Journal asv108's Journal: YAST: Yet Another Speeding Ticket 3
After years of driving SUV's, I decided to switch to a nice BMW coupe. I was looking around during the summer of 2001 and decided to take the plunge after September 11th, I figured nobody was buying cars when the world was about to end.. After looking around, I was able to pick up a 2000 BMW 328ci with only 8000 miles for about $8,000 below blue book. The 328ci is a not an extremely fast car but it is sporty and handles like a dream. I promptly replaced the wheels with 2002 M3 wheels with Michellin Pilot sport Z rated tires.
It only took me about a month of driving around at high speeds to get a ticket: 88 in a 55. Then about 2 months after that ticket, I received another violation for going 65 in a 35 zone. I tried to fight the violation in court to no avail. After the second ticket I was forced to take a high point test. I passed the high point test with flying colors(you have to be brain dead to fail) and decided that I wasn't going to get a speeding ticket again! I had two choices, I could either slow it down to a reasonable speed or fight back. I choose the latter route and decided to purchase the best radar detector I could find. The Valentine One was the obvious choice plus it went along with my name, Alex Valentine.
Up till last weekend, it had been a year since I received my last ticket. A few friends invited me to a friendly easter golf match at a course near Hazleton, PA called Edgewood in the Pines. I drove to the course without any problems enjoying the long straight aways and S turns of RT 309 going through the scenic Pocono mountains. After playing golf, I decided to head home and do some errands, first of my list was ditching my 16in wheels for the pilot sport's.
There was not a sole car on the road and the straightaways were beckoning for the accelerator. I was going pretty fast but wasn't out of control by any means. My top speed was around 110-120. As I moved in to a more populated stretch of RT 309, I decided to ease off the pedal to more acceptable levels. Once I reached the southern outskirts of Mountaintop PA, I was behind traffic and driving below the speed limit. An aging Cadilac in front of me was obviously on a road to nowhere, enjoying a spring drive.
As I was nearing the city limits of mountaintop PA, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw the familiar site of police lights. I pulled over to the side of the road and then motioned to the police officer that I was pulling in to a nearby parking lot, since it would be a much safer area for him to walk. He exited his vehicle and came to the side of my car. I used to to pull out my license and registration ahead of time, but after talking to a few police officers they told me that I was better off waiting for the officer to arrive, since they could think I was hiding something or pulling out a weapon. Here is the dialog of the conversation with the local cop:
Officer: What's the rush?
Me: I was traveling below the speed limit and behind a vehicle
Officer: We had 2 phone reports of a Blue BMW going over 100 miles an hour on this road..
Me: I was behind traffic most of my way here so I don't know how someone could report that I was going over 100 miles an hour.
Officer: What is this? (pointing to the radar detector)
Me: Its a radar detector
Officer: What's it for?
Me: Evading police(smiling)
Officer: Well we don't use radar.
Me: I know, you are only allowed to use VASCAR.(the line of site speed calculation method)
Officer: License and registration! (I hand it to him)
Officer: Have you had any previous violations?
Me: Yes, I received a ticket over a year ago
Officer: I'll be Back..
After waiting for about fifteen minutes and having another officer come and talk with him for a couple of minutes(probably about lunch possibilities) the guy came back and gave me a speeding ticket for tailgating! He didn't have anything on me that could be used in court, but decided to give me a ticket since he figured it was no points, so a young guy in a nice BMW would probably pay it with no questions asked. Its the first time I received a ticket by having some hick call in to the police station. It would be interesting to see what kind of a person has the time to actually call in moving violations to the local police department.
Re:Great interlude! (Score:2)
Classic. (Score:2)
Sorry, but I had to larf. A couple years back I got 3 tickets in a week and a half, amounting to roughly 500 Canuck, roughly 350-400 US. One of them in my wife's Tempo, no less, and all three of them from the same officer. He stopped me a fourth time about a week after the last one. His words, when he saw me were "For fuck sakes, would you slow down? Get outta here before I change my mind."
I was driving a highly modified '87 Z24 at the time painted quite brightly, so it was a magnet at the