well i was styling today, windows down and sunroof back cruising quick and my radar dector was being in a "SLEEP MODE" I GUESS, anyways,

I WAS DOING 56 in a 35, the system works, my First one ever, Like some guys on here know i do 100 + mph passes on non established roads and now the speed itch finally catches up to me,


I was just wanting to know everybodys speeding ticket experiences!

 

Man, I guess that blows my theory...I was getting to the point where I thought My 4Runners were immune to speeding tickets. I guess I have been lucky. I have been driving my 4Runners for the last 11 years and haven't gotten a ticket. Maybe it is my "radar" or maybe I'm just growing up I have gotten lucky quite a number of times though! Oh well, Good luck with your ticket!

 

I got one a few weeks back for a 52 in a 30 .. The cop said three more miles per hour and I'd have been fined $1000 and given 30 days jail time for wreckless driving . Plus insurance would have gone up. I hope you were nice to your cop though, because I really got off. I showed up to my court date and instead of paying $155 and having 4-6 points on my DL, I paid a $52.50 fine and only recieved 2 points. It only took ten minutes too. ! All I did was plead guilty (I wasn't going to lie) and then ask to speak with the officer. He talked with the judge. In SC, officers can only reduce the number of points on the DL, and the judge can reduce the fine. I didn't have to even see the judge, but I'm guessing he was having a good day. I walked in, plead guilty and signed my name, talked to the officer, waited 5 minutes, and then he came out and told me what went on, and the charges I recieved, then I paid and walked out. The scariest part was parking and then leaving the parking lot. There were 50+ cop cars in the lot! :pat:

Zach

 

I have been pulled over and given a ticket 3 times. I have been pulled over 4 times total, but got only three tickets. I do drive speedy, but now that I had my accident, I am definitely driving slower and more careful. Slow down. It doesn't pay. Believe me, I have made far too many donations to townships already! LOL. :fireman:

 

A couple of years ago I was heading to Yakima from Seattle on I-90 and found another 4Runner in front of me going the same way. We started pushing up the speed (the limit on the highway is 70) itching back and forth... 80... 90... 100... I topped out at 108 (what's the speed limiter set for?) and he was right next to me.

We ended up "cruising" at around 90-93 and held that for quite some time.

We came around a corner, and ... boom. Smokey.

When I saw him, I knew he had us, so I just slowed down and waited for him to catch up. The other guy was in front of me, so the cop came past, motioned for me to pull over, then pulled in front of the other guy and slowed us both down together.

He got out of his car, just shaking his head and came back to talk to me first. He'd clocked me at 98, and the other guy at 101. License and reg and then back to the other guy.

He spent a while with him.. There was a lot of comotion going on inside (there were two guys in the truck) and obviously a lot of talking. The cop then pulled out the driver and did a field sobriety test. The kid was clearly whacked - the cop was just standing there shaking his head.

He came back to me, with my license and reg in his hand. He said "ya' know, you're really lucky. That kid is stoned, and so is the passenger, I'm gonna be here for a while doing paperwork. He's going to jail and we'll have to impound the truck since no one can drive and there's dope all over the seat. You gotta keep it down.. I should be writing you both up for racing, but with booking him on a felony, I have to do that first and I don't want to keep you here for all that time."

He gave me my license and reg back, and wished me luck. I told him thank you a number of times.

I was lucky in a number of ways.

 

The cops here don't ticket firemen unless you do something really stupid. They either see my IAFF sticker and go on by or the couple times they did stop me they let me go once I showed ID & badge. Alittle professional courtesy

I pretty much drive defensively though. After seeing alot of messed up vehicles and people you tend to change your driving habits....

 

Professional courtesy only goes so far. Personally I won't show my badge or ask for a break. Last thing I need is the cop calling my boss and tell them I was trying to get a break on a ticket. That is grounds for termination in my dept.

 

I've had one ticket and one warning since I started driving. The ticket came outside Hertford, NC. I passed someone doing 50 in a 55 zone and I didnot slow down fast enough after passing. He was coming the other way. Got me for 68 in a 55. The warning also came on Route 17, the state boys love 17, I was doing 62 in a 55. He saw my big tires and asked if they were original size. I said no and he told me to slow down, my speedo was probably off some.

 

One time I was driving from NJ to VA Beach to visit my gf (~ 6 hr. drive), and I had just left work late Friday night and was really tired...

I was almost there.. I was on the Chesapeake BBT and had some delirious thought that I was in a race with the moon which was setting and I really wanted to beat the moon and get there before it set....

So I started to speed and the fuzz got me coming the opposite way on the BBT....

Anyways.... I haven't gotten a ticket in a while though I've been pulled over 2-3 times... professional courtesy and a PBA card got me out, but I don't count on it, and still I had to change my underwear

I don't speed much with the 4Runner now.... and if I do speed it's 'cause I lost track of my MPH and was paying attention to other things....

But it doesn't hurt to contest the ticket... SOmetimes the cop doesn't show up in court, sometimes they give you a lower penalty... Also, if there are certain errors on the ticket the cop wrote out, I think that may make it invalid...

 

Victor:

By showing badge. I should clearify. The couple of times I did get stopped. I had my wallet open sitting on my lap showing my badge as I hand my DL to the cop. When they see it they ask what dept I work for and then they change their tune and let it go. Not a big deal. Several cop friends of mine that work for different depts around the area have told me that they are told to give professional courtesy to firemen and health care providers. I'll take that break. But, I rearly go 5 over limit anyway....it's not worth it to save a few seconds to get somewhere

 

I've had one ticket and one or two warnings.

My ticket came on Halloween night when I was 16 and driving my '95 Mazda 626. I was going 60 or so in a 35 because I was late for my cerfew due to a date with my a pretty young lady. Anyway, I was being careless and stupid, and got pulled over. The cop was a real jerk-off also, constantly yelling at me and getting more angry if I didn't hear something when he first said it. The resolution ended pretty well, I got a $95 or so fine after court costs and the judge was nice at least.

As for the warnings, it was carelessness and I got off lucky. The one I remember was soon after I got my old '94 Runner, for going 42 in a 25. The cop was real nice in that instance.

 

I got nailed twice in the same weekend. The second time, I wasn't so lucky. Both times were in my Escort.
It was my last day at one job. Was going to start another the following Monday. Heard a song on the radio on my way to work and decided to run over to Best Buy during lunch. Took a side street to avoid construction. At the intersection before Best Buy, I look at my rear view and see a motorcycle cop with his lights on. I panicked thinking I was in the way and started to pull away. He put his hand up motioning me to stop. My stomach dropped and I thought "What the heck did I do?" I seriously didn't know.
The officer walked up to my car, went through the routine. Come ot find out I was doing 45 in a 35. I was shocked. The last speed limit sign I noted said 45. I told the officer I was really surprised, I've never gotten a ticket nor gotten into an accident that was my fault. He took pity on me, told me to take my seat belt off and wrote the ticket for not wearing a seat belt rather than a 10 mph speeding ticket. Boy was I thankful! It was a $25 fine and no report to my insurance rather than a $100 fine, 2 points, and a note to my insurance company.
On my way back from lunch, I noticed the speed drops from 45 to 35 for one block. SPEED TRAP!
The following Monday, my luck changed. It was my first day at my new job. I decided I needed a backpack or duffel to carry all my stuff in. On my way to REI, there was an accident at an intersection. I slowed down a little and heard an ambulance soming up behind me. Since I was nearly up to the intersection, I didn't want to be in the guy's way, so I was looking everywhere in my side and rear-view mirrors trying to find the ambulence or whatever it was. I looked over my right shoulder and looking back to see that the 3 car lengths in front of me had been reduced significantly. Slammed on the brakes and WHAM! A ticket for following too closely and 2 points against my license. The repairs on the other person's car weren't significant enough to raise my insurance, though.
I've been pulled over a few other times, too. But I was let go. The first time I was let go because my aunt worked in the district court house. The second time I rolled through a stop sign hidden by a low hanging tree. I took pictures and showed the judge and he dropped it. The third time I rolled through another stop sign. I had been rear-ended two hours prior to that. I told the officer that and he let me go. I also politely pointed out to him that the sign had been turned and I most certainly would have seen it with my HIDs if it had have been facing the right direction.

 

Very very very true. After seeing what speed does to a metal can and a person inside, you tend to be more careful driving. I wish that some people could come along and watch what we do and what we see and they would change as well. I guess they too may learn the hard way. :fireman:

 

A quick fix for speeding tickets is putting 31's on a truck that runs a stock 22re. You'd have to one of the unluckiest people in the world to getone, orpushing the truck with everything it had.

 

I just turned 16 in December and have been confronted by the fuzz 2 times. The first time was when me and some friends decided to go to a parking lot and do donuts and go crazy in the snow, and the other time was because i was doing 43 in a 30mph zone and my friend was hangin out my window yellin at some friends that were drivin next to us. LOL, both times i got off because my girlfriend's mom works at the police station on dispatch and she knew the cops that pulled me over. The cops knew that if they gave me a ticket then they would have a hard time convincing my girlfriend's mom if they could go on lunch break over the dispatch the next day "said my girlfriend" lol. Its still not good to speed and anyone will tell you that, but its just the slight pleasure you get out of it that makes you do it.

 

I thought you have an excuse...something like I need to rush over to the station for a fire, didn't you say you are volunteer fire fighter?

 

I got pulled over driving my dad's 2000 Limited on a dark back road in a small town outside Shreveport, LA. When he pulled me over, he had me get out of the truck and put my hands in the air, then on the hood of his car. I obviously followed his instructions. He seemed pissed at me because I was driving a brand new vehicle and had made the mistake of telling him that my dad was a minister when he asked. He probably immediately thought "preacher's kid", and was extra hard on me. He saw my radar detector, and said something like, "So it obviously didn't work very well, huh?" I said yes sir of course. Then, while I'm there, he starts shining his light in my truck and opening doors, etc. I ask him what in the hell he thinks he is doing and he says he has "probable cause" to search my truck because there were a lot of drunk kids out that night. I asked him if I appeared to be drunk and he told me just to be quiet. I was silent about it then, but when he gave me the ticket, (I was doing 61 in a 45), I signed that I was going to contest it because he had no right to search my truck.

Went to court, and the judge ruled in my favor, which totally erased the ticket from my record, etc. I guess the cop thought I didn't know my rights or wouldn't care enough to do anything about it. Oh well, it worked out in the long run, all over a technicality. It's good though that judges will look past a pretty steep speeding ticket if the Constitutional rights were violated in the process. I know that they are supposed to rule that way, but it's neat experiencing that protection by the Constitution as it is taking place.

 

Just curious.....What kind or radar detector did you have??

 

It was an Escort Passport 8500. It worked fine, I just didn't pay any attention to it.

 

Radar detectors are good, in traffic. But they are worthless if you are alone. They only tell you when you get nailed.