^In North Carolina, I believe there is a law that if they have 15 years experience, they can guess how fast they think you were going.

1/16/2007 9:45:30 AM

lol, wtf sense does that make?

There are a number of ways to measure your speed and any officer can use any method he's been trained to use. Of course, the likelihood of charges sticking is tied to the quality of the evidence.

[Edited on January 16, 2007 at 11:19 AM. Reason : ?]

1/16/2007 11:18:27 AM

Quote :

"....then communicated to some cop up the road....they are getting smarter....."

what are they, velociraptors?

1/16/2007 12:19:23 PM

1/16/2007 12:24:34 PM

if we're talking about rumors, i've heard from police that in NC you have to pass tests to be able to judge speed by guess.

radar and guestimation.

1/16/2007 12:33:15 PM

i'm glad while people are breaking into cars, selling drugs, and commiting other crimes at least they are getting those damned speeders!!

1/16/2007 12:50:27 PM

what kills more people?

1/16/2007 1:07:47 PM

^^

maybe the people speeding are leaving the scene of a crime??

1/16/2007 1:09:39 PM

Quote :

"i'm glad while people are breaking into cars, selling drugs, and commiting other crimes"

NIMBY strikes again.

1/16/2007 1:53:47 PM

Quote :

"what are they, velociraptors?"

that made me lol

1/16/2007 7:29:11 PM

First of all police officers dont "guess" speed. They estimate how fast they think a car is traveling. I was quickly corrected in class. Police then use the radar as a tool to back up what the estimate was. If the two aren't in agreement then the process is repeated
There is a 40 hour class that officers have to attend in order to be able to use a radar in NC. Part of the testing involved estimating how fast vehicles are traveling. The margin of error is an average of 3mph.
Of course you dont need special classes in order to estimate how fast a vehicle is traveling. We all do it everyday. If you're waiting to cross a street and you see a car coming you make a judgement on how fast the car is going and if you have time to cross the street. or if you're trying to pull out onto the roadway and a vehicle is coming you quickly make an estimate of how fast you think the car is going and if you will have time to pull out or not.

oh to answer the question no a cop does not need a radar to write a speeding ticket. Does it help?? you bet.

1/16/2007 10:10:21 PM

xmikemasonx - forget Deputydog's blah blah blah.....I have an idea....don't speed !!! duh

1/16/2007 10:40:33 PM

Quote :

"If you're waiting to cross a street and you see a car coming you make a judgement on how fast the car is going and if you have time to cross the street. or if you're trying to pull out onto the roadway and a vehicle is coming you quickly make an estimate of how fast you think the car is going and if you will have time to pull out or not."

i estimate whether or not i have time to pull out

not whether they're going 35, 55, or 75 mph

1/16/2007 10:48:57 PM

Quote :

"They arent required to wear seatbelts"

that's wrong i believe, i know FBI agents are required to wear seatbelts.............so i would imagine lesser patrolmen would as well

1/16/2007 11:18:31 PM

fo rizzle, how long does it take to undo a seatbelt to get out of your car?

1/16/2007 11:21:03 PM

Its an officer safety issue

[Edited on January 17, 2007 at 1:50 AM. Reason : fff]

1/17/2007 1:46:30 AM

It's a commom sense issue !!

1/17/2007 12:01:57 PM

it wouldve been a lot cooler if the person's house whose driveway the cop was parked in came out and was like "get off my property"...the cop would have had to leave

1/17/2007 12:07:22 PM

NC also has a speeding statute that says you were traveling "faster than is reasonable and prudent." That basically allows an officer to say you were traveling too fast for conditions, or excessively fast. It doesn't take much special training to see when someone is going way too fast

1/17/2007 3:46:58 PM

^

yeah, when I totaled my car a few years back I got a "exceeding safe speed limit for hazardous road conditions" or something like that. It was raining and I was going waaay to fast. But since he wasn't there to witness the accident, he saw the skid marks and where my car ended up.

1/17/2007 4:19:38 PM

^ I got that ticket too

my friend got a ticket for a "visual estimate" of 85 in a 65, the judge threw that shit out

1/17/2007 9:32:02 PM

Quote :

""uh, bojangles"."

heh

1/17/2007 9:45:06 PM

Quote :

"Not to go too off topic, but I got pulled once for rolling through a stop sign. The kick in the pants is that I didn't roll through the stop sign, because I saw the cop before I reached the stop sign and made sure that I didn't roll through the stop. In fact, I let a car pass through the intersection in the time that I was at the stop. She gave me a ticket anyway."

Me too, but change the "she" to a "he"... worst part about my story though is that attorney letters started showing up at home... dad called to ask if I had anything to tell him... of course I said no, but he got it out of me anyways... oops

1/17/2007 9:46:47 PM

you were afraid to tell your dad you got a rolling stop sign violation ?


did they lock you in a dungeon as a kid as well ?


Coming back from Greensboro a month or so ago, I was going less than 10 over I'd say, but i was in a group of probably ... 25 cars all going about 78 in a 70ish...


I drive under a bridge and see a cop coming down the on ramp. He merged into traffic directly ahead of me. moved over 2 lanes and pulled the person in the far left lane and then they both merged right back in front of me ....

heart beat quickened a little bit. sucks that that guy was basically had a 1/30 chance of getting pulled and did.

1/17/2007 9:50:55 PM

Quote :

"you were afraid to tell your dad you got a rolling stop sign violation ?"

UUhh... yeah. Doesn't your insurance go up for a moving violation like that? I don't pay mine, they do... but really, I wasn't afraid to tell my parents... I just didn't particularly want to

Quote :

"did they lock you in a dungeon as a kid as well ?"

eww ... i know you were sarcastic... but that's just kinda creepy

1/17/2007 10:09:25 PM

Quote :

" I just didn't particularly want to "

gotcha

[Edited on January 17, 2007 at 10:27 PM. Reason : /]

1/17/2007 10:26:26 PM

yes, thats why you try and get it thrown out or reduced to a non-moving violation

1/18/2007 3:59:22 AM

I was coming home from Jacksonville back in October, got behind someone going really slow, so I switched lanes to get around them and OOPS it was a state trooper. got pulled (I'm not complaining, I WAS speeding) and he wasn't a dick about it...

"well where are you going in such a hurry?"
"....home."
"okay, well I'm gonna have to give you a ticket" etc etc. and he was showing me the court date and everything, and I was like "uhhh I'm going to Germany next week and I won't be back until February." He stared at me for like 30 seconds. I thought for a moment he wasn't going to give me the ticket...

he did anyway but just said to mail in a check or money order. but he wasn't an asshole, thank god. I hate cops who get all pissy when they pull you over.

1/18/2007 8:22:18 AM

cops do whatever the fuck they want whenever they want, and get away with it. haven't you people learned this by now?

1/18/2007 9:02:30 AM

^exactly

then you just have to hope you can get a fair shake in court.

the best defense is Valentine 1 and/or a sportbike.

1/18/2007 9:07:49 AM

there is no requirement for cops to sit with any lights on when running radar.

2/23/2007 5:52:29 PM

Two stories:

#1 - My friends and I were driving around town back in high school just killing time until we were supposed to meet our other friends at a pizza place in town. Well, this cop started tailing us. We assumed it was just an accidental cross of paths. So, we turned left. He turned behind us. We turned left again. He followed. We decided that we would just go sit at the pizza place and wait. We turned right to go to the pizza place and he blue lights us. He pulls us over and explains that we have "attracted the attention of the entire police force." We didn't get a ticket, but it was just weird.

#2 - My husband (then boyfriend) and I were driving to the beach. Well, my husband was driving way over the speed limit, so it was definitely justifiable for him to get pulled. A cop comes speeding up from behind and turns his blues on. We are in the left lane and he comes up beside us in the right lane (4 lane road). We breathe a sigh of relief as he begins to pass us and pull the truck in front of him. At the last minute, he looks over at us and waves us over to the curb. He pulled both the truck in front of him and us. Both got tickets. It was funny because when my husband went to court for that ticket, on the way back we passed the same cop with two people pulled over again. That cop was hardcore.

2/25/2007 10:55:51 AM

oh geez, this reminds me of one ticket i got where my name was wrong, my drivers license number was wrong and the county was wrong. the only way you could tell it was me was that it was tied to the correct license plate number. they didn't care

2/25/2007 11:17:50 AM

Quote :

"We decided that we would just go sit at the pizza place and wait. We turned right to go to the pizza place and he blue lights us. He pulls us over and explains that we have "attracted the attention of the entire police force." We didn't get a ticket, but it was just weird."

Law enforcement at it's finest!

2/25/2007 11:20:40 AM

this thread can be summarized as follows:

Quote :

"boo hoo cops boo fucking hoo whine whine cops waaaaaaaah"

2/25/2007 11:35:00 AM

I was going down the road a few days ago and saw this car pull off to the side of the road in front of me. As I pass the car turns around and I realize its a silver charger and I start cussing because I know whats coming next. I pull over to the side of the road before he even turns on his blue lights. Yup.... a trooper in an unmarked car.

but he wasn't wearing his hat so I didn't get a ticket

2/26/2007 12:57:40 AM

Quote :

"DeputyDog The Po Po"

lol

2/26/2007 1:07:34 AM

One night, I was riding back from a friend's house, and I was pretty stoned. I wasn't holding or anything so I wasn't freaking out when I got a blue light over on Lead Mine. I was still pretty nervous though cause I hadn't been speeding, and I couldn't figure out why he stopped me (I'm not black.). I pulled over, put on all my brakes, turned off my lights, and rolled my window down--I was trying to do everything I could to stay calm. Cop walks up to let me know my front right light was out. I had checked my lights like two days before, and I just knew they were all working so I said, "No, it's not." And he said, "Yes, it is." And I was all, "No. The light is not out." And we went back and forth until finally he was like, "Check for yourself." I got out, walked around to the front of the car, and said, "Holy shit...they're all out!"

And he was like, "Uhhh...your lights aren't on."



[Edited on February 26, 2007 at 1:17 AM. Reason : ]

2/26/2007 1:15:11 AM

ahahaha

2/26/2007 1:38:25 AM

^FYI they can still arrest you for being under the influence of a controlled substance.



I've been pulled probably 2 dozen times now. Ticketed about 5 times. Mailed one in, the other 4 got thrown out in court.

My impressions solely from traffic cops are not very good. 3 out of 24ish were cool, respectful and courteous. When I get pulled, I slowly pull to a safe median, or in a parking lot if possible. I turn on my interior lights (if at night), keep my hands on the steering wheel after the window is rolled down, and wait for the cop to approach. I've NEVER cursed at, raised my voice to, or made any kind of gesture that could even be construed as being disrespectful. I even bit my tongue on the sarcasm, which has been hard at times.

And still, I can't tell you how many times I've been pulled for doing LESS than 5mph over, on an INTERSTATE HIGHWAY. Keep in mind, I don't have cruise control, so that argument is out (and the state trooper who pulled me for ONE MILE PER HOUR OVER didn't seem very thrilled when I gave him the good news).

Seriously, traffic cops must by and large be the shitheads in the department that no one wants to deal with, so they put them out on the roads.

Funny enough, 2 out of the 3 cool guys were not traffic cops. One was on his way to clock out for the day, and the other wasn't even on duty at the time.

2/26/2007 1:40:51 AM

^ 2 dozen times? Do you drive a fast-looking car or something?

Quote :

"I couldn't figure out why he stopped me (I'm not black.). "

[Edited on February 26, 2007 at 2:30 AM. Reason : ]

2/26/2007 2:29:44 AM

Quote :

"FYI they can still arrest you for being under the influence of a controlled substance."

Still a DUI since it's considered an

Quote :

"Impairing Substance. – Alcohol, controlled substance under Chapter 90 of the General Statutes, any other drug or psychoactive substance capable of impairing a person's physical or mental faculties, or any combination of these substances."

and that would make it a DUI under 20-4.01 (48b).

http://www.duilaws.com/north-carolina

2/26/2007 4:03:35 AM

No shit. I don't know why people think it's ok to drive high.

2/26/2007 1:56:50 PM

has anyone gotten a ticket for driving under the influence because of something like nyquil or a scrip. that you legally had?

2/26/2007 2:37:47 PM

i imagine someone has....even its prescribed to you, you can't drive if you're fucked up on it.

alcohol is legal too.

[Edited on February 26, 2007 at 2:41 PM. Reason : d]

2/26/2007 2:40:53 PM

I figure people have too, I was just looking for firsthand accounts.

2/26/2007 2:57:37 PM

Quote :

"has anyone gotten a ticket for driving under the influence because of something like nyquil or a scrip. that you legally had?"

I had a delayed reaction to some shit they gave me when I had norro virus. It was anti-nausea medicine and I took it and an hour later felt no effects. I then decided to drive to the eckerd (quarter mile away) and when I got to the first light I became extremely dizzy and disoriented. I pulled off into a parking lot right after the light and a cop follwed me in because I was probably driving a little erratically.

He ended up coming up to my car and did the whole license/registration, have you been drinking schtick. I explained the situation to him and he said that he was well within the law to write me a DUI ticket. He said that since I pulled off immediately, had taken the pills an hour beforehand, and he beleived I was being completely honest with him that he was going to cut me a break if I called someone to pick me and my car up and he didn't have to wait for more than 15 minutes.

Stuff like that cops are more likely to cut you a break (espescially if you're sick.) Nyquil, codene or other things you obviously should know can fuck you up they may be less understanding about. IT also probably helped that I had the pill bottle with me and that the pharmacist hadn't put all the correct warning labels on it (said mild dizzyness but did not say do not drive/operate machinery.) Still, if you knowingly take something that will impair you and then drive and they beleive you should have known better then you'll be fucked. Hell, you can get a DUI for being excessively tired in some stated.

2/26/2007 4:43:55 PM

Quote :

"I've been pulled probably 2 dozen times now. Ticketed about 5 times. Mailed one in, the other 4 got thrown out in court."

Ever thought of maybe...slowing down? Or not doing whatever it is you're doing that gets you pulled over so much?

2/26/2007 5:16:20 PM

usually the middle finger gets their attention, please refrain from doing so when the urge strikes.

2/26/2007 5:53:20 PM

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2/26/2007 7:22:07 PM