Hi all. I'm a new member and this is my first post. I own a 2002 gsx-r 600 and was out riding with a friend on a cbr 929rr. We were on A1A which is a small road that runs along the beach here in south florida, riding north through a little beach town with too many cops with nothing to do. A cop drove past southbound, and I watched him in my mirrors as he pulled a u-turn a few hundred yards back. My friend and and I were doing 35 in a 35, and because he didn't see the cop pull the u, he passed the car in front, maybe hitting 50 in the process. We were in a passing zone, but with the cop there I sat still. My buddy pulled over a minute later, not knowing where I was, so I pulled onto the shoulder behind him. And of course, you guessed it .... The cop hits the lights and pulls in after both of us. He then walks past me to my friend asking for liscense, regristration, etc., while berating him for passing at 65 in a 35. Now, there was no way my friend was doing 65, but thats besides the point. This cops radar, from a few hundred yards back, could no way have determined which vehicle was doing what speed (my bike, my friends bike, of the SUV in front of us). I mean, clearly he made up an arbitrary number. Anyway, he gave my friend a ticket for $304 - Outrageous! Needless to say he's gonna fight it. Sorry this was kind of long but I'm still pissed off over the whole thing.[/b]
Cops Abusing Their Power
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·some coppers can be real mean sometimes eh? around here, they get you for a 5 over at a stop light and they get you for a broken taillight which they break.
Would that be the A1A in the kenny chesney song. 
Sorry, but that is some crappy luck. Some cops just have stereotypes, and those are the ones you hope you don't run into. They're people too and they make mistakes. good luck with your buddy fighting int
Sorry, but that is some crappy luck. Some cops just have stereotypes, and those are the ones you hope you don't run into. They're people too and they make mistakes. good luck with your buddy fighting int
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just remember you can pass other cars in a passing zone..just dont go over speed limit. So = kindly ask the person in front to SLOW DOWN and then u pass...lol Cops suck sometimes. I've had nothing but good experiences with cops here in sacramento. Especially CHP on bikes.
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Bummer dude trust me when i say some COPS can be real A$$HOLES but then there are some that aren't. :? $304 dollars man thats crazy i couldnt imagine a ticket that high good grief man that cops a A$$HOLE.
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ICE ICE *Timmy*!
Fonseca that really SUCKS!!!
Unfortunately, there will always be *bad* cops out there. I have a friend that we jokingly call "Tackleberry" (from "Police Academy"), who is a total A-hole! He's a MD State Trooper, and he FAILED the psyche exam, and used a military trick to pass the polygraph. But because the MDSP recruited him, they hired him anyway!!! :shock: He's one of those that when you're told NOT to chase down bikes, just get their tags, he'll run a bike down, and not give a care. I don't have any contact with him anymore.
Unfortunately, there will always be *bad* cops out there. I have a friend that we jokingly call "Tackleberry" (from "Police Academy"), who is a total A-hole! He's a MD State Trooper, and he FAILED the psyche exam, and used a military trick to pass the polygraph. But because the MDSP recruited him, they hired him anyway!!! :shock: He's one of those that when you're told NOT to chase down bikes, just get their tags, he'll run a bike down, and not give a care. I don't have any contact with him anymore.
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Your friend should definitely fight that! That much of a ticket may be enough points to double his insurance rates if it goes on his record! :shock:
As far as I know...if something like that happens, you can ask the cop to show you his radar, if he doesn't have proof of it, his case against him is a lot weaker. When he goes to court, he should admit to exceeding the speed limit, but only by 10 miles and hour...there is no way the cop can prove otherwise, and at least he'd get a ticket for 10 over w/o affecting his insurance instead of 30 over!!!
As far as I know...if something like that happens, you can ask the cop to show you his radar, if he doesn't have proof of it, his case against him is a lot weaker. When he goes to court, he should admit to exceeding the speed limit, but only by 10 miles and hour...there is no way the cop can prove otherwise, and at least he'd get a ticket for 10 over w/o affecting his insurance instead of 30 over!!!
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·i've been pushing thier limits for awhile now and still no bannage...for a while now, i dont believe youll get banned for htat.
Ok ! I think we get it, there are some good cops ( the majority I hope ) and some bad cops. There are some who let the badge and power swell their heads.
Cops are just like you and me, regular people just ttrying to do their thankless jobs. They answer to politician in an inderect way and respond to whatever complaints they are getting from citizens.
If you have a street that happens to be used by some riders for speeding/stunting/disturbing the peace and a few residents call and complain they will clamp down on that road in response. And yes if another rider wavers from the laws by a fraction while they are watching they will ticket you no matter how small the offense. Otherwise they will be blamed for not enforcing the laws and restoring order to that road.
Always looking for someone else to blame for our mistakes. So going to court his defense is going to be I was only speeding a little ? Sort of like saying I only stole $500 not a $1,000 your honor !. My guess is that he's exceded the speed limits on many occasions so he's still coming out way ahead.
Cops are just like you and me, regular people just ttrying to do their thankless jobs. They answer to politician in an inderect way and respond to whatever complaints they are getting from citizens.
If you have a street that happens to be used by some riders for speeding/stunting/disturbing the peace and a few residents call and complain they will clamp down on that road in response. And yes if another rider wavers from the laws by a fraction while they are watching they will ticket you no matter how small the offense. Otherwise they will be blamed for not enforcing the laws and restoring order to that road.
Always looking for someone else to blame for our mistakes. So going to court his defense is going to be I was only speeding a little ? Sort of like saying I only stole $500 not a $1,000 your honor !. My guess is that he's exceded the speed limits on many occasions so he's still coming out way ahead.
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Funny ... I was just reading More Proficient Motorcycling last night, and there is a whole section dedicated to that topic. It seems to be a North American (or USA) thing - here in Europe we usually accept responsibility for our actions.Uncle Bob said:
If I drop my bike because I didn't see the road construction around the next bend ... I should have been more careful, and entered a blind curve more slowly. I'm not going to sue the local, city, cantonal and national governments because they put a construction zone where I wanted to ride! :shock:
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:roll:
Ummmm, yeeeaaahh . . . because i've gotten away with speeding in the past does not mean I deserve a speeding ticket today.
My friend was speeding, that's true. My gripe is that the ticket he received was for a speed he was not doing and that the officer obviously made up. And my fear is that it will be a matter of the officers word against ours. People in positions of power, and police officers especially due to their particular role in all of our lives (the enforcer, the mediator, the 'judge on the street'), have a responsibility to be honest. If they want to clamp down, thats fine. But use the radar, and give tickets for speeds people were actually doing. I'm not blaming the cops for my actions, I blame them for theirs - and making things up just because they can to forward their personal goals of possibly keeping sportsbikes off of their rode is not okay.
And to respond to a comment made earlier, the cops weren't racist as far as I could tell. They were both white, I'm portuguese/ugandan, and the guy I was riding with (the one they ticketed) is white. So, no, not racist. Just jacka**es ... of course thats my opinion.
My friend was speeding, that's true. My gripe is that the ticket he received was for a speed he was not doing and that the officer obviously made up. And my fear is that it will be a matter of the officers word against ours. People in positions of power, and police officers especially due to their particular role in all of our lives (the enforcer, the mediator, the 'judge on the street'), have a responsibility to be honest. If they want to clamp down, thats fine. But use the radar, and give tickets for speeds people were actually doing. I'm not blaming the cops for my actions, I blame them for theirs - and making things up just because they can to forward their personal goals of possibly keeping sportsbikes off of their rode is not okay.
And to respond to a comment made earlier, the cops weren't racist as far as I could tell. They were both white, I'm portuguese/ugandan, and the guy I was riding with (the one they ticketed) is white. So, no, not racist. Just jacka**es ... of course thats my opinion.
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216 Posts
Know your rights. If the cop said he was doing 10 over, 50 over, 100 over, ask to *see* the radar reading. If he didn't catch your speed on radar, he can't ticket you. (Unless you were riding obviously wrecklessly... Swerving in and out of traffic...) Cops get away with this type of thing all the time because citizens often times don't know their rights. If he still tickets you, take it to court and get it thrown out for no radar reading. And, in the future, take responsibility for your actions - Know that cops are out there and that they want to ticket you (That's their job...) so don't do anything to draw bad attention to yourself. (I'm not saying that you were riding irresponsibly...) I've had my bike for a month now and have had absolutely no problem with the cops. I ride the speed limit in all situations and don't draw attention to myself. I have never passed another vehicle on the road - it's not worth it. Most of my experiences getting passed went something like this: Guy passes on the left at well over the speed limit. Sooner or later, I caught up to him at a red light. So what was the point in passing me? To hurry up and stop?
My 2 rubles...
My 2 rubles...
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