I probably was going about 65.

As I was nearing ND, I noticed a dark vehicle in the distance coming at me. From afar, it looked like a pick-up or SUV, predominant vehciles here, and I stopped paying attention.

Obviously, you've guessed that it was a police car; county sheriff actually. By the time I realized what was coming at me, it was too late to do anything, and just as soon as the cruiser passed me, I could see in the mirror that he was making a U-turn. So, even before he turned on his lights, I simply pulled over in a safe place, and waited for the worst.

The deputy turned out to be a rather nice fellow, and I treated him very politely. He claimed that I was doing 73 (again, 55 speed limit), which may be true, though I wasn't trying to push the speed envelop that far.

Bottom line, the deputy wrote me up for only 65 in a 55, which he said would keep points off my license under MN law. I also suspect that if he'd written me up for a full 18 miles over the limit, there might have been other consequences.

So, it does pay to be polite to law officers, at least sometimes!

One humerous aside. When I asked the deputy if he wanted proof of insurance, he said no, and added something like "if I owned a car like yours, I'd have it insured."

skabaru

...cause of those damn staple holes!

for those of you not in the state, in IL when you get a ticket, they take your license as bond, and it eventually gets stapled, along with your ticket, to a manilla folder.

when the case is closed, you (hopefully) get your license back, albeit with 2 holes.

Then, next time you get pulled over, you'll notice that the officer runs his fingers down the side, feels the holes, and knows you have had a previous incident without EVER checking his computer.

Get pulled over as many times as I have, and you quickly learn it is SO worth it to head over to the DMV, wait in line, claim to have lost your license, and give them $8 (or whatever it is now?) to get a new one-without holes.

and it is SO worth being nice. I have been told by a judge that this was the most glowing report he had ever read becuase I had been very cooperative and nice. Not to say what the charge was, but I was fined $100 when it could (and usually is) in 4 digits.

Moral, don't be a dick. At the same time, if you think you may contest it, be very careful about what you say and do, as you don't want to EVER admit guilt. Just carefully tiptoe around and chose your words. It can be done.<p><A HREF="http://www.127th.com/audi">
<IMG SRC="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/AudiWorldPics/2000/skabarusigv2.jpg" ALT="" WIDTH="500" HEIGHT="104" BORDER="0"></A>

DRG

I was once pulled over by a "tag" team of cops in which the first cop radioed descriptions to a cop up the road. I was not speeding (that day!) and was in a cluster of cars. When I passed the second cop, he motioned to me (as well as to two others) to pull over and ticketed me. Later, when I fought this in court, the judge asked the first cop for his record of vehicles he had flagged, and, in the spot in the record that supposedly documented car, was a totally different make of car that just happened to be of similar color and shape. It was probably driving past me at the wrong time. The first cop had seen it, but the second got it wrong and pulled me over. Perhaps that car had already passed him before he received the radio call. In any case, the judge dismissed the ticket.

Vladimir

Spicific procedure of speed measurement must be done in order to pull you over. I am not going to enjoy being cut a break! For example: in Greece there
is no speed enforcement. That's a deal. You drive at the speed safe for you and
the road conditions. - not the Big Brother set speed (to create Income traps), which does not make any sense for most times.

siberian

he zapped me with radar... that's specific enough don't you think?

Vladimir

I was talking abou -e 's story. Don't get me wrong, I am all for courteosness.