| Author | Message | ||
     Skyguy |
How is this for dumb luck? Just found out that my weekday riding buddy is a Highway Patrol Officer! This was after a couple of blistering canyon rides. At one point we were running at 130mph when his R-1 pulled away from me...... 35mph corners at 90mph etc. I asked him how he wrote people speeding tickets without feeling like a hypocrit. He responded with "I don't write speeding tickets" I said "huh" he said "I only write two kinds of tickets, Stupid and •••••••, at almost any given moment I can look round and find a stupid ••••••• needing a ticket". I laughed my ass off. He also mentioned that his other favorite food is squidly sportbikers. He said if they (or the girlfriend on the back) have little to no protective gear he writes them for anything he can. "Better that they lose their license than their life" Just thought I would share both my luck at having a great riding buddy but also his reasons for pulling people over. | ||
| Halbard |
I prided myself.... in 4 years on the force, I wrote two tickets.... and both of them MADE me write them tickets.... (one lady, I gave a warning too, only to clock her less then a minute later going even faster, in a SCHOOL ZONE!) A lot of cops who ride are cool about things... it's the cagers too look out for.... | ||
| Skyguy |
Halbard if you worked for the California Highway Patrol and only wrote two tickets I suspect your term of employment would be rather short! There is no quota system here but if you don't maintain a decent number of tickets written you would recieve a bad recap. A couple of those and you would find yourself patroling a desert road with no traffic in the middle of nowhere. | ||
| Halbard |
Colorado Springs, Co. One of the reasons I quit was over the Quota system they were going to put into place.... | ||
| Skyguy |
Colorado Springs maybe we met once! I was on a three week motorcycle camping trip and Got pulled over in Colorado Springs. The officer walked and and said "I knew you must be from California". I said how could you tell (paper plate on bike)? He replied "I knew for sure when you pulled up between those cars at the light"......... No ticket just a friendly reminder that I was far from home... | ||
| Halbard |
Not me.... but one of the old brothers in blue. Guy probally rode home that night thinking how much fun it would be to lane split.... I was amazed how many of us rode to work... even during winter there would be 10-15 bikes in the lot. | ||
| Old_man |
I was a policeman for 38 years. The first few years as a motorcycle patrolman. We were never encouraged to write traffic tickets, but we knew it was our responsibility to keep people safe on the roads. When I wrote a ticket I felt I was doing that person a big favor because what they were doing was not merely a violation but so dangerous they might injure themselves or someone else. If someone was driving sanely, but in violation to the letter of the law, I would only give a warning. I could never have worked with a quota. | ||
| Skyguy |
Old man, I got ALOT of tickets when I was younger. The only ticket that ever changed my driving habits were the ones that cost me my license. Just my twenty cents (damm inflation) but I don't know to many people whos driving habits changed because of a ticket. Wait I take that back! They tried harder to not get caught! | ||
| Halbard |
Thats the problem... most people out there are good drivers.... and quotas make cops look for little stuff just to write tickets.... and (in my humble opinion) they miss the big stuff around them. And while I do agree that mostly people get written for things that made the roads unsafe, I always thought it was better to pull over and warn... I think most people were suprised, and drove a little better, for a little longer because of the warn rather then feeling like they got "stuck" with a ticket.... But, as above.... just my 20 cents.... | ||
| Old_man |
One ticket can only change the habits of smart people. In PA, tickets (point system) will cost a license. Either way it was alot of money for most people. | ||
| Skyguy |
Old man yepers! I perhaps was not so smart back then. In my defense the Cops in SoCal were at war with the "crotch rockets" back then and every ticket I got was for 70mph in a 55 on the freeway (if you have ever rode out here it take 70mph just to keep with the flow. I think it took them awhile to figure out not every sport biker was a squid. Cause now I have to ride at 80mph just to go with the flow and despite CHP behind me I have yet to get pulled over on the freeway. | ||
| Old_man |
Speeding over the posted limit, I agree, is not in itself unsafe. Although on some road sections the posted limit is too high for safety. An officer should be allowed to use common sense when enforcing the traffic laws. All violations are not dangerous. A warning that it IS a violation is, I believe, all that is needed. I was lucky to work in a department that seemed to understand this. | ||
| Skyguy |
In traffic court in Mailbu years ago: Big black female judge enters room and says "Good morning ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my courthouse. Now lets get one thing straight right off the top. This ain't about how fast you were going or whether or not you were being unsafe. This is about your money. We have one of the highest traffic fatality rates in the country. As a result we do not get all the Federal funds we need. So we need YOUR money". True story, I will never forget her honesty. Fact of the matter is that Malibu will offer you a second traffic school in an 18 month period. (Not allowed in Cali). They have a 8+6 course. 8 hours regular traffic school and a special 6 hour course offered by their deputys. The 6 hour course should be mandatory for all drivers! They had us in cars doing evasive manuvers and truly learning real world stopping distances. As well as testing our periphial vision and reaction times. I have not tailgated since..... Oh and the six hour course costs 250.00 but they tear the ticket up in the county and you license receives no points. Still cheaper than the insurance company jacking your rates for three years. | ||
| Mikej |
When law enforcement becomes a revenue generator it is no longer law enforcement, and officers become revenuers. | ||
| Skyguy |
Once my name is on the ticket I tend to get a bit mouthy and have more than once let an officer know that my opinion of him was that he was little more than a road tax collector at war with his own neighbors. I once took an officers picture right as he was about to write the ticket. When asked why I responded with. I am going to show your picture to a couple of my law enforcment buddies to see if I can find out where you go drinking. Better drive sober....... He said there was no reason to be so hostile but put his ticketbook away........ I live in a small community, so does he : | ||
| Old_man |
It's a shame that traffic tickets are used as revenue for the government bodies that issue them. If this was not the case, I'm sure, most of the unreasonable tickets would not be issued. I see it in many of the "speed traps", set up in areas where most people speed because it is not unreasonable to exceed the limit there. On another issue I'd like to bring up. I worked 23 years in homicide, part of my duties was investigating fatal accidents. The majority of fatal motorcycle accidents I investigated involved the rider ,apparently, not knowing about counter-steering. While negotiating a turn, maybe too hot, tried to turn the front wheel into the turn, causing the crash. I was instructing a new rider about counter-steering, he told me one of his friends, a rider with over 20 years riding experience, said that I was full of it, if you turned the wheel to the right you would go right. I took hime to a large vacant lot and told him to try it, but be prepared to turn left in a hurry. He was amazed. What amazed me was that a man with all that riding experience didn't know this, but it explained many of the accidents I saw. (Message edited by old man on January 26, 2006) (Message edited by old man on January 26, 2006) | ||
| Skyguy |
My CHP buddy tells the same story. Alot of riders say "counter what"? I feel honored to ride with him as he is quite picky about riding buddies. We have one other buddy who rides with us but is not up to race pace. We both give him credit for riding "In his own head" and wait for him at the junctions. I hate group rides because I tire of picking those that cant ride their own ride up off the ground. |
