JPF1715 says:
. Jump out of your car when stopped and start yelling/saying "what did I do?" First it aint too good for your health (and mine) and it blows any chance of sympathy you might have gotten out of the water.
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When I was a teen ager my dad told me if I ever get stopped, to get out, walk back to the officer and be very polite. That was fine back in those days. Today, I would not dare to because I know the officer would rather I just stay put inside my vehicle. And I don't blame him.

 

0 - 5 : Stay Alive
5 - 10 : It'll Depend
10 and Over: Fork it over...

That's how it works

-Kris

 

30 Plus and you'll be ridin' the bus.

 

I consider myself a safe and careful driver. I don’t exceed the posted limits, in town, for the most part. I wear the seatbelt, and don’t run red lights or stop signs. Haven’t had a wreak (knock on wood) in decades. Here are some “helpful” tips, in addition to the above posts, for your review.

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SUCCESSFUL SPEEDING
July 1994 Car & Driver
1. Select Proper equipment
 Avoid bright red performance cars
 Non-descript mouse-gray "family" cars pass by unnoticed
 Choose sports sedans such as Taurus SHO, Infinity Q45, etc.
 a GOOD Radar Detector (Recommend a Valentine One – The best!)

2. Recognize the threat early
 Avoid excessive speeding on sparsely traveled highways. There will be no radar cover for you. This applies to both day and night driving.
 Pay attention to Radar alerts, especially X-band "blips" on a rural highway. This may turn out to be K-band bouncing of a car in front of you.
 Learn to recognize "threat" vehicles, such as Mustang LX's, full-size Chevrolets, Dodge Diplomats, Plymouth Gran Fury's, etc.
 Identifying "threat" vehicles: windshield pillar mounted spotlight, stabilizer bar underside car ( especially on Chevrolets ), wide perfor- mance tires.
 Rules apply whenever vehicle approaches from front or rear - slow down for positive identification!

3. Maintain good daytime scan
 Golden Rule #1 restated: Innocuous cars may pass unnoticed.
 Slow down when approaching underpasses - enforcer may be on far side behind the concrete.
 Be suspicious of vehicles parked on the inside or outside shoulder until a positive I.D. is made.
 Check On-ramps: give a quick look to the top of the on-ramp.
 Slow down whenever you notice a vehicle behind you matching your speed for a positive identification. The vehicle matching your speed will not be getting smaller in your rear-view mirror.

4. Maintain a good night scan
 Moving up on an enforcer vehicle: learn to identify taillights. Good example is the Mustang LX. Immediately look for the folded in spotlight.
 Prime rule for nighttime driving: drive fast enough so that all head- lights of passed motorists reduce rapidly in size. Any pair of headlamps that maintains the same distance will need to be identified.

5. Practice Stealth, deception, and "hiding"
 Find a "hare" who is pleased to demonstrate that his car is better than yours. Drop back to a safe distance and enjoy the radar shield. Do maintain your rear scan though.
 Run at times with lights, then at times without, hiding yourself in front of a group of trucks when you change illumination. The reason for this is that an enforcer, having "noticed" you from a long distance back, will be looking for a certain as-yet-unidentified vehicle with lights ( or without ) as he moves quickly up through traffic. Suddenly, he is in identifiable range of a vehicle similar in size and shape to the one he believes may have been violating, only now the illumination is different from what he saw before, thus rendering him unsure. Follow- ing rules #2 and #3, you will have slowed down to quasi-legal speed. This will confuse the officer, especially if you have removed your radar detector from the windshield or visor.
 Placement and removal of the radar detector is crucial. The unit should be directly in front of you so that a following threat vehicle cannot see it.
 If you believe you have been actively "noticed", hide in front of a large truck, accelerate while under cover, and exit any off-ramp or rest area. You will have nothing to lose at this juncture.
 Any time an officer moves in on you, remove the detector at once and place it in the seat next to you.
 If you are in imminent danger of being stopped, execute the following emergency procedure in sequence: (1) remove detector and jam under seat; (2) wipe off suction cup or other tell-talke marks with moistened index fingertip, and (3) Replace the cigarette lighter ! An empty cigarette lighter is a dead giveaway to the officer that he is dealing with a chronic offender. He will treat you accordingly.

6. Beware of slow moving "clumps"
 Clumps are largish groups of vehicles covering all lanes and maintain a near-legal speed.
 Most "loose" clumps will contain one enforcer vehicle at the front ( usually a marked cruiser, and one in the middle or at the tail of the clump. The vehicle at the rear will usually be unmarked and looking for lane changing and in-and-out weaving. Knowledge of rule #2 will make him a dead giveaway.
 Beware of curves, crests, and grassy medians. Instant-on may be placed so that the violator can be "shot" just as he crests the hill, before he has a chance to react. Slow down - its safer.

7. Avoid unprofessional and provocative behavior
 The smart motorist does not alienate others
 Slow to a moderate speed when passing other motorists. One of the benign-looking minivans you just ran off the road may contain an off- duty officer with a notebook and a phone.
 Avoid provocative license plates and bumper stickers: "How's my driving ? Call 1-800-EAT-****" will not give you any breaks when stopped by an officer.

8. Maintain a high level of attention at all times
 Raid motoring is a serious business. Stay focused. Distractions are all incompatible with rules #1-9.

9. Behave correctly when stopped
 Chronic fast driving will get you stopped sooner or later. Observance of rules #1-9 will make this much, much later, but not "never".
 Do not act blase'. A ****y stance of "OK, so you got me" is provocative. SO is attempting to argue that there must be some terrible mistake - you know you were under the limit.
 Do not forget to remove your detector and follow the other steps men- tioned in rule #5.
 Be courteous, candid and contrite. Trembling while handing over your license demonstrates that this situation is unusual and terrifying to you. It shows respect for the law and fear of punishment.
 Answer the question "Do you know how fast you were going ?" with "Truly, I don't - my mind must've been wandering". "But I must have been going over the speed limit, or you wouldn't have stopped me." Note that you were not speeding deliberately - no "late for work" excuses !

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However, my F150 seems very comfortable at 90+ on the interstate. I’ve been tagged a couple of times, but have prevailed about 98% of the time. If you want to dance, you have to pay the fiddler!

Oh yeah, #10. Have a good attorney.



Skyhawk


[This message has been edited by Skyhawk (edited 08-08-2000).]

 

Skyhawk, good post. One comment. I would be very careful about reaching under the seat (stashing your detector) when you are being followed, or have just been stopped by an officer. I think it would make them very edgy.

 

Kenster,

I would agree with you. As you can see, this is a rather dated article from Car and Driver from around 1994. Still some good points though.

Skyhawk

 

Ok, I know the topic was Prevention -- but once stopped:

Have your wife scream at you incessently, waving her armes -- pointing in your face and calling you every name in the book -- all the while shouting "I told you so" and "you're going to make me late for my therapy group" and "if you had let me drive instead".

If the cop's a man, you're free!

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Y2K™ Jim Gorka

Toreador Red, Keyless XLT SC SB 5.4L E4x4 4wDisc/ABS, 3.73LS, Skid, HD 7700# Towing, LT-245's on Chrome, Tube-Steps, Captain's, 6CD, Tonneau, named: "Nick"

 

I can relate to a lot of these posts.

I have also had my liscense revoked for too many speeding tickets in GA before moving to Florida. I traveled a good distance(50 miles one way) to work in light traffic.

Didn't UNIDEN or someone make a detector fairly recently that also scanned and alerted with police frequencey radio transmissions were detected in your area?

It's funny I haven't really changed my driving habits since moving to Jacksonville, but I have only gotten 1 speeding ticket in the last 4 years and it was my fault for being stupid. It's hard to get a ticket in the city here without trying, especially on the major roads.

I can attest to one of the techniques in the C&D article. (sorry jpf1715 but it was in my younger and more stupid days) I was the lead speader in a group on I75 in GA. I usually keep to the right lane unless passing. This perticular time I had just pulled back into the right lane after passing a car when my ticket indicator (radar detector) went off full blast. I hit the brakes and the minivan that was tailgating me just blew right on by. I was right at an exit ramp to I ducked off the highway to notice the blue lights pass by. I continued right back onto the highway at the top of the offramp and noticed about a mile up the road that the minivan had been pulled over. I think I was very lucky that this was at night as well.

 

Keeping my truck stock has help me most of the time as I only got stoped once since I had the truck and the cop didn't give me a break as it was 5 days before Christmas when I got stoped doing 75 in a 55. Back when I was driving my Mustang GT I got stopped alot and insurance was getting to high so I had to get a truck and so far it has helped me get away with speeding most of the time.

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2000 F150 XLT Reg. cab
4.6 Triton Engine
4x2 3.55 rear end gear
sliding rear window
automatic keyless entry
white styleside short box

[This message has been edited by hmustang (edited 08-10-2000).]

 

As radio is one of my hobbies (#2, firearms #1), I am intimately familiar with this unit, I believe that they call it a “Stormtracker” now (I have one). It is not a radar detector. My suggestion is don’t bother. It has poor reception even with an external antenna, it’s front-end overloads easily, is missing important frequencies, and cannot be manually programmed. If you want a radio, buy a good programmable unit. Besides, most large cities have gone to “trunked” radio systems and you will need a Trunktracker anyway.

Skyhawk

 

Thanks Skyhawk,

I wasn't planning on buying one myself, just remembered seeing it somewhere. I am a firearms buff myself although I haven't bought much since I got married a few years ago. Last purchase was a .44 Desert Eagle.