122 in a 70 in Tucson AZ when driving from San Diego to Dallas. The young trooper said "please try and slow this down", big smile and waved at my FOP sticker

 

In San Diego, if you are driving at 70 on I-5 or I-15 (the posted limit), you will get run over. CHP is looking for very excessive or aggressive drivers.

 

http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/auto...st-speed-traps. A must read.

 

True, however I was probably well into the 90s or more. I was accelerating down a long frwy on-ramp to overtake a semi. As I passed the truck I saw the CHP on the other side. He lit me up, but only gave me a warning.

 

VERY TRUE, flow of traffic there was always in the mid 80's from what I remember.

 

I read this. Why do we American's put up with this? This is just insane! Houston 3000 tickets per day! Who is fighting crime?

 

To the OP, get a lawyer and fight the ticket to get no points or a reduced amount. I had to do the same to get out of a ticket entitled "Driving unsafe for weather conditions" even tho I didnt slide or skid off the road or even for that matter break traction.

I believe speeding tickets are another way to increase revenue. Maybe I would have different views if police were checking speed from cars and trucks passing parks and schools. But I see them mostly on the side of the highway pulling over the average joe on his way to work.

I'd prefer people speeding 15 over the limit instead of the the amount of elderly drivers and drunk drivers on the road out there. I mean its going for 2012 they should get rid of the standard 65 max on the highways and have a speed limit system like 65 min 90 max. I also believe they should update traffic lights.

 

Sorry, but I'm about to rant for a hot minute here..I'll be the last fool to lecture anybody on speed, and I'd be willing to bet my drivers license that I have more tickets for speed than any other person on this forum. I guarantee it! Now bragging about is the last thing I'm doing here. Anyways what's to brag about when you've been to jail for it (20 over in VA. will see you in jail), and lost my license twice for it. It is for this reason that I don't ride a crotch rocket anymore. Fleeing and eluding got my narrow *** behind bars in 3 jurisdictions, but that was only a precursor to things to come. That was circa '96, and I have since cleaned up my act and have not had a ticket in the last 6 years, and if you know me that is an epic achievement and no small feat especially here in MD. If anyone has ever watched SPEEDERS on Tru tv you'd be privy to the way they run speed traps in this area. The traffic ***** in Maryland use all manner of trickery and deception to catch unsuspecting speeders. The unmarked Crown Vic be the least of your worries out here (I could tell a crown vic in my rear view mirror from a half mile away at night by its headlights). I have seen the heat in everything from unmarked pickup trucks to the innocent minivan. You really gotta begin wonder wtf when the police resort to some pretty cunning tactics one of which has them in the bush wearing gilly suits, and like a two man sniper team lying in wait for their target to appear. They work in teams of 3 or more. 2 men positioned in camoflauge in the bushes on the side of the interstate one running radar/laser, and his partner radioing ahead to a unit(s) with the speeders description. You have no chance! I've seen as many as 10 state troopers with as many as 13 cars pulled at once issuing citations. In this format It's all about the revenue. Not always I understand that, but a bit of math will show just how much income can be coerced from the public. Let us take good ol Houston, Texas as an example. A city known for its frivolous speed traps.

"In March of last year, KTRK Channel 13 found that Houston police officers wrote about 3,000 tickets per day, or 147 an hour!"

"TrafficTicketSecrets.com says the average speeding ticket in the U.S. is about $150. Multiply that out and that’s $450,000 a day — and $14 million for the month!"

25 years of driving in the second most congested and worst traffic areas in America has taught me many things, and one corvette specific lesson that has been a long time coming. When it comes to hauling *** you need to pick your battles. In a perfect world we would be able to haul *** all day every day, but we can't so it helps to know when and where you can. I know it sucks for those who are like me and just love nothing more than the gratuitous and spontaneous romp on the throttle, and for no reason other than it feels good, but discipline is a must if you wanna keep your car, and that's about all I'm gonna say on that. From my observations it's not the speed that is dangerous, but the pigheaded jackass in the passing lane going at or below the speed limit that wont gtf outta the way! Ever been on a 2 lane road where 2 vehicles are driving side by side like lovers holding hands, and neither one of them will budge? How frustrating is that? When neither driver will gtf outta the way and continue to roll side by side for miles and you're stuck behind them an unsafe situation is being created not the least of which is road rage. Riding next to another car is as bad as riding in someone's blind spot. It gives you fewer options if evasive actions are needed. HELLO! Hows bout a little etiquette! See a mile long line of cars behind you? Maybe you ought to gtf outta the way and let em pass huh! People need to understand also that luck has a lot to do with whether or not you're getting a ticket today. Yes it does for sure... You can be doing everything right all day every day and just happen to do something not necessarily wrong and get a ticket. An example is overtaking a slower vehicle. You may need to do 80 to get past the slow mover and that might just be when you get got. You can be moving with the flow of traffic and still get got. How many times ya think the judge heard that one before? Tip: when telling it to the judge don't refer to the passing lane a s the fast lane. This brings me to my final point.

I got a ticket in September for speeding. Friday night about 11:30. My last C6 had Borla Stingers so it was easy to hear as it were... The cop wasn't running radar, but stated that he had to do 80 to catch up with me. It didn't matter to him that he got a late start in the pursuit. This road from light to light is 3/4 of a mile long. Now one thing I like to do when starting from a stop at an intersection especially when the posted speed is 50 (like it was the night in question) is to take off and get up to speed relatively quick. This puts me ahead of the pack which I like for obvious reasons. This is one of those times when the cop was plain wrong. I didn't break any laws and wasn't speeding but to him a loud exhaust and a corvette meant I must have been breaking some law. the cop was nowhere near me but on the other side of the intersection I was pulling away from. He assumed I was a happy hour drunk oblivious to the 4 other police cruisers at the same intersection, and he assumed I was speeding cause I was in a fast car. Like most other tickets I have ever gotten except for the "MUST APPEAR" citations I wasn't going to go to court cause my mind was made up that it was pointless. I was just another driver with a ticket and an excuse. I was wrong. I figured my 6 year streak had to come to an end some time, but my wife figured different, and forced me to go reminding me that 1 more ticket could mean the end of my status as a Corvette owner. Insurance companies won't cover me. So I went to court and plead not guilty and when the judge asked the officer to explain to the court his version of what happened he had no recollection! Not only that, but had no ticket or anything written down on the event! How does that happen, and to somebody like me! There was no record on his part of me ever having been issued a ticket for speeding. Judge dismissed it and that was that. On my way out the cop stopped me and asked me who I was and the nature of my offense and as soon as I said the guy in a black corvette he knew immediately, but had no explanation as to how I slipped through the cracks. So go to court. It will at least improve your odds.

 

I have tried the show up in court and hope that the cop doesn't show, but here in Tampa area they show up.

Once in Indiana, the state cop drove from half way across the state to show up. The judge started out by saying it's april 15, and i haven't finished my taxes so don't waste my time. He offered me a stiff fine and no points if I plead "no contest". I did it since he had thrown the book at the prior defendant.

Unless you left something out, I would pay the ticket and take the course to avoid points. Then buy the best radar detector you can afford.

In this area of Florida, speed limits seem to be established for revenue generation. One example is a few miles of no access (no side streets intersecting) with 3 lanes each way posted at 40 mph. Traffic normally flows 55-65, and the local police can write as many tickets as they desire, typically picking out Corvettes, Camaros, etc. One bridge coming off the beach area is a 40 mph limit until the halfway point where the inland city posts 30mph. They are almost funding the city from the ticket revenue!

 

For the lawyers out there, can what you say on this forum really be used against you legally in a court of law? I would think that no matter what you say if you recant it they have to prove it. I mean I hear how people accused of murder change their stories a hundred times and the past ones cant be used.

OP were you speeding? If so you will pay to have played, Its only fair.

 

Go to court postpone it then go to the next trial date you may luck up. Allways ho to court. I live in md and the one long poster is right the cops drive everything. Funny thing is if the cops were walking the beat and being visible maybe there would be less crime. Maybe the streets would be safer. But no they can't make money for the state or whatever that way. They hide use deception to make money. Instead of driving and hissing on the roads and wooded areastry locking up real criminals with guns and weapons that take innocent peoples lives. They will come after you if you kill a robber though go figure.

 

Long, but worthwhile to read! Good thing the cop was a dumba$$!

 

Do radar detectors really work? I've been under the impression by the time it detects the radar, the LEO already has your speed. If that's true, what's the point? If I'm wrong please correct me. Also, if I am wrong, what is the best radar detector out there? Is their one that you can mount in a way to not have wires hanging over your dash and an eye sore stuck to the windshield? Thanks!

 

I'm looking too. Do a search for Radar and you will find a lot of info here. Most members seem to thing the Valentine 1 is the best (about $500) and some really like the high end Escorts (also about $500). I had a cheap escort years ago but they have many issues. Don't buy cheap on your detector! Yes, they have ways to go wireless and tuck them up on the RV mirror.

 

Check out these videos and you tell me if they work!

http://www.youtube.com/category4

 

Radar detector alert you to the presence of radar, but depending on the tactics used by the LEO, you will not always have advance notice to avoid being nabbed. Google Radar Roy for more than you want to know.

Radar detectors allow you to play cat and mouse, but you will always be the mouse.

 

That was a pretty easy detection situation, lots of cars running interference in front, your detector is alerting you to the radar being used to measure the car ahead.

Here's a situation where it won't help. You're running alone down an isolated road, the LEO is hidden by some ground cover, and has his radar switched off. Once you are in range he switches it on, your detector alerts you immediately, but since you didn't get any advance warning, you didn't have any time to slow down. You're nabbed.

Laser, as commonly used in Colorado, can be even more insidious, even for detectors that can sense this. Same scenario as above except it's night, he's hidden by cover, you can't see him, it's dark. But he can see you from 3 miles away because of your headlights. He targets you from perhaps a 1/2 mile to a mile away, pulls the trigger, your laser detector braps a warning, but it's too late, he got a lock on your speed before you could slow.

Cat and mouse. And there's generally no talking your way out of a ticket if he sees that you're using a detector. On the other hand, if you are deliberate and careful, it can be of some assistance.

They don't seem to pay any more attention to me for having it visible on the dash, if I'm driving all grandfatherly, but then you don't need a radar detector then either.

Driving grandfatherly is how I always want to be seen, always. Cause when I'm not, I want to be stealthy and invisible, and that means something deliberate and planned, scouted and swept both ways, get it over with quickly and exit the target. I guess that's not something you can do in the urban jungle. The probability of enforcement is higher where there is traffic, but where there is not traffic that can screen you, you are quite vulnerable to the big ticket in the middle of nowhere.

I think it's a mistake to think a radar detector allows you to just run a faster average speed all the time.

 

Orlando really screwed us with their new variable speed limits on I-4! They can change the speed limit at will and 99% of the time it is artificial and has nothing to do with safety. Just a month or two ago I had the misfortune of having to get on I-4 to go to Maitland at 6-7pm, toward the end of the month. They had the speed limit set at 40!! Tell me their intent wasn't to write tickets!

 

When my daughter was in driving school, in California, she came home one day and informed me that the is no speed limit on freeway on ramps, as you need to safely merge into the traffic - so the flow speed and safety govern the event. That is probably why you only received a warning.

 

55 mph on a 3 lane highway, are you kidding me? Nobody does 55 mph. I feel like my ticket should reflect the difference in the speed I was going compared to the actual flow of traffic. Speeding 25mph over the limit sounds terrible, but I was really doing like 10 mph over the average.