StewyRX8

Same here I believe. My friend got caught doing 120 in a 55 here and lost his DL for 60 days.

SOVINE

When I used to live in Eugene.. I would drive to Portland on the weekends I never saw cops on I-5... now I am in Texas and on I-35 there is a gunner and chase car over every slope.

Curley

I wonder how accurate this method really is. Remember last year when cops clocked a guy on a Honda sportbike doing 201 mph?

That speed was determined using the method described above, but motorcycle experts said there was no way that bike to achieve that speed unless it had been seriously souped up -- which the bike in question apparently was not.

I don't know how that case was resolved, but if the ticket was thrown out or the alleged speed reduced, RxRider might be able to use that information to fight his 105 mph measured speed.

Wankel_lover

WOW...what a clever tactic!!! He would be hosed though if it were a county owned aircraft.

saturn

Just go into court and claim that there was an aircraft chasing you and you feared for your life.

I like the three levels of pulling people over. Some states do the ultra sneaky approach using aircraft. Some do the normal method of pulling people over when they happen to spot them going too fast. And the last group, what I like to call stupid Maryland police, just stand in the middle of the road and direct hundreds of cars per day over to the shoulder.

conedodger

I got nailed the same way about 15 years ago. I live in OH. My advice, having numerous cops as friends, would be try to set up a meeting w/ the DA before the court date and politely ask him/her to amend the ticket so U won't get the points and then pay the fine. They're usually decent w/ a guy w/ a spotless record. It could have been worse. I always look for the white marks along the side of the road and then look up for a low slow aircraft if I see them.

Mortal Moxie

Don't drive off the road in your efforts for trying to not get caught speeding.



I find it hard NOT to speed in this car. It's never to "beat" everyone on the highway, or to be first. Some people just like to drive fast. Those people should just be prepared to pay the consequences. On a long enough time line, you will get caught.

RX8rider

I know that statistically, it's only a matter of time. It's just that I felt pretty "well-armed" with the V1, laser jammers, and Veil. I honestly never expected the airplane speed ticket. Anyhow, I've been making some calls to the Aviation Section of the highway patrol to gather some info on their tactics so that I'll have some material for my defense when talking to the prosecutor.

I agree though, it's so easy to go fast in this car. The car seems to handle so well at high speeds. What I really need to start looking onto though is some track time, maybe at Mid-Ohio

Crazy Rx-8 Driver

using a 'stop-watch' to calculate the speed of a car is very inaccurate and always wrong, they would have to stop watch you atleast 10 times and then give you an average.

that means at one point you could have gone 120mph and another point you could have gone 90mph. but the average would be 105mph.

*shrugs* fight it and test the timer's reaction time, have him time from when he drops a marble from his hands and when it hits the floor. do it ten times, calculate it out and watch his average. its very inaccurate. s = d/t


if he is off a few tenths of a second that is huge distance when you're talking about up above the air looking down..


reason why i brought this up is because not too long ago here in MN/wisco area some kid on a 600CBR with a muffler upgrade was accused of going over 200+ MPH... he was cought by aerial as well... yup he went to court and they figured out he was going only 165MPH... the fact is he fought the 200+ mph ticket and won. so he didnt have to pay those fines.. but he did end up paying for wreckless endagerment, attempt of suicide, excessive speeding.... etc.

ken-x8

Properly done, timing with a stopwatch is not inaccurate. These days sports events are all timed electronically, but it wasn't all that long ago that stopwatches were the rule.

A competent person with a stopwatch will generally be within two tenths. Say the lines are a quarter mile apart, and you're doing 90 mph. A 0.2 second timing error will be about a 2 mph error in speed. Every speed fine menu I've seen goes up in 5 mph increments, so that's good enough accuracy.

The drop-a-marble trick can't be done with a stopwatch: the time is way too short. But hand timing from an airplane is reasonable. Because the cop is watching the victim cross lines, and he's up in the air with a good view, it's *much* better than the Vascar systems where the cop would use reference points that usually can't be reliably sighted.

Not that I'm in favor of this kind of open highway speed trap, but they do have it down to a science and it's going to be tough to beat.

Ken

BunnyGirl

That is an actual offense there? I've never heard of anyone being arrested, fined, et cetera here on that charge. Does it just apply to a vehicular charge or if, say, you decided to take one of giant bottles of Tylenol from Costco and survived?

AdRoCK3217

I find it SO sad that suicide is illegal. It's like...the most pointless crime, EVER. Speeding is illegal, people still do it though :-O

BunnyGirl

I would like to know how they expect to punish someone that commits suicide. They're dead!!!!

Krankor

Yeah, brilliant thinking by the State. A guy is so despondent that he attempts suicide. So the State's idea of a good way to cheer him up and make him want to live again is to charge him with a crime. Yeah, that would sure get ME to start whistling and enjoying life!

OldCoot

Bunny, the stated crime was "attempted suicide" which is a crime in more jurisdictions than "wreckless endagerment" is. I think Crazy was making a feeble attempt at hyperbole so you would not notice the inaccuracies in his preceding arguments.

BunnyGirl

Seems ridiculous to me. I work at a hospital with a large psychiatric ward. There are at least a dozen patients a day admitted because of attempted suicides. How could this possibly help them with any sort of "issues" if they are fined, jailed, et cetera? I don't see how punishment of any kind helps a despondent person.

Of all these patients I have yet to hear of a single one being legally punished for it.

OldCoot

Bunny,
That is because "wreckless endagerment" and "attempt of suicide" are not crimes in Oregon. "Recklessly endangering another person" is a crime in Oregon.

You are taking someone else off thread attempt at humor too seriously.

BlueRenesis82

most likely they would prop them up in front of a computer and make them read your posts. Truly worse than death itself

StewyRX8

I wanna go fast!

ImPmpnU2

take it from a cops view....... if the cop shows, you're fu**ed. the cop might have actually written down on the ticket that you were only going 20 over which cut the cost of the ticket down to 180. i can't believe a 40 over violation would only be 180, should be closer to 400$. if the cop shows, he actually has the right to request the full amount of the ticket be issued to you along with court costs as well

Huhwha

I think Geico is jerking your chain. Wait until you get your renewal - $500 extra for 5 years!

It would be worth fighting this one.

You do know that for less than the cost of that ticket you can come to Mid-Ohio.? Then you can go as fast as you want in a safe, controlled environment.

PhotoMunkey

First the officer doing the timing and the officer issuing the ticket must be present at the court date. If they're one or the other isn't there, ask for a dismissal immediately.

Second, the accuracy of the stopwatch used must be verified. As for the calibration documents (find out beforehand how often they must be verified). If the D/A hasn't brought the documents, ask for a dismissal immediately.

Third, the stretch of road must be surveyed by the Federal DOT, and the speed limit approved for safety reasons within a certain amount of time PRIOR to the issuing of the ticket (5 years I think), or else the speed zone (65 mph in this case) constitutes an unlawful speed trap under Federal law. If the D/A doesn't have this survey, ask for a dismissal.

Fourth, if neither officer shows, but a third officer is assigned to your case to read the notes of the previous two, ask for a dismissal. You have a right to confront and question your accuser.

Fifth, if the officer there begins to read his account from notes, ask him to stop immediately and proceed from memory. Crib notes are not allowed! If he cannot accurately recollect the event, ask for a dismissal.

Sixth, ask for the officer's daily records of all traffic stops for that day, and also for the records of the eye in the sky. If neither can produce their records, ask for a dismissal


There is a website online which can coach you with all of this.