Helicopter = Yes

Police Radio = No

 

Its interesting that the cop in question mentioned that he "paced you" at 79mph, I was under the impression that for a reckless driving charge he had to have electronic proof, as opposed to relying on the accuracy of his speedometer.

Try rescheduling the court date (I'm not sure how many times you can reschedule in that state), make up some excuse - makes it more likely for the cop to miss the court date.

 

sounds like a plan to me... but that is interesting about the electronic proof about reckless driving, i'm thinking of hiring a lawyer for the court date either way...

thanks for the info!

 

Did you mention you had your cruise on 74 because you thought you were still in a 65 zone?

Sucks big time that he gave you a reckless for that.

For reckless, you definitely need a lawyer. Good luck.

Jim

 

I got pulled over yesterday by a ny state trooper. I was on a two lane road, 55 limit, I was behind two slow cars, pulled out and passed them them both. Unfortunately there was a state trooper coming the other way. I pulled over when his lights came on and waited for him to make the u-turn.

surprisingly he was very nice, and understanding. He told me the trouble with passing on this road (i drive it all the time) is that there is always going to be another slow car to pass. In his words "until the state of new york decides to widen the road and add 2 more lanes, we are just going to have to live with it." He also said you just can't pass going that fast...I didn't want to argue with him so I just said something about it being a Sunday, and normally there is less traffic. Then he starts talking to me about snowboarding (my deck was on the roofrack)...and says he will be reasonable. I think I must have been doing 90 when I passed those cars (the v8 wastes no time getting up to speed when you get on it). I was a bit nervous, but he just gave me a ticket for not having an up to date insurance card and tells me to watch my speed. NICE!


On another note...unmarked traffic enforcement cars = oxymoron......Unmarked cars are like entrapment...they don't accomplish anything except add to the revenue of the city/state. A marked car patroling the roads, encourages safe driving and keeps people at the speed limit. Unmarked cars 'catch' people, but do not promote any safe driving.

 

I sort of agree, but I question whether marked cars help make things safer, for one I know that I tend to jolt on the brakes whenever I see a marked car and a lot of people do the same. Then people turn their head to see if they are being followed, that alone can cause accidents. Although I agree that if you see a regular presence of cops, you tend to know to stay within the limit.

In Rye NY, I know that the cops are vigilant as hell. In fact there is a traffic intersection in the center of rye that has a 4 way X, but diagonal, not like a + intersection. The lights at this intersection are so long, I am convinced it is to create a bottleneck in the middle of town to discourage joy riding through the area on Route 1. I've gotten pulled over in Rye only once, about 3 weeks after I got my S4. I was doing 47 in a 30 on Route 1. Cop was nice, I pulled over before he even turned on his headlights (let alone his police lights) and when he asked my if I knew why I was pulled over, I jsut said yeah, I was doing 47 in a 30. He gave me a simple moving violation ticket and said to take it slow.

 

OTOH, one could argue that unmarked cars give the impression that you can get nailed anytime and you won't have time to spot a marked car and slow down - which a lot of people are banking on. How many times have you passed an unmarked car and been glad that you were already doing close to the limit? I've done it a lot. So if you are close to the limit, then you don't have to worry about marked or unmarked cars. Just a thought. I want to speed as much as the next guy, but I know that I am risking getting a ticket whne I do, marked cars or not.

 

in writing its a valid argument. but in reality, it's not. For most people, including myself, knowing that there are unmarked cops around will not change their driving habits. Honestly from time to time if i see a suspiscious new/stock and boring looking american car, i will slow down a bit and make sure i get a good look at the driver before i speed up again. notice that all of these unmarked cars that have been mentioned have been american cars. well except the toyota camry but thats a new one to me. Anyways the point is you will still continue to drive fast whether you know theyre out there or not. whereas if you see alot of troopers on a specific road all the time you will definately drive slower on that road more often.

 

i just want to reiterate that i usually don't "fly" down interstates but, I am semi new to the area here in va, and when i checked in everyone warned me about cops on I-95, and that I could get away with doing around 80 (believe it or not, it most of the time is the average speed). don't get me wrong, i like to have a little fun in the mean time especially with civics, its amazing how many people have no idea what an S4 is capable of, hell even an A4......

my court date is next month, and i'm not too worried about it... the other day i was coming back from MD again, and just to be on the safe side i looked for the speed limit signs (remember i thought i was in a 65 zone) and i noticed something that just cracks me up... i merged onto 95S from 495S (merge from the left of 95), 495E merges from the right side, the ONLY 55mph sign I saw was ALL THE WAY ON THE RIGHT side of the road, i RARELY make it that far right by the time the 55 limit sign is posted... so, i honestly didn't know it was a 55 zone, also, here in VA we have the ever so popular H.O.V. lane in the center (depending on the time of day, opens for cars with 3 or more people in the direction with the most traffic) their speed limit was 65, which if you are not used to, looks like a typical speed limit sign, which is posted on the left side of 95 (right side of HOV lane), this is just confusing, and i'm sure you all quit reading this 10 lines above this but, it just pisses me off...

 

All that you just said "should" make it easy to get out of the reckless. BUT, you still need an attorney. Can you get pics of the 65 mph sign for the HOV lanes? The confusion created by the mixing bowl construction mess is probably enough of a defense. You said the cruise was on 74 but the trooper said he clocked you at 79? Rare that your speedo would be off by 5 mph. There appears to be a lot of questionable stuff here. Maybe even enough to get the whole thing tossed with a good attorney.