tickets...........

[trmn8er]

Just curious about some ticket stories out there. Who has more than 1? Circumstances? Anyone talked their way out of one or otherwise been shown mercy? Anyone get a wild hair and run for the hills? Record for top speed caught at ? I'm not looking to encourage this type of behavior, just curious.....................Jesse OH SIX AE, hotlanta.............

My buddies and I used to ride up HWY 39 all the time. It's here in the Mountains of Southern California. From the time I was in high school and 25 years since, we would tear up and down this road. GS400E, GS650E, FZ700, ZX600, GSXR750, ZX900, CBR1000F, YZF-R1, and Finally the FJR, I have carved this road any number of ways. I had seldom seen cops up here. I became cocky, and ride after ride, we would crank up the speed, learning every corner, every bump. There is one very long straight on a very steep grade, with no side roads, great visibility, and on a weekday, virtually no traffic. One day my buddy (on his Katana 1100) and me (on a CBR1000F) were doing our thing up the really long straight uphill section. I was in front and Mike about 1000 feet behind. I was in a full tuck, and I assume Mike was as well. I could not see as I was a little busy. I was doing about 125 and gaining. WAY, way up ahead, I see a vehicle we are gaining on at a rapid pace. Should I roll off, and slowly roll out of the throttle, or stay pegged, and dance around him? I mean I could go around as there was plenty of straight to make the pass, and set myself up for a pretty fast right-hand sweeper right? Ok I need to make a decision here! I slowly roll out, sit up at about 90, and begin to brake to keep a safe distance. Oh **** it's a LASD Sheriff SUV! Not good. I am right behind him, and see him stick his arm out the window, and gestured me to pull over, like right now.

Mike and I pull over, and the Deputy gets out along with an Explorer on a ride-a-long. He asks us for license and registration, and asks me how fast my bike will really go. "Uhhhhhhh gee I'd say about 155 corrected", but I've never gone that fast. He proceeds to ask Mike on the K-Bike. "Hmmmm well probably about 145". He said " I estimated you at 130, and you do not want to see that ticket" I had a LASD jacket strapped on the back of my bike, and he asks "where did you get the jacket". I explained I got it from my brother in law, and that it did not have their patch. Long story even longer, he knows another Deputy buddy of mine on their department, and we shoot the crap for 10 minutes, and he lets us go. He told us how many riders they scrape off the pavement up there, and we really should slow down. It did cause me to pause and reconsider my riding style. For a while.

I did have my R1 up to 174 on the on the digital speedo once, and while it handled PERFECT at speed, I will never do it again. FJR has been up to 148 on speedo with full bags, and not even a shimmy.

 

[Last Chance]

I was a rather wild kid. I rack up a lot of miles so I have had a lot of speeding tickets.

The last 25 years have averaged a ticket every 18 months (commuting to/from work). I have only had 3 tickets in the last 11 years however. Only 2 speeding tickets while working (driving truck for last 25 years.)

That said, I did get a ticket on the FJR coming home from work one night last February. 0500-0515. It had rained and the roads were wet. It was cold and I was having a problem with face shield "fogging up", not to mention my glasses and the mirrors. Hit the cross town freeway in Sacramento, CA just as the "commute" was heating up. Lots of people going way to fast and merging to and from the freeway. Normally, I cruise the fast lane at 70-80 mph and "pick a lane" over to the transition to the 99 freeway south. This is the most dangerous part of my commute as there are 3-4 major highways that merge onto this section and a lot of people "jumping off" the "downtown" exits. Makes for a lot of vehicles going every which way without signaling. (Does anyone signal anymore?) Hence, my preference is to go faster than any of them so they can't hit me! I find it much easier to navigate "up through" the traffic. It is much more difficult and dangerous trying to transition through several lanes with high speed vehicles whizzing by left and right while using the FJR "mirrors" to do so.

Anyway, I perceived that I had a "near-miss" from my left-rear during this maneuver. I thought it was a white/light colored vehicle with a "chrome" light rack on top (my mind turned it into a white pick up truck with light bar on top). This unnerved me a bit, but I transitioned to the S/B 99 freeway and worked my way over to the fast lane. This took a couple of "spurts" of speed as there was a lot of traffic headed south. Usually the left lane is a HOV lane, but since it wasn't 0600 yet I had to share the lane with ???? I settled back down to cruise mode at about 70-75 mph (speed limit 65). Just kind of going along with traffic. Suddenly I saw a pair of headlight approaching me from the right rear doing triple digits. Appeared to be headed right at me. This disturbed me and I went into my "defensive mode". I spotted a clear spot up ahead and "zipped" over to it, leaving the fast land to that insanely speeding four wheeler. However, within a few seconds another set of headlights appeared approaching from the rear at a high rate of speed. I repeated my "fight or flight" maneuver and found an open space up ahead to the left. Of course I navigated my way to these "open" spaces using the full capabilities of the FJR, then settling down to a sane steady speed of about 70-75. Each time as I just got settled in I would see another set of lights approaching on a collision course and this went on for 4-5 miles. Finally, I had had enough of this obviously-mentally-ill, road-raged motorist and I dropped it down to third and wound it up. I put at least a quarter of a mile between me and "traffic". Then, I settled down in the slow lane and watched to see if this "mad man" was pursuing me. Sure enough here comes a vehicle doing triple digits on a collision course with me.. What to do? Should I jump off the freeway and try to evade him in the burbs?... No, wet roads do not make for good cornering. Should I "haul Ashe" and try to out run him? Head for the nearest police station? I decided to see what he was up to.. He pulled up to within a foot of my tail light and about a foot to the left. Quite cozy. We went under a street light. I tried to identify the threat in the misted mirrors, through a foggy faceplate. Who was this guy? I saw the glint of chrome on the top of the car. Wait a minute I thought it was a pick-up... Er, what other type of vehicle has "chrome on top" To test this theory I sped up a little and watched his reaction.. He, too sped up and matched my speed. I slowed down a little and once again he matched me.. Hmmm, if it was road rage he had a perfect chance to kill me... What else could it be? OMG, of course, a CHP officer.. So, checking the speedo, I slowed down to 65 signaling the officer I knew, now, what he was.. Of course, he chooses then to light me up and prove that I was right... I was going to jail.

He had me pull off the freeway at the next exit. Not a good sign. He obviously didn't want to "tie up traffic" waiting for the tow truck to impound my FJR, so he had me pull over in an out-of-the way wide spot.

All I could think of was, "I'm going to jail". I fumbled in the cold to get my helmet off and my gloves. About this time he approaches from the rear and I look over at him, reaching for my wallet. All I can think of is to get my son's business card out and make sure he sees it. No "clever" way to present it so I just hand it to him with my license and say, "I'd appreciate any consideration you can give me, officer.". My son's business card indicates he is an FBI Special Agent and it is my only hope. The officer was very "professional" and asked if I knew how fast I was going. I replied I really had no idea. ( wasn't watching the speedo) He said he estimated in that last spurt I was doing 110-115 mph. (Wonder what happened to his radar, he did have one, however I find the CHPy's seem to prefer the old fashioned way, chasing you down.) He asked if all my info was current, etc., told me to set tight and he'd be right back. 5 minutes later he came back and gave me a ticket for 90 in a 65. He asked me if I knew what the fine was in Sacramento county for over 100 mph? I said, "No.". He said $2000.

I went to trial about 30 days later, plead NG. Set a trial date as far in the future as I could. 45 days later went to court in mid afternoon in the middle of the week. I figured he worked nights and wouldn't like to get up in the middle of his night to go to court. For whatever reason he failed to show and the ticket was dismissed. I had a speech all made up that I didn't think it was professional or safe to "pace" a motorcycle on wet roads without showing your lights to identify yourself. That was and is my gripe as to how he handled my case. He could have turned on his light at anytime during this fiasco and I would have pulled over instantly. As it was I thought he was a mad man trying to kill me and I was trying to "get away from him." This is not an unreasonable assumption of CA freeways now days. Maybe, just maybe he realized he had "created" part of the problem and because of my son's "LEO" connections he cut me another break.

In any case, I've since developed different "techniques" to avoid being "nailed" by maniac drivers...Hopefully ones that don't attract the attention of LEO's.

I feel fortunate to have avoided a 2 point violation. I hold a CDL so it is a "big" thing work-wise as well. However, I found I could get one more citation before losing my CDL privileges. So it wasn't "career" threatening. Insurance in CA is very costly anyway and this would have resulted in a Hugh increase for 3 years. I count myself as very LUCKY!

LC

 

[mcatrophy]

My first non-ticket was in about 1962. I had a Triumph Tiger Cub, 200cc's of oily noise, weekends of maintenance, and loads of fun (more of it here).

I lived in typical English suburbia - rows of houses on irregular roads, twists, turns and junctions. Cars were parked on both sides, so quite narrow.

Coming home one day, I was enjoying myself, riding enthusiastically (and probably not very safely) through the suburban roads. I pulled up outside home, and took off my helmet. Up came a police car (a black Wolsey with a bell on the front; only the older English will remember those). One of its occupants got out, and said:

"Do you know how fast you were going?"

"No", said I, truthfully.

"Well, we couldn't keep up with you." (Which also meant they couldn't ticket me, there was a quarter mile rule.)

After a little more "discussion", he asked if my exhaust was standard (I think he was trying to find a way to punish me for being able to out-run him. )

"Yes", said I, also truthfully, not telling him about the hot cams I'd fitted!

"Well, watch it" was his parting comment.

These days, you don't get let off. Almost all traffic law infringement is by so-called "safety cameras". these are actually revenue generators. They tend to cause accidents because drivers see them and brake hard, regardless of the speed limit and their own speed. Speeding fines are totally automatic (with the odd argument about who was actually driving, but it's an offence if you don't tell the authorities who was driving). And bad driving is almost never observed because there are fewer traffic officers around.

I used to be proud of the standard of UK driving compared with other countries, not any more. Bring back patrol cars and bikes! Yes, you may get caught anywhere, but it makes all drivers more concious of what's around them.

No, I've not had a speeding ticket for many years. Got one for doing about 37 in a 30. All I was doing was keeping up with the traffic, but this motorcycle cop heard my tyres squeel on a corner (Michelin X tyres on a French car that had no anti-roll bars - it squeeled on every corner). The really bad part was they put the limit on that stretch up to 40 two weeks later. It doesn't count anyway, being in a car.

I can see me getting one on my FJR real soon now, however. All you need is to go by one of those cameras that you didn't see because you were looking at the road ...

OK, I'll get off my soap box.

 

[jesse]

I was a rather wild kid. I rack up a lot of miles so I have had a lot of speeding tickets.
The last 25 years have averaged a ticket every 18 months (commuting to/from work). I have only had 3 tickets in the last 11 years however. Only 2 speeding tickets while working (driving truck for last 25 years.)

That said, I did get a ticket on the FJR coming home from work one night last February. 0500-0515. It had rained and the roads were wet. It was cold and I was having a problem with face shield "fogging up", not to mention my glasses and the mirrors. Hit the cross town freeway in Sacramento, CA just as the "commute" was heating up. Lots of people going way to fast and merging to and from the freeway. Normally, I cruise the fast lane at 70-80 mph and "pick a lane" over to the transition to the 99 freeway south. This is the most dangerous part of my commute as there are 3-4 major highways that merge onto this section and a lot of people "jumping off" the "downtown" exits. Makes for a lot of vehicles going every which way without signaling. (Does anyone signal anymore?) Hence, my preference is to go faster than any of them so they can't hit me! I find it much easier to navigate "up through" the traffic. It is much more difficult and dangerous trying to transition through several lanes with high speed vehicles whizzing by left and right while using the FJR "mirrors" to do so.

Anyway, I perceived that I had a "near-miss" from my left-rear during this maneuver. I thought it was a white/light colored vehicle with a "chrome" light rack on top (my mind turned it into a white pick up truck with light bar on top). This unnerved me a bit, but I transitioned to the S/B 99 freeway and worked my way over to the fast lane. This took a couple of "spurts" of speed as there was a lot of traffic headed south. Usually the left lane is a HOV lane, but since it wasn't 0600 yet I had to share the lane with ???? I settled back down to cruise mode at about 70-75 mph (speed limit 65). Just kind of going along with traffic. Suddenly I saw a pair of headlight approaching me from the right rear doing triple digits. Appeared to be headed right at me. This disturbed me and I went into my "defensive mode". I spotted a clear spot up ahead and "zipped" over to it, leaving the fast land to that insanely speeding four wheeler. However, within a few seconds another set of headlights appeared approaching from the rear at a high rate of speed. I repeated my "fight or flight" maneuver and found an open space up ahead to the left. Of course I navigated my way to these "open" spaces using the full capabilities of the FJR, then settling down to a sane steady speed of about 70-75. Each time as I just got settled in I would see another set of lights approaching on a collision course and this went on for 4-5 miles. Finally, I had had enough of this obviously-mentally-ill, road-raged motorist and I dropped it down to third and wound it up. I put at least a quarter of a mile between me and "traffic". Then, I settled down in the slow lane and watched to see if this "mad man" was pursuing me. Sure enough here comes a vehicle doing triple digits on a collision course with me.. What to do? Should I jump off the freeway and try to evade him in the burbs?... No, wet roads do not make for good cornering. Should I "haul Ashe" and try to out run him? Head for the nearest police station? I decided to see what he was up to.. He pulled up to within a foot of my tail light and about a foot to the left. Quite cozy. We went under a street light. I tried to identify the threat in the misted mirrors, through a foggy faceplate. Who was this guy? I saw the glint of chrome on the top of the car. Wait a minute I thought it was a pick-up... Er, what other type of vehicle has "chrome on top" To test this theory I sped up a little and watched his reaction.. He, too sped up and matched my speed. I slowed down a little and once again he matched me.. Hmmm, if it was road rage he had a perfect chance to kill me... What else could it be? OMG, of course, a CHP officer.. So, checking the speedo, I slowed down to 65 signaling the officer I knew, now, what he was.. Of course, he chooses then to light me up and prove that I was right... I was going to jail.

He had me pull off the freeway at the next exit. Not a good sign. He obviously didn't want to "tie up traffic" waiting for the tow truck to impound my FJR, so he had me pull over in an out-of-the way wide spot.

All I could think of was, "I'm going to jail". I fumbled in the cold to get my helmet off and my gloves. About this time he approaches from the rear and I look over at him, reaching for my wallet. All I can think of is to get my son's business card out and make sure he sees it. No "clever" way to present it so I just hand it to him with my license and say, "I'd appreciate any consideration you can give me, officer.". My son's business card indicates he is an FBI Special Agent and it is my only hope. The officer was very "professional" and asked if I knew how fast I was going. I replied I really had no idea. ( wasn't watching the speedo) He said he estimated in that last spurt I was doing 110-115 mph. (Wonder what happened to his radar, he did have one, however I find the CHPy's seem to prefer the old fashioned way, chasing you down.) He asked if all my info was current, etc., told me to set tight and he'd be right back. 5 minutes later he came back and gave me a ticket for 90 in a 65. He asked me if I knew what the fine was in Sacramento county for over 100 mph? I said, "No.". He said $2000.

I went to trial about 30 days later, plead NG. Set a trial date as far in the future as I could. 45 days later went to court in mid afternoon in the middle of the week. I figured he worked nights and wouldn't like to get up in the middle of his night to go to court. For whatever reason he failed to show and the ticket was dismissed. I had a speech all made up that I didn't think it was professional or safe to "pace" a motorcycle on wet roads without showing your lights to identify yourself. That was and is my gripe as to how he handled my case. He could have turned on his light at anytime during this fiasco and I would have pulled over instantly. As it was I thought he was a mad man trying to kill me and I was trying to "get away from him." This is not an unreasonable assumption of CA freeways now days. Maybe, just maybe he realized he had "created" part of the problem and because of my son's "LEO" connections he cut me another break.

In any case, I've since developed different "techniques" to avoid being "nailed" by maniac drivers...Hopefully ones that don't attract the attention of LEO's.

I feel fortunate to have avoided a 2 point violation. I hold a CDL so it is a "big" thing work-wise as well. However, I found I could get one more citation before losing my CDL privileges. So it wasn't "career" threatening. Insurance in CA is very costly anyway and this would have resulted in a Hugh increase for 3 years. I count myself as very LUCKY!

LC

Wow, great story, as are all the other ones as well. Thanks for taking the time to share...............

 

[87Doodle]

When I was 18 I got a ticket for 45 in a 35 on my KZ750 Twin. When I was 19 I got one for doing 70 on a 55 highway on my CB900C.
Went 20 years without a ticket until I got one on my VTX1800 doing 43 in a 30 right after the speed limit dropped from 35 to 30, nice little trap.

Here is my current best plan to avoid speeding tickets.

I'm not going to lie. I like to ride anywhere from 10- 15 miles over the speedlimit , and I hope that my Passport 8500 linked to my Z3 shifter will buy me a few seconds, which is all I need to scrub off 10-15 mph.

Of course, It's tough to beat an experienced operator with a 'delay' button using Instant on radar, but other than that, I think I'm in good shape, unless I go stupid fast and an LEO gets a visual on me.

So, my goal is to speed prudently, know my routes, and ride really fast only on familar and lightly patroled roads.

The FJR is too much fun to go WAY too fast, and I'm not trying to lose my life or my license.

they changed the system..no more steps...check with your agent.

 

[kansas transit]

Just one ticket for 70 in a 55 indian res. so no points or record in the state just the fine. Not bad for the last 15 years which adds up to just over 1.5 million miles!!!! Quick question, do you think cops in general are more or less likely to give a bike a ticket over a car in the same situation.

 

[airboss]

Let you all in on a little known secret here in the state of MS.............just in case any of you guys decide to ride through our southern hospitality state.
Radar detectors are by state law only used by state hwy patrol troopers.........who are confined to state interstate systems and state hwy's.

Also, City police can run radar guns only within there city limits.

Out in the county...........on county roads............there are no radar guns, and I know of no one who has been pulled over and issued a speeding ticket on a county road, I have passed county sheriff patrol cars on county roads while riding in excess of 30+ mph over the posted limit.........they have so far not even batted an eye, I have even waived at some and had them waive back :yahoo:

You just got to know where to ride.

Oh.............knock on wood............no speeding tickets on a bike.............yet!

Mississippi State troopers are the nicest people, I had a roadside discussion with one of them back in the spring, we talked about and looked over the FJR for about a half hour. he's a Wing rider right now, looking at the FJR for retirement in a couple of years, he said he lurks here, forum is an excellent resource for him.

 

[jesse]

Just one ticket for 70 in a 55 indian res. so no points or record in the state just the fine. Not bad for the last 15 years which adds up to just over 1.5 million miles!!!! Quick question, do you think cops in general are more or less likely to give a bike a ticket over a car in the same situation.

All depends on the cop and the situation. If he's been chasing crotch rockets all day riding dangerousely he may have it in for bikes. I think in general it all depends on what you were doing to get pulled over, and then how you handle yourself with the officer. Respect and cooperation, even a little humor goes a long way with traffic stops. It has worked for me many times. I tried crying once and telling the officer how bad my day started with my wife yelling at me , job wasn't going so good etc............didn't work.................

 

[DailyCommuter]

Last summer on my way to work on a Saturday, Couple jerk kids were messing' with me on the highway(brake jobs in front of me and such)but once they started dropping trash out the window I took action, Changed lanes passed "em hard and stayed on it for a bit to put some distance in between us,.... passing dozens of cars along the way,.... Unfortunately along the way in the pack somewhere was a state police car. I never even saw him. By the time I sat back up and checked my mirrors (laughing to myself at how far behind me those two probably were) LEO was right on my ass! at like 120MPH. 15 feet off my tail.

That scarred the sh*t outta me. I pulled right over and he comes up; all smiles and leans down to me and says'" new bike?" no sir I'm on my way to work and there were 2 kids trying to take me down. There they go now... Little *******s were laughing their ***** off. He just looked at me and said I was behind you for over 3 miles at 130+ mph. I don't care if they were dropping hand grenades out their windows, theres no reason to drive that fast.

He wrote me up for 110mph which earned me $500.00 in fines and then tacked on an extra $100.00 for not using my blinker when I was changing lanes.

I looked at him and smiled and told him it was kinda hard to use my thumb for the blinker when I was going that fast, and he just walked off shaking his head and told me to slow it down I might live longer.

He was probably right... I tend not to let cagers piss me off anymore.(most of the time)

I appealed the ticket and produced a driving record from my R.M.V. showing no tickets or any violations for over 15 years. The magistrate cut the ticket down in half to $300.00 but that damn surcharges is what gets ya anyway. I would gladly have payed $1000.00 to keep my clean driving record. Oh Well....

I got a clean year under my belt now.... 14 more to go... ROFL. The guy probably did me a favor. I'm not nearly as invincible as I feel when I ride....

Ya know what I mean...?