Back during the period when national speed limit had been lowered to 55, I wasn't paying attention and whizzed right past a state trooper at probably 65 to 70. I saw him in my rearview mirror light up and start pulling out after me. However, I never saw him again after I crested the next hill. I was lucky to get away with it. A few hours later on the way back home after class, I spotted the same trooper and his car right where I'd left him........ "with his hood up!" Probably still waiting for the department tow truck, he'd obviously broken down right there as he tried to come after me. I think it was a Chevrolet Caprice.

 

I have lots of cop stories from my younger, wilder days. Most are escapes and evasions or at least attempts, but two stand out.

Junior year of college, I borrowed my mother's car to visit some friends in Boston. Riding through Rhode Island and trying to impress my female passenger, I attempted to make up some time after several miles of crawling and was going 80 in a 55. Of course there happened to be a smokey with a customer on the right shoulder. Apparently, I was going faster than his current love and I saw him turn on the Christmas tree and try to pull out. Seeing him struggle to merge and an exit less than a mile ahead, I made the brilliant choice to accelerate and take the exit at double the posted 35.

Unfortunately, I had to pause at the stoplight at the end of the ramp and then saw old Sheriff Buford T. Justice come hurtling down the ramp on two wheels in his Crown Vic. Discretion took over and I pulled over to wait. He came screeching to a halt behind me, burst out with his hand on his gun and ran/waddled over to my car. Before even asking for any documentation, he informed me that he almost rolled his cruiser chasing me. Then he asked what I was doing trying to get away from him. The best I could come up with was I needed gas. Buford nudged me aside, peeked into the car and saw I still had over half a tank left. He then asked for my paperwork and left muttering that he almost killed himself chasing some young punk. I guess he thought the shiny red Chrysler Laser was Pablo Escobar's personal ride and would earn him LEO of the year.

After a good 20 minute punishment wait, he issued a citation and let me go with a stern lecture. Needless to say, my passenger was not very impressed and left me very blue for the rest of the trip. Most stories would end here but not mine. When I got back to school, I filled out the paperwork, pleaded guilty with a heart wrenching sob story hoping to get the ticket reduced. A few months later, I received a letter informing me that I was found guilty of the full offence and had to pay $250 (a lot of money to a college kid in 1986). In the letter, it said failure to pay would result in the "forfeiture of the privilege to drive in the state of Rhode Island." In my infinite 19 year old wisdom, I figured screw them, who cares if I can't drive in Rhode Island and blew off paying the fine.

Fast forward 11 years when I moved to North Carolina and went to DMV to exchange my New York license for a North Carolina one. The little old granny frowned at her computer and then sweetly told me that I could not get a North Carolina license until my issues with Rhode Island were resolved. A sheepish call to Rhode Island and a $350 check took care of the problem and a lesson was learned: you can run, you can hide, you can ignore but Big Brother will eventually get their pound of flesh.

Story #2 is much shorter. Was at a bar Senior year with future wife and her friend in my muscle car Saab 900. Had a couple of beers over a 3 hour span and started driving home after midnight. Showing off just a little, I was taking some S turns a bit faster than the legal limit and exited the last one just as Mr. LEO was entering. Knowing that he could not turn around easily and would lose sight of me for at least 30 seconds, I turned off my lights, whipped the squirrels and gunned it looking for a place to turn and hide. I pulled into a large, fairly crowded parking lot, parked and proudly sat there waiting for him to come flying by in hot pursuit.

Imagine my surprise when he leisurely turned into the lot and pulled up right next to my car. A youngish officer saunters over and asks for my paperwork and if I had been drinking. I confessed to my 2 beers in 3 hours and he could tell I was fine so no issue there. He peeked into the car, saw the two wide-eyed ladies, smiled and went back to his cruiser. After a few minutes, he came back, tossed me my license and registration and said he was on his way home, did not have his radar on and did not feel like doing all the paperwork so he was only giving me a warning. Seeing that he was cool, I asked how he saw where I had turned since the road was dark, my lights were off and he was too far away to see the car. He looked at me with a big grin and said, "next time, downshift instead of tapping your brakes." Valuable lesson learned and applied a few times over the next 30 years.

 

It used to be quite an easy modification to have a toggle switch in your car that killed all lights (we used to have them in all our work cars for certain scenarios)! but also, if you have to slow down and you dont want the police to know, use the emergency break gently, slows you down and no lights. Admittedly, this is for cars with a manual lever EB, not sure id try it in a new F-Type!!!

 

After 3 years and 24,000 miles, got pulled over for the first time last night on the way home from work. Was 50 degrees, but I had the top down anyway. Took a nice road, which is residential, but the house are back from the road, good pavement, nice sweeping corners...


Came around a bend, and a cop was sitting right there, and his lights came on immediately. I pulled over pretty quickly.


Him: "I get it - nice spring day, top down... joggers, bikes, blah blah" (There were none, but I get his point."
Him: " License and registration... do you know how fast you were going?"
Me: "No idea" (which was true - I was looking at him, not my speedo)
Him: "51 in a 35"
Me: "That's not good."


He went back to his car for not very long, came back...
Him: "Please try to slow down."


I'm absolutely floored that he didn't give me a ticket for 51 in a 35 on a residential road, in a rich suburb. Guess he liked my clean record.


Also happy he didn't notice that I'm not running with a front plate. (I keep it with a tow-hook mount in the glove box.)

 

Works well on the F-Type. Just hold up on the button until finished braking, then release. Applies gentle braking.

 

"Also happy he didn't notice that I'm not running with a front plate. (I keep it with a tow-hook mount in the glove box.)[/QUOTE]"

I just purchased the ShoNGO removable front bracket kit for use when you anticipate trouble or don't want to attract additional attention.

 

Here's the scoop on speedometer inaccuracy - they're much less accurate than I though.
https://www.thrillist.com/cars/your-...-japanese-cars


So, next time you're asked 'do you know how fast you were going?', you can honestly say 'Officer, I have no idea.'


I'll be doing an extended stretch on the freeway tomorrow, and plan to check mine. Note the last paragraph is not accurate. To get from seconds per mile to MPH, divide 3600 by the # of seconds it took you to go one mile.


Edit: if you actually have a watch with the tachymeter feature, then they described it correctly. For a straight stopwatch, no.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachymeter_(watch)


Edit 2: Slightly more speedo info...
http://www.caranddriver.com/features...ometer-scandal

 

My radar detector, Escort MAX II, uses GPS and gives my speed. It is always within 1-2 mph of my car's speedometer reading.

 

I drove the F-Type into Portland for a meeting and to get its last service under Warranty. When I left was in heavy traffic and raining but once into the hills the traffic let up and I decided to make up time. 2 lane road and passing a lot a Sheriff passed me going the other way and lit up. Figured I was screwed I hit the brakes and he turned off his lights and continued on. Apparently he just wanted me to slow down (and it was raining so he had a good point). In and around the towns you need to watch your speed up here but, apparently, between towns they don't seem to care that much. Still, whew, and I kept it below crazy the rest of the way home.






However my best cop story was years ago, was driving back from Northern Cal with a friend really driving crazy averaging, that's averaging, around 90. Highway patrol passed going the other way and I asked my friend to watch him, he did for a while then gave up but I continued to watch and, yep, lights came on in the distance and the car did a U turn and stared the pursuit. I told my buddy to watch this and slipped between two large Semis who were slipstreaming, they weren't amused and the rear truck got right on my bumper. A few minutes later the highway patrol car went screaming by thinking I was off in the distance and I could see the cop do a double take as he screamed by my car. I could see him shaking his head and then he did another u turn and headed away. Damn, sometimes I'm really lucky... Then again I'm surprised I survived my teens.

 

Part of my commute to work involves going thru Fort Bragg. (Mind you, I'm not military, just using a short-cut.) Like most military posts, the perimeter roads are 2-lanes. long & straight. One morning, I got caught behind 3 cars doing just a tick over 55mph. Head of the train was a late model white Ford F-150 pick-up. My V1 was also chirping but showed a weak signal towards the front. The radar going off like that was not uncommon on-post so I just tuned it out. After following the pick-up for awhile, the Honda Civic right behind him passed in one of the many designated passing zones. Then the BMW in front of me just stayed behind the pick-up. Worried that I might be late for work, I elected to pass both the Bimmer & the truck at one go on a straight-away passing zone. I just PUNCHED the accelerator to the floor. As I started to see into the right lane as I was making the pass, I noticed the Civic was sitting there right in front of the pick-up & had not sped away after passing him awhile back. That's when I noticed above the wind noise (top was down) that my radar was going nuts. I looked back as I was passing the pick-up & saw the light bar behind the grill & at the top of the windshield inside the cabin -- NUTZ!!!

I pulled into the right lane & then immediately slowed down & pulled onto the grass (no shoulder) as his lights came on...

The MP came over & was yelling at me asking me if I knew how fast I was going & what was I thinking. I told him I was just heading to work & was only going fast because I was trying to make a safe pass as I was in the on-coming traffic lane (no cars in sight at the time coming our way). He informed me in no uncertain terms he should take me into the brig because he clocked me at 92mph as I was going by. Again, I plead my case that I was only trying to get by as quickly as possible & not loiter in the oncoming lane. Moreover, I slowed down to 60mph as soon as I was clear. I was also apologizing profusely for not realizing how fast I was going. I had already handed over my license, registration, insurance card, my work badge & Sheriff's "courtesy card".

He walked away with everything I handed him & came back a short while later with everything except the Sheriff's card. Again, he reminded me he could take me to jail RIGHT NOW. But he gave me a stern warning & let me go!

Traveled the rest of the way on-post to work with the cruise control set at 55mph. Wasn't even late for work!

 

It's neither amusing nor interesting but it was expeditious as during the Lobster Run we had 4 separate police escorts - U, you missed the last, longest, and fastest - complete with lights and sirens and you'd be amazed how traffic on all sides pulls over for you .

 

After leaving the dealership? If so sorry I missed that one!

 

Mee too!

 

Without my giving away the jurisdiction, Marko was there but Unhingd was not (the only time he was not). Think back my dear friend Marko...after our escort you saw me veer off, followed by all of you, and stop to thank him and we all left him with a grand uproarious departure. I certainly did.

Our escort was rather long, fast, and of course fun. Liz kept shaking her head as cars in front, as far as the eye could see, peeled off to the side as we sped by.

PM me if you still don't get it (I'd rather you not guess here; to protect the innocent...not that we were).

 

Not sure if this counts or not....I had just finished my "field training" as a police officer and they wanted me to spend a day with the traffic unit so I knew what they did in a daily basis...

We were driving a Ford Thinderbird that was sezied from a drug dealer and turned into a traffic car.

Some kids in a Range Rover were trying to show off to there high school friends, driving fast, squeezing tires etc...

We lit them up, they noticed us, but didn't pull over. They got onto the highway, kept checking their mirrors looking back at us but wouldn't stop.

By this time there are about 10 other marked units on there way to the pursuit. By chance they exited the highway back into the city and and swarmed by the other marked units.

Realizing ow that we were cops, they pulled over. As with any pursuit you treat it as a "high risk stop." Weapons drawn, giving commands on the PA.

The kids were so freaked out, they knew they screwed, shaking and could barely speak.

I gave them a warning . I could tell the experience had the an effect on them and the lesson was learned. No point and giving them a ticket for their parents to pay.

(Disclaimer: since we were an unmarked unit, court can get tricky trying to prove eluding. As well, after we "lit them up," they drove the speed limit but just refused to pull over, as it was apparent they didn't believe our 15yr old Thinderbird was legitimate).

Prolly not the type of story you were expected, but figured since it was a RR it fell into the Jag line up...

Not all cops are dicks, be polite, respectful, we all know if you get pulled over going 15+ over the speed limit and get a ticket, there are probably 364 more days in a year that you also deserved a ticket, but didn't get one...

(No longer a cop, although it was a great profession)

 

It does count, and nice to hear a good story from the other side of the driver's window.

 

Now I remember! Completely forgot about that last escort. There were so many

 

Oh the irony, got a ticket today, lol.

Was in a 40mph zone, saw the 55 mph zone ahead of me, accelerated for it and got a ticket for 10mph over.

I consider it a "cheap" ticket, as I was transitioning my speed for the 55mph zone, but I guess I accelerated too early. There was also a larger vehicle in front of me, in my lane. The officer was using moving radar and driving towards us.

Moving radar will read the strongest signal. Which is typically the closest, largest, shiniest object to it. It can't discriminate and skip the large jacked up truck in front of me to single out my speed....

(When I patrolled, no ticket unless it was 16+ over the speed limit....unless they were a jerk, that's when discretion came into play.

I will be going to court, as I also got a 5mph over ticket about 3yrs ago (5mph!?!) and scared my insurance will be affected, as I am in the process of picking up another car...

 

S#%^! I love irony as much if not more than the next guy, but c'mon...after the story you posted just this morning???!!! 5, 10 or even 15 mph over any posted speed limit is like shooting fish in a barrel. Sorry to hear and good luck.

 

As expected, I fully agree with you . On the bright side, the ticket is $10.00. Lol. I guess if you are going to speed, ND is the state for light fines.

I was a cop in a large city in WI, I think the minimum fine for speeding was about $125.00 or so and that was 8yrs ago, guessing the have only gone up.