My First Time

[TheIntrepid]

being pulled over...


I was flying home because I heard my grandfather in India has been hospitalized and my mom needs to get on a plane ASAP... probably doing about 100-105 in a 60.

I slowed down to match traffic at about 80, and a blue Impala swerves in behind me, so I moved over to the right lane. He stayed on my tail, and at this point my heart is pounding, so I tried to turn into a plaza. Just as I did, he pulled me over.

Here's the conversation:

Him: "You in a rush, son?"
Me:  "Yes sir, I'm trying to get home ASAP."
Him: "Got any idea how fast you were going?"
Me:  "Probably about 80-85." (Here I thought honesty would save me)
Him: "I clocked you at 100, is your speedometer broken?"
Me:  "No sir, I've just got a family crisis so I'm a bit zoned out."
Him: "You're driving with an expired tag."
Me:  "Sir my tag is valid until March 2008."
Him: *walks to back and looks*  "You win this round."
Me:  *shrugs*
Him: "How old are you and whose car?"
Me:  "18, and mine, sir."
Him: *gives me a lecture on responsibility*, then
     "I'm letting you off because it's Christmastime. Have a good one."
Me:  "Thank you very much sir."


I nearly shat my pants.  

[The Pirate]

Seems odd that he would mention the expired tag if it wasn't the case.

[Eye of the Tiger]

You got off pretty easy. If you looked like me, he would have cuffed you, bent you over the hood of the car, and put the boots to ya.

[Raghavan]

You got lucky.

[TheIntrepid]

I think he'd have booked me if he actually clocked me at 100. By the time he came up behind me, I was doing 80-85, no more. Guaranteed. I had my GPS on too so I could have checked the speed at a certain time.

[TheIntrepid]

Seems odd that he would mention the expired tag if it wasn't the case.

He also asked me if I was wearing a seatbelt. I told him yes, and I couldn't have missed it because my car "bongs" constantly if I'm not. My potentially telling him that I always wear my belt wouldn't have meant jack shit to him.

[Raghavan]

I think he'd have booked me if he actually clocked me at 100. By the time he came up behind me, I was doing 80-85, no more. Guaranteed. I had my GPS on too so I could have checked the speed at a certain time.

Then why would he say he clocked you at 100 if he didn't?

[TheIntrepid]

Then why would he say he clocked you at 100 if he didn't?

Do radars work on the move? If he was stopped and I passed him, I'd have noticed. It's not that busy a road. If he was moving and I'd passed him, I'd have noticed, because a blue Impala with heavy tint, steelies, and like a million antennae on the roof is very noticeable.

[Raghavan]

Do radars work on the move? If he was stopped and I passed him, I'd have noticed. It's not that busy a road. If he was moving and I'd passed him, I'd have noticed, because a blue Impala with heavy tint, steelies, and like a million antennae on the roof is very noticeable.

I'm pretty sure radars do work on the move.

[TheIntrepid]

I'm pretty sure radars do work on the move.

I probably am just talking out of my ass, but wouldn't it be messed up given he's on the move as well?

Hypothetically, if he's doing 65, and he clocks me at 85, shouldn't the radar show that I'm only going 20?

[Eye of the Tiger]

I probably am just talking out of my ass, but wouldn't it be messed up given he's on the move as well?

Hypothetically, if he's doing 65, and he clocks me at 85, shouldn't the radar show that I'm only going 20?

It's only messed up if he is not moving in the same direction as you.

[Lazerous]

Nice! You most definitely got lucky. It always feels good to get away with a lucky break but you don't know how that truly feels until you are popped with an actual ticket. Still I congratulate you.

I recall I was quite nervous the first time I got stopped and my heart was beating pretty fast as well. Then again, my first time being stopped was for racing and not speeding Still, I am proud of you, young one. It's also cool that you were honest with him and didn't try to pull some obvious POS lie

[Lazerous]

I probably am just talking out of my ass, but wouldn't it be messed up given he's on the move as well?

Hypothetically, if he's doing 65, and he clocks me at 85, shouldn't the radar show that I'm only going 20?

It's only messed up if he is not moving in the same direction as you.

Not true. The ticket I recently got for doing 17 over was given to me by a cop who was traveling in the opposite direction. I believe most new radars are also connected to the patrol units speedo and it performs some calculations so that it can accurately detect your speed even if the cop car is moving.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Not true. The ticket I recently got for doing 17 over was given to me by a cop who was traveling in the opposite direction. I believe most new radars are also connected to the patrol units speedo and it performs some calculations so that it can accurately detect your speed even if the cop car is moving.

yeah, same thing. I just wonder if the lazer guns calculate all the trigonometry to get an accurate reading when the car is moving at an angle of > 0? in respect to the beam and/or the cop car.

[CJ]

Dazzle will be upset!

[Lazerous]

yeah, same thing. I just wonder if the lazer guns calculate all the trigonometry to get an accurate reading when the car is moving at an angle of > 0? in respect to the beam and/or the cop car.

I asked the cop what he hit me with and he said he used radar.
As for your question about the laser I think it does perform the calculations because about a week or two ago I got tagged with a laser but the cop car was sitting at an angle relative to my position.

[Eye of the Tiger]

I asked the cop what he hit me with and he said he used radar.
As for your question about the laser I think it does perform the calculations because about a week or two ago I got tagged with a laser but the cop car was sitting at an angle relative to my position.

But how does it know?

[Lazerous]

But how does it know?

I'm not sure
You should probably wait for one of our resident officers to chime in. I'm sure they have some sort of idea behind how it really works.

[Soup DeVille]

Do radars work on the move? If he was stopped and I passed him, I'd have noticed. It's not that busy a road. If he was moving and I'd passed him, I'd have noticed, because a blue Impala with heavy tint, steelies, and like a million antennae on the roof is very noticeable.

Some do, if they're setup to; Mostly Ka band mounted units, which also get a feed from an encoder on the speedometer to calculate the difference between actual speed and apparent speed.

[Soup DeVille]

yeah, same thing. I just wonder if the lazer guns calculate all the trigonometry to get an accurate reading when the car is moving at an angle of > 0? in respect to the beam and/or the cop car.

No, they do not take cosine error into their readings, but it's a moot point anyways: correcting for it will only increase your measured speed, and not correcting for it produces readings that are slightly lower than actuality.

[dazzleman]

Dazzle will be upset!

First off, congratulations to Trep on his first quasi-run in with the law.    It's been a long time coming, and it's a great milestone.

Trep, do you see now how much fun it can be to have a brush with the law, especially when you come away victorious?  In any case, 'victorious' is a state of mind; I usually feel 'victorious' even after I've been ticketed and fined because it's never enough to make me stop speeding.

How fast did you go after you drove away from the cop?  Hopefully, you resumed full cruising speed.....

[dazzleman]

BTW guys, you can get tagged by radar if the cop is moving, either in the same direction as you or the opposite direction.

[Soup DeVille]

BTW guys, you can get tagged by radar if the cop is moving, either in the same direction as you or the opposite direction.

The good news is that those are almost always mounted units, and are almost always just left on, so that even a crappy radar detector will give you lots and lots of warning...

[TheIntrepid]

First off, congratulations to Trep on his first quasi-run in with the law.    It's been a long time coming, and it's a great milestone.

Trep, do you see now how much fun it can be to have a brush with the law, especially when you come away victorious?  In any case, 'victorious' is a state of mind; I usually feel 'victorious' even after I've been ticketed and fined because it's never enough to make me stop speeding.

How fast did you go after you drove away from the cop?  Hopefully, you resumed full cruising speed.....

I almost shat myself when I was stopped, and my heart was pounding. However, when I pulled into a subdivision to pull a U-Turn, I found a strange smile on my face.

[TheIntrepid]

The good news is that those are almost always mounted units, and are almost always just left on, so that even a crappy radar detector will give you lots and lots of warning...

If only those bastards were legal. My girlfriend's Civic has some next headunit with a laser jammer built into the thing. I've never even heard of that.

[Soup DeVille]

If only those bastards were legal. My girlfriend's Civic has some next headunit with a laser jammer built into the thing. I've never even heard of that.

I keep forgetting you live in soviet canuckistan.

[dazzleman]

I almost shat myself when I was stopped, and my heart was pounding. However, when I pulled into a subdivision to pull a U-Turn, I found a strange smile on my face.

The first time is always the scariest.  It's the fear of the unknown, which is always irrational.

After the ice is broken, you can see that there's really nothing to fear.  I view a ticket the same way I view paying the bill for doing anything else I like doing -- just a small price to pay for a little fun.  As long as I don't face arrest or license suspension, I have no fear of getting pulled over.

It's cool that you smiled after the experience.  Not as good as Laz, who smiled as soon as he realized he was getting pulled over, but you're moving in the right direction, man.

I still remember how one friend of mine was pissed because he was the only guy in our group who hadn't gotten a speeding ticket yet.  And when he finally got that first ticket, he was grinning ear to ear when he broke the news to me.

[J86]

your first time?  Didn't hurt too much, did it?

[dazzleman]

If only those bastards were legal. My girlfriend's Civic has some next headunit with a laser jammer built into the thing. I've never even heard of that.

Radar detectors used to be illegal in Connecticut, but the law was repealed a while back.

When they were still illegal, I was riding with my buddy up to Boston.  He used a radar detector, and of course sped incessantly.  He got nailed by instant-on radar barely 10 miles into Connecticut.  Luckily, he was able to stash his radar detector under the seat before the cop caught up with him, so he only got a ticket for speeding.

You could use a radar detector if you were careful about it.

[dazzleman]

your first time?  Didn't hurt too much, did it?