Details on your speeding ticket

[Tolduonce]

I was just thinking about the fact that I've only gotten one ticket for speeding in almost 40 yrs of driving even though I don't always obey the limits. I'm not a flagrant speeder. I just tend to go with the traffic flow/conditions. What I'm interested in knowing is how fast you were going and what the posted limit was for your heftiest violation. Also, did the cop give you a break on the speed s/he wrote on the ticket?
Here are my details. I was written for 69 mph in a 55 mph zone back when the national limit was 55. 70 mph would've added serious points to my fairly new license. How fast was I going when I saw the cop? 73 mph. How fast was I going five minutes before that? Oh, 80ish.

 

[AndrewWiggin]

Both tickets I've received were from cops in my home town, who were generally useless. All they did was sit and hand out tickets, our community had little to no dangerous crime going on, and when there were real burglaries, you know, something that we needed fixed, they couldn't do that. But damn, could they hand out speeding tickets.

So, no, I had no leniency, because our cops were annoying. I've heard of others getting by with a warning, but no such luck for me.

 

[ZlinMan]

Oooo, story time!

It wasn't me that got the ticket, it was a friend of mine while I was sitting in the passenger seat for the 6 hour drive back up to school, but I digress. 45 minutes into the drive the cop stopped her doing 39 km/h over the limit, almost a $400 ticket and 4 points on her license. He graciously lowered it to 15 km/h over, a mere $55 fine and no points. An hour later, we were lucky enough to have a visit from a second officer, this time for 37 km/h over the limit. When he asked her the last ticket she got and she replied with "an hour ago", he almost choked and asked to look at the ticket . After a while he returned the previous ticket and handed her his, stating that he had done the same thing, and telling her to take it easy. Needless to say she drove exactly the speed limit the rest of the drive, although we did almost hit 2 deer and a moose. Oh well, I'm still alive and she's one lucky gal!

 

[KarthVader]

I was on my way home from a party in Kalamazoo, MI and I was feeling very ill that day (not due to alcohol related reasons) and I was trying to make it back to my apartment in East Lansing before I let forth the regurgitated torrent that was the breakfast I had eaten that morning. I was going about 83 in a 70 mph zone when a cop pulled me over.

He asked why I was speeding and I explained to him that I was feeling very ill and was trying to make it home before I puked in my car. He stared at me. I stared back. He wrote me a $100 ticket and told me to drive slower.

(Knock on wood) That is the only ticket I've gotten to date.

 

[AndrewWiggin]

I was on my way home from a party in Kalamazoo, MI and I was feeling very ill that day (not due to alcohol related reasons) and I was trying to make it back to my apartment in East Lansing before I let forth the regurgitated torrent that was the breakfast I had eaten that morning. I was going about 83 in a 70 mph zone when a cop pulled me over.

He asked why I was speeding and I explained to him that I was feeling very ill and was trying to make it home before I puked in my car. He stared at me. I stared back. He wrote me a $100 ticket and told me to drive slower.

(Knock on wood) That is the only ticket I've gotten to date.

Should have let fly as he walked back to the car, he would have been faced with handing you a ticket while standing in said regurgitated breakfast, or letting you go.

 

[mretzloff]

I have received one ticket. I was doing 65 MPH in a 45 MPH zone. The officer lowered it (cannot remember to what). The officer told me I got the ticket for weaving, not for speeding.

 

[PaulX608]

I've had a few pretty good ones, but I think the most over the limit for which I've actually been ticketed would be a 57 in a 35. I was accelerating past 70 when I saw the guy ahead of me hit the brakes at the top of the hill. I got pulled over a couple months ago and told I was radared at 76 in a 55, but he let me go. I've also had a couple reduced. Got popped at 73 in a 45 on my bike, he ticketed me for 64. Last year I got to 135 on a road near my home, but I had an officer neighbor in the car with me.

 

[Bertilak]

I have five (that I remember)

1. 70 in a 65 on the Northway (upstate NY, mid '60s): Boy was *that* annoying! They were trying out a new non-radar device called Vascar. Funny story about this. Cop pulls me over and says to me: "You've been stopped for speeding", well, with all the road noise on this busy interstate I *thought* he said "Have you ever been stopped for speeding?" My answer came out like a real smart-***: "No I haven't." His response: "Tell it to the judge." Up until then he might have let me off with a warning for being only 5 over the limit.
   
   
2. Another time it was 65 in a 55 on NYS Thruway. This was shortly after the imposition of the national 55mph limit. They were tagging everyone! Like shooting fish in a barrel. This was when I first learned to love State Farm. I called them up to ask if a ticket would raise ones rates. Their response: "Not if we don't hear about it!" This was also when I got my radar detector.
   
   
3. More recently (but still 20-25 years ago): I got cheated. I know I was speeding and saw the cop so I glanced down and saw 65mph on the speedometer and it was a 55 limit. I had no intention of fighting it. I felt I'd been caught fair and square. Cop pulls me over and tickets me for 75! No way out of it. Took over a year to get to court where I tried to fight it but it was simply my word against his.
   
   
4. About 15 years ago simple in-town speeding -- fair and square (something like 40 in a 30. Went to traffic comedy school. Really bad comic -- I think that was the real punishment!
   
   
5. Finally (so far) about 5 years ago, 50 in a 40. a few hundred yards past where the limit dropped from 55 to 40. Did on-line traffic school. Easy to cheat by opening two browser windows -- one to take the test, the other to browse through the material for the answers! I aced that one!

Another funny situation. I had an old Volvo and was stopped for speeding as I went down a fairly steep hill. Cop said these old cars were dangerous because of the drum brakes. I pointed out that it was a Volvo and had disk brakes. Cop then said yeah, but the car is old and the brakes are worn. I pulled out a receipt from the glove box showing that I had just had new rotors and pads installed by the Volvo dealer the day before! Cop let me go with a warning.

Sorry, but this is what you get for asking about traffic cops!

 

[Mejnoon]

My worst was 96 in a 65, on highway 152 somewhere in northern Madera county. It was like midnight, I hadn't seen any other cars in miles. No breaks...he wrote it for the full 31 over...$581.

 

[JoshD]

I was stopped with an 83 in a 45. I was coming home from work and it was a beutiful day. I was enjoying the ride home. And he stopped me. I had to stop and wait for him. What is the point in running. But he did let me off with a warning.

Josh.

 

[Stubblefield]

I was coming back from Tahoe on HWY 80, right past the Caltrans yard there is a looooong downhill. I hit 100+ for about 15 seconds. Then slowed. Half a mile later, pulled over. They were using aerial spotters that day.

Wrote me up for 79. Didn't complain, as I was thinking of all the other times I'd driven waaay faster.

 

[toucanlamp]

99km/hour in a 60km/hour zone. I was 19 or so, young and silly, when I thought driving fast and turning the stereo up really loud with the windows down made me cool lol.

But - I took it to court. It was fun actually I went and did research on radar and the highway traffic act etc. and came up with a case that I thought would be decently persuasive. But, mr. officer didn't show up so it was tossed anyhow.

I get a really great insurance rate these days, and so I'm really glad I didn't just pay it. My brother is a bit of a goof behind the wheel, bunch of tickets, an at-fault accident etc. and he pays a fortune.

Here in town they have speed cameras and intersections, photo radar all over the place. It's just a cash cow for the police. Instead of fighting real crime they want to go and crack down on the super-deadly people who go 71 km/hour in a 60 zone.

 

[mretzloff]

I was stopped with an 83 in a 45. I was coming home from work and it was a beutiful day. I was enjoying the ride home. And he stopped me. I had to stop and wait for him. What is the point in running. But he did let me off with a warning.

Josh.

That is almost 40 over! At least you had a blast driving

 

[perry]

One so far, knock on wood!

69-ish in a 55. Right after high school graduation. Drove from our DC suburb to the beach in Maryland with three buddies. We had a place lined up to crash.. problem was, the folks had cats and one of my buddies was allergic and ended up with terrible hives. Back home we went.

Did I mention we left at like 10pm one night, roamed around Ocean City all night long and all day long, then decided to leave at 11PM the next night.. So we had been up for a while. No drinking or anything. I was pretty much half asleep and probably shouldn't have been driving though.

I was on US 50 about to go over the Bay Bridge and saw the cop hopping in his car. He didn't have to go far to pull me over because I knew I was tagged. Was wide awake for the rest of the ride!

 

[xriley]

I'm somewhere around 20 or so speeding tickets, I think, in my 18+ years driving career plus a few other violations. Maybe more, I've seriously lost count. A couple tickets back I had a trooper tell me that I had a lot of tickets. He repeated it twice almost in amazement. I have found the one thing that lawyers are good for.

I had a cop stop me one time and the first thing he said to me when he got to my car was "get out of the car your going to jail". I had maybe been going a little over 65 in a 55. I asked "what for?". After a little while in the back of the cop car in cuffs and me telling the cop he was crazy if he actually thought I was going 80 in a 55 he let me go with just the ticket. There was no way I was going 80 btw and a lawyer got it reduced or thrown out, I don't remember. Most of the other times the cops are pretty close on actual speed. I think that one had a sugar buzz from 1 too many doughnuts.

There are a couple of other funny stories in there.

 

[perry]

And a story for a friend of a friend.. This was in 99 or so that he was telling the story. He had a supercharged Mustang Cobra.. absolutely nasty car.. He had just gotten it out of the shop from having it tuned and decided to head to the beach from Atlanta, GA. He was in the middle of Alabama and saw a cop in the big median.. he was well in to the triple digits. Cop just stuck his arm out the window and waved. No way was he going to catch up

Had another buddy get tagged for 100+ in a 55 around Atlanta. His wife wasn't happy about bailing him out of jail

 

[JoshD]

That is almost 40 over! At least you had a blast driving

Man! I had a blast driving! It was a great wonderful curvy road. And I had a well running Dakota Sport ready to go.

Josh

 

[Sue]

My busband, (Wendy's dad), was in the the university hospital downtown St. Louis for about 7 weeks. A round-trip drive/parking is a minimum of an hour and a half round trip. I spent every night with him except one as he was in critical condition.

The weekday schedule was up at 5 am, went home, breakfast, kids off to school, went to work, dinner, took Wendy to see him, took Wendy back home, went back close to midnight to spend the night. The boys were old enough to drive then and stayed with Wendy at home. I was exhausted and had lost enough weight to change jeans like they were sweatpants.

One night I had the interior light on in the CRX-si so Wendy could do her homework and highway 40/61 was pretty deserted. I truly wasn't paying attention to my speed but that Wendy get her homework done before we arrived home.

The Highway Patrol officer appeared 12-foot tall standing next to the low car. Could I tell him why I was clocked at 88 in a 55? That was the last straw that day. Near tears I blurted out my husband has been near death, the schedule for the past month or so and to top it off my daughter just starting junior high is behind at school. If he didn't believe me he could call xxx number at the hospital.

Leaning down into the window; mam, no one could make up a story like that, was his reply. He told me to slow down so we didn't get hurt, told Wendy sitting in the passenger side with open books and notebhooks to work hard on her studies. I couldn't believe the kindness in the eyes of this giant of a man.

Sue

 

[stobes21]

Never gotten a speeding ticket myself, but I sure fix a lot of them for clients. There seems to be a 10mph tolerance here. Not many cops will ticket for less than that.

 

[VampyreWolf]

I've only managed 1 speeding ticket myself...

Coming back in from a week of camping 3 years ago, the crews decided to start construction of the new schools while I was gone. Separated highway (posted 110kph) turns into 2 lane (posted 100), turns into a curve posted at 70kph, into a new construction zone (posted 60kph).

I came into the curve doing 120, and was likely doing 120 when the cop nailed me after the curve. Saw him as I went past and let go of the gas pedal, was at 110kph when his lights went on.

So here we are... tuesday morning, 10am, mid month... and a supervisor car. I was polite and honest, only got nailed with 101 in a 60 instead of getting hit with dangerous driving ($300 compared to $500 and a pile of points, maybe even a class).

What's funny? I was driving a 92 firefly with the 4 cylinder 1.3litre engine. Top speed 135kph with a 1/2 mile needed to get there.



The funnier one was 2 years ago on a road trip. I drove the shift between breakfast and customs (2hrs?), we switched over getting back into the car.
So this girl hadn't been behind the wheel of my buddies car for more than 20min, we had just passed a town 5min before, and go through a section of road marked from 50, to 30, back to 50 within a hundred yards. Cop sitting in a farmyard driveway by the 30 sign, of course he nailed her. Think it was only like $100, but he followed us back to the gas station of the town we just passed to get paid.

She didn't drive again for the rest of the 2400km trip, but at least helped pay the gas.


Don't know how many drunk-checks I've gone through, I only screw with the cops when I'm sober and bored. I've driven around on a friday night looking em a couple times