3 run ins:

At intersection near Fort Mason in SF, get caught be a car/pedestrian driveway delay, and yellow turns to red, a cop at the perpindicular intersection is being blocked at his green, staring right at me. I just wave. He pulls me over, is SUPER friendly, loves the car, and wonders how much the insurance is. He tells me that it's probably not my fault, and if this leads to a point, I should just fight the ticket in court, we'll go our separate ways after shaking hands, and that would be that. I fought the ticket through the mail, explaining that I did a super job reducing traffic hazards in the situation, and they refunded my bail, told me I wasn't guilt, and I didn't have to appear. I wasn't going to get a point, but I wasn't about to allow a point for any reason. Such a wonderful and weird experience tho. The cop was the best.

Off the 280S, early, early AM around 6.45a or so, I must have passed a CHP while snoozing, because at 95+ I got to my exit, and a small commuter parking lot. I was parked for a few moments when this CHP SUV comes screaming down the offramp, makes two hard rights and then one more right into the commuter lot, drives around the lot at about 50mph faster than he should have, glared at me, tore out of the lot and went back on the freeway.

Yesterday, I was in Sonoma, and right off the town square I made two idiotic moves after a reasonable day of lunch and tasting (I don't want to tempt fate or DUI crap, ever).... I went forward into a residential neighborhood at a right turn only, and then gunned it in 2nd a wee bit, getting upwards of 35mph+. I saw the Sonoma Police SUV come up on me REAL, real quick, saying he had to speed up and had trouble keeping up with my by the 2nd block. I had license and registration immediately, he was super friendly, professional, and expedient... he told me what I did wrong, I explained I absolutely missed the right turn only, but didn't think I was exceeding the speed limit, and apologized.

He gave me a really friendly warning, and I was on my way.

So hopefully this cat has 9 lives. I am a SUPER friendly dude, so maybe that helps. I think I'm that guy that immediately reduces tension and adrenalin in people, like "oh thank goodness this guy is not going to be the problem today".

Still.... 3 lives down.

What are your runs ins, stern warnings, friendly questions, and points experiences?

 

Road trip from Dallas to Palm Springs last January. Highway 287 between Dallas and Amarillo with all those small Texas speed trap towns. I knew better but was overly confident. I have an Escort 360 Max and had Waze open. I had been tempting fate all day. I was that douche in the fast red sports car passing everyone. Doh.

Cresting a hill and my detector is silent and Waze has nothing. As soon as I crest the hill the Escort goes off and I immediately see the county sheriff driving the opposite direction in his Tahoe. I knew I had gotten tagged so immediately pulled over as has he yanked around in the median.

Pulls up behind me and tells me to get out of the car and go sit in his front seat....Gulp. He asks where I'm heading and told him Palm Springs. He says I gotta ask what the license plate is all about. It says 'STOKE'. I tell him it's for Stoke On Trent, England where my father is from and he had recently passed away so it was in honor of him since he too drove a Jag.

I was thinking in my head "Thanks Dad, you are gonna get me out of this ticket.' The officer says he thought it had something to do flying and so I told him no, but ironically I am an airline pilot. So he starts asking about flying and such and I'm thinking, 'Yes my job is going to get me out of this ticket.' He was very professional and polite and at the end says this will be a citation for speeding!!! Doh. 89 in a 75....ugh I wish it was something worth bragging about for the $300 fine. The worst part was all the people I just passed were now laughing at me on the side of the road with a rozzer behind me.

Oh well. First one in 20 years.

 

I wasn't in a Jaguar as I was only 16 at the time, and no way in hell would my Dad let me drive his Jaguar.


I was in a 84 Monte Carlo SS that was handed down to me. I was driving my friend home, which was about 9pm at night. As I take him home, I have to drive over some rail road tracks. As I drive over, there is a police car parked in the parking lot on the left side of the road. Given its 9pm, and the location, there was only one light in the parking lot, so pretty much pitch black. I keep driving, going the speed limit,, using my turn signals. The Police car follows me for at least 10 minutes.


I'm thinking to myself I don't need a ticket, then at the same time, I hadn't done anything wrong. Anyhow, as soon as I turn on my friends street, he lights me up. I pull over. He asks me do I know why I was pulled over, I said no. He says, your registration is expired. In Texas at that time, this was 1996, we had 2 stickers on the windshield. They used a hole punch basically to make the dates of expiration.


Me being me, I notice he didn't even look at it when he came up to my window. I looked at it and it said I still had another 2 months to go. He only then checked it and said, ok let me see your drivers license and insurance. He notices the addresses are different, I said that's because I just moved ( literally 1 week before ) you have 30 days to update your license. I still got a warning for it. Be wary when its end of the month, cops will look for ANYTHING to give a ticket.


I was wondering how in the sam hell can he see that tiny hole punched out from over 50 feet away in the dark? Then it dawned on me, it was the car.


I know it doesn't involve a Jaguar, but my friend contributed to me wanting to be a technician. 15 years and 2 countries later, here I am. Haha

 

I got tagged coming out of Shelby, NC in the F-type with wife in car on the way to my first gay wedding in Asheville, NC. The 2 ladies getting married are long time friends and we were in a hurry. Shelby is stop and go and as soon as I got out of the city limits, I hit 80 MPH, saw a car parked in someone's yard... looked like a Camry from a distance, but it turns out to be a stealth Charger. Young Highway Patrol guy, asked all about the car and that he saw my spoiler pop up and that was neat, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, he wrote me for 80 in a 55, which is automatically reckless driving. So, in that county, they don't dismiss anything. Got a lawyer, who had the RD dismissed and speed reduced to less than 15 over. Lawyer fee $150, court costs and fine about $300. I now have an Escort 360 and a laser jammer system installed. Both have saved my *** several times since.

 

Good ole 74 through Shelby. My parents live in the NC mountains and in-laws in Charlotte and I HATE driving through Shelby. Can't wait until that bypass is done.

I haven't had any run-ins with the 5-0 in the F-TYPE yet. *crossing fingers*

 

This car has gotten me into plenty of trouble and the local PD have a hard on for it so I've learned how to sneak in and out of my own town so as not to get hassled.

Got busted for doing 90 in a 65 New Years Day 2016 so knock on wood, that goes away in June after attending driving school, no points on the record.

Also got lit up a second time with the wife in the car, she's none to pleased about it either...

 

I use Waze, but sometimes forget to turn it on, because I usually know where I am going. It seems fairly competent crowd sourcing police locations, although 50% of the time, the police have moved, etc. But it's invaulable.

Anyone have Waze *&* a jammer.... and can you speak to the accuracy, etc? Is it worth getting a police scanner system thingy, or is the "jammer" something that doesn't alert *you* to police, but denies a MPH read out on the police radar gun?

 

Well, I was pulled over test driving the S; it was a good excuse to get the R.

 

 

The sad irony - surely I'm not the only one thinking it - of anyone getting stopped, never mind (it sounds like often) ticketed, in a town called "Shelby"?!!!

P.S. I still have all of my 9 lives left which is nothing less than a miracle (and I've been stopped more times in my life than you can imagine). Although I bet DJS, Unhingd, and MBourne can

 

When Jay gets a ticket, there's a great disturbance in The Force. He could talk his way out of Alcatraz...

 

Let's just hope it never comes to that. (Although I hear Alcatraz is quite beautiful this time of year).

May the force be with you DJS!

 

[QUOTE=Uncle Fishbits;1642055]3 run ins:

At intersection near Fort Mason in SF, get caught be a car/pedestrian driveway delay, and yellow turns to red, a cop at the perpindicular intersection is being blocked at his green, staring right at me. I just wave. He pulls me over, is SUPER friendly, loves the car, and wonders how much the insurance is. He tells me that it's probably not my fault, and if this leads to a point, I should just fight the ticket in court, we'll go our separate ways after shaking hands, and that would be that. I fought the ticket through the mail, explaining that I did a super job reducing traffic hazards in the situation, and they refunded my bail, told me I wasn't guilt, and I didn't have to appear. I wasn't going to get a point, but I wasn't about to allow a point for any reason. Such a wonderful and weird experience tho. The cop was the best.

QUOTE]

Just out of curiosity, why did you think this cop was the best if he gave you a ticket anyway? If I'm reading it correctly, he still gave you a ticket? If he's the best, or nice, or whatever...why did he give you a ticket?

I see this here sometimes, where an officer will give a ticket, and then tell you just go to court and they'll drop it, or you'll get supervision (won't go on your record), etc. So I wonder to myself....what then is the point of giving the ticket if you're just saying it's going to be dropped? How about just let the person leave with a verbal warning?

Some will argue it's to hit their quota, others will argue that the quota thing is not real and does not exist. In our county, they now (as of like 10 years, but never before that) have court costs of roughly $300. So just to show up so that it gets dropped...costs you $300. And if it doesn't get dropped, or you don't get supervision, it's $300 + cost of ticket + it's on your record anyway. And even worse, it seems that at least 25% of the time someone was supposed to get supervision, it ended up on their record by clerical mistake anyway.

So again, I wonder why the officers give tickets that they say will be dropped? Why put you through that hassle, and anyway why a cop who gave a ticket is still the best as if they gave you a warning or even better just let you off with no written warning?

By the way, honest question here. I am 100% for police, not hating on them at all...simply asking what's the point of giving a ticket and telling the person it will be dropped anyway.

 

[QUOTE=2015Coupe;1644447]I would have to agree with you. Perhaps Uncle Fishbits simply feels that in spite of him getting a ticket, the officer was - at the least - a pleasant officer to deal with (it takes all kinds...and I've met many of them).

Reminds me of the time I suppose I entered an on-ramp much faster than an officer - somewhat hidden from my view - noticed and quickly pulled me over. I did my "usual" schmooze and, with license and registration in hand, he walked back to his patrol car. He came back - and was pleasant enough - and made the remark that that day was my birthday. I concurred. He said because it was my birthday he was going to cite me for a slower speed than I was actually going. As he handed me the ticket I said something along the lines of "but officer, it's my birthday" to which he said "and why I reduced the speed on the ticket" with my last reply being "yeah, but it could have been" - the ticket, the fine - "nothing". Needless to say I wasn't happy. Luckily I knew someone who was nicely connected and he "took care of it". Vanished into thin air. Like ServePro: Like it never even happened. And, to this very day, "this" person LOVES to text me, every now and then, "yeah, but it coulda been nothing". HA!

I could write a book...

 

A laser jammer somehow scrambles the signal going back to their gun. When the alert goes off, I have 5 seconds to slow it down to the speed limit... it does an auto shut-off then so he will get a good reading on the next try. That way it reduces his suspicion of getting jammed. They are slightly illegal.

Now the new Escort 360 radar detector is also an awesome unit. It has GPS so remembers areas were one tends to get false alarms. The cops around here use either K or Ka band mostly. K can be emitted from non-cop sources, but Ka is always 5-0. So with a jammer for the laser and the best radar detector on the market, I hope I'm covered. I guess adding Waze is also a plus.

 

You lucky people. Not to pull the race card, but no way I would get away with a friendly ticket for anything I do, no matter how minor. I once got pulled in my R on 101-S for breaking zero laws, and the cop wanted me to prove that the car was actually my car. No sh$t. I asked nicely why I was being stopped, he was like you don't have a license plate. I was like I just had the car for 2 weeks, the papers are in the front windshield. Grrr. Anyways of course he let me go after proving the car was actually my car and that it is too new for a license plate.

 

It's super hard to drive to or from though. We could do it, but our Coast Guard is pretty awesome.

In all seriousness though, if you ever plan to go, make sure it is on your mind to buy Alcatraz tickets prior to even getting your hotel or flight. It books up way in advance.

Also, from my porch this AM...... we're about two weeks away from our normal beautiful spring. This winter has been painful for us who live here for the Sun. Not so great this time of year, stupid rainy damned season.

Arrow is Alcatraz

 

Okay I am going to ramble, which I am prone to do.

I don't know... your entire line of questioning is super duper valid, but it gets into the core of who I am, and my psyche, right?

I didn't explain the situation clearly, but it was funny to begin with. I was rolling north on a one way street. Green lights are timed, so I was just cruising at 25mph, let's say.

I entered an intersection, and a car stopped *DEAD* right past the crosswalk, *THEN* put on their signal. There was a slow pedestrian crossing over the driveway they were going to park in, and the car honked. The Pedestrian slowed down to sneer at the driver, and there was a momentary stand off of two stupid people.

Meanwhile, I am stopped dead in the intersection for about a 4 second count, and of course, at about the 2 second mark, the light goes yellow. I'm not moving. The light goes red. I'm not moving. The perpendicular lane now has a green, and I look over, and I am staring directly at a cop, who is staring at me, dead in the intersection.

I smile and wave. Not derisive or "bro" sarcastic. I mean genuinely, like "This is on me, I got this". I think it's from playing basketball, from raising your hand when you fouled someone, to take ownership, be accountable, and let the ref know it was on you.

So at this point, 4 or 5 second count, 3 seconds in the intersection during an opposing green, I am able to move on, and the cop takes a hard right, and flashes me. I pull over as far as I can go.

He gets out, we have cursory talk, and I must be a disarming dude, because he immediately asks me to get out, and we just start shooting the ****, he's a native SF but korean, been a copy for yadda yadda. He asks a bit about the car, loves it. Mentions insurance must be expensive. Wasn't sure if I had any points on the record, but matter of factly (I knew I was getting the ticket at this point), that I should make sure to do online traffic school, or make sure I don't get a point no matter what. That's when he mentioned we would meet in court, shake hands, laugh, and go our separate ways. LOL

But part of him being a good guy is just from going from adrenalin rush of being pulled over, to it actually being a relatively pleasant experience. Even though I wasn't sure I would beat it at the time, it was just "nice".

But the best part, and a huge aspect of why he was a great guy.....

At one point he told me that I was a really good citizen, and he's amazed that I've been that well behaved. I was sort of puzzled, but he mentioned my warrant in Colorado. I was baffled. I lived there 1994-2000, but yeah... not me.

He said I had an outstanding warrant from March of 2000, and that it went out of date, expired, or whatever, in 2015. He said that if he had pulled me over and seen that, I would be in handcuffs. LOL I have NO IDEA what that was.

He asked if I had kids from a previous marriage or something, but yeah.... zilch on the kids then or now. So I would love to figure out what that was, but he said "I'm not supposed to let you see this on our computers, but since your a good guy and it's about you", and let me look at the way the warrant was in the system. At the time, so shocked, I really didn't remember a thing.

So that's why he's a good guy. It was all around a life moment and interesting experience, and that's when you get into my mind a bit. I've low to no expectations, in general. I try to exist like that, but I also sort of just default to being a happy / unflappable guy. My wife says I am overly nice on multiple levels, and it is frustrating. LOL But I find having no expectation, and just sort of driving through existence, is a pleasant way to experience life. It's certainly easier and less stressful. So my wife would say I am an idiot to say the cop experience was pleasant, but I really just look at it as another part of the tapestry of experience and existence.

Oh, but to answer your question, it's got to be quotas.

Okay back to car ****.

 

Wasn't sure whether to PM this....

You're not pulling the race card. It's there. Everywhere. It's crazy. Took me years to understand the concept of white privilege. A couple of my best friends, in **SF** are black, and I would walk to their houses in the Haight... you know, just go to their house, after work, in my suit. Why does that sentence even exist?

They mention that they get stopped... walking to their house, after work, after parking their car down the street. Walking to their house, in a suit. Just, you know, because. Being a peace love hippy Big Sur California boy, the concept wasn't hard to grasp, but took a few minutes to truly understand, I think, because it just sort of breaks my heart.

So yeah, man. No cards pulled.

 

I'm a step 21 and was revoked in NY. I used to run movie dailies for a special f/x house that made movies with Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, etc. Had to be there and back quickly...not that they cared if I got a ticket.

I get a ticket every time (the cops say it goes back 10 years and they see the crazy amount of speeding tickets I've gotten, so it's automatic), so every time I get pulled over I just barely crack the window and toss the cop my license and reg without a word.

Usually it's something stupid, like the cop riding my *** in an unmarked car and not being able to move over quickly enough for them due to traffic in the middle lane. Purposely gunning it in the right lane so I can't merge onto the highway...that sort of thing.