I have to chime-in here. I have been on the receiving end of a number of
tickets.
3 speeding tickets
1 failure to stop at a stop sign.
In all cases the cop was writing the offense up as he exited his vehicle. Never
did one try to determine if there
were any extenuating circumstances. And never were these egregious violations.
50 in a 35 zone for 2 of them
70 in a 55 zone for another. The stop sign was on a disused street on the
through-street at a "T" intersection.
One of the speeding tickets was particularly annoying. I drove that section of
the road twice a day. I was intimately
familiar with the fact that the cops frequent that section. There were white
lines on the tarmac for VASCAR.
As a matter of fact, the cops usually parked IN MY GRANDMOTHERS DRIVEWAY as
they watched for speeders.
This is a narrow 2 way road which was rather winding. There was a bicyclist
going about 15-20 mph in this 35 mph road. He was riding in the middle of the
lane: hard to pass safely. After a mile or more I finally had a good view
and a wdie spot in the road and passed him. I zipped past, then took my foot
of the gas to coast back down to 35.
Just as I took my foot of the gas I passed a cop. He then pulled me over (in
front of my grandmothers property).
He did not care at all that I was trying to AVOID a dangerous situation by
avoiding driving 15 mph with people
coming up behind me MUCH faster around blind curves. Nope, he just handed me
the ticket. As were were
transacting business the bicyclist passed us, confirming my story. The cop
could not have cared less! I took that
one to court and the judge sided with me. I had to fight that one or I would
have had to go back to traffic school
because all 3 tickets were within 2 calendat years. Funny thing, this was out
in the country where I grew up, after
I moved back "home". I have since moved away again, to the suburbs and I have
not gotten another ticket
again!
On the 3 way intersection it was a disused street, It was unfamiliar territory
to me, I expected the through
street would not have a stop, and the sign was partially obstructed by a tree.
When I saw the sign I did stop, but
I was already 75% of the way through the intersection. I asked the cop for
leniency, but he said "I already wrote the
ticket".
To sum it all up I have never had any cop exercise any leniency or
discretionary power and have always been
extremely polite!
At this point, I think I have all the points cleared off my license.
TRIUMPH CONTENT: The funny thing is that when was a kid (late 70's), I drove
those country roads
at a pretty fast clip. I prided myself at maintaining _50_ mph over the speed
limit in a TR4A most of the time. Remember, I was intimately familiar with
every bump and hole, and they were very lightly travelled. Now there has
been considerably more development out there in the counrty so it would be
suicidal and murderous to
go anywhere near that speed.
-Tony
>Date: Mon, 07 Jan 2002 21:55:54 -0500
>From: sl350oz@netscape.net
>Subject: RE: Windshields and tickets to teenagers
>
>I'm prepared to back up Harleyred1...to an extent. To this day, every
>intercept that I have made is for a purpose >ie. a ticketable offence, or a
>brief for court attendance. I've never pulled people up just to issue
>warnings - I just >do what the community pay me to do...enforce legislation.
>
>Sure there have been occasions where I have used my discretion and issued a
>warning, due to the >circumstances (the speeding vehicle with pregnant wife on
>the back seat...and it DOES still occur), or other >attributable factors that
>concede less than complete guilt on behalf of the driver.
>
>By the same token I have on countless occasions been subjected to some truly
>amazing displays of abuse by >drivers(some older, but majority teens)who are
>angry, arrogant, annoyed or just plain p----d off that the cops have >caught
>them out, and mouth off (especially in the presence of peers). These people
>have just failed the 'attitude >test', and any discretionary powers available
>to me would have certainly walked out the door.
>
>I don't consider playing games with people by 'teaching them a lesson' or
>'revenge', just do the job right down to >the line...as necessary. Nor do I
>consider the 'roadside lecture' to be of any great value, as it generally
>falls >upon deaf ears.
>
>As I once stated to a young chap going right off in front of a carload of his
>mates, "it's far better to stand back in life >and look like an idiot, than
>open your mouth and confirm the fact." Nothing's changed since I was a
>teenager, >and it never will - you can't put experience on young shoulders.
>
>Cheers,
>Marc.<
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