Magar

Argh!

My first @#@@#!%$ ticket! Yikes....I should've known...but damn, coming out of that 45 mph corner was irresistible...country road, sunny day, tunes cranking, sunroof open! Who the heck does the Lane County think they are?!?!

Anyone else get nabbed....?

Okay...it was 72 in a 55...yeah, yeah....but what ever happened to Rule of the Day?

Sheesh!

Be careful out there!

RX-GR8

sorry to hear it. no tix here yet.

Jeff_pap31s

Bummer dude! Haven't had a tic in 9 years! Knock on wood!

Sin

Got one yesterday for 67 in a 40 comin off the freeway. Grapevine cops are pretty bad and he was on a bike so I didnt even have a chance to get out of it even if I tried. It had been nearly a year since my last one....DAMN

winebrad

I have managed to elude any tickets and have not even been pulled over for at least 10 years, that is until I purchased my 8! In the past month I have been followed by several CHP's and last week after working late I was pulled over in the small town of Sonoma but when the officer saw that I was not a 20 something but rather a 40 something he gave me a warning and then complemented me on my car. Now I am parinoid and trying to get used to that stupid digital speedometer!

Haze

It's been ten years for me (double knock wood), and I needed every one of those ten years to clear the points on my license from the previous two cars.

Magar

Yeah...it must be the 10 curse...it's been just over 10 years since I got a ticket...first a red Miata, now a red 8...ya think 10 years would've helped me learnt something....damn publik edumacation!

Haze

Hey man, what are you trying to do, curse me? I'm goin' to go out for a long run tomorrow down to Maryland.

I am really hoping to avoid the whole ticket thing for a while more. I like the not so expensive insurance, and not having to be yelled at by cops, although the grey hairs and balding head do help. "Yes, officer, I'm just an old guy who can't see the gauges so well any more. I would never mean to go too fast and of course I'll slow down." Did get me out of one illegal U turn ticket about four years back. I love being old.

winebrad

I did have one thing going for me when I was pulled over and that was the paper plates as I just explained that I just bought the car and am still trying to get used to it! Sometimes just being nice and playing dumb works to ones advantage!

D MENAC 7

winebrad: "Now I am parinoid and trying to get used to that stupid digital speedometer!"

WTF! How can anyone not like the digital speedometer? It's like IMMEDIATE feedback as to your speed! When you look at an analog one, you have to analyze where the little hand is pointing to.

I'm like two friggin' years older than you, dude, and I have had absolutely no problewms from day one looking at a digital spedo. Hell, I PREFER a digital spedometer. It must be all of the racing PC and console games I have played over the years or something because they ALL had digital spedos. I am just plain tired of hearing anyone bitch about the digital spedometer. That is absolutely no excuse! winebrad, maybe you should change your handle to whinebrad?

Hell, I could even handle an LED multi colored meter for a tach, now that would be nice. Starts out green but changes to yellow then to red for the red line!

What is wrong with digital or non analog read outs? Is this an AGE thing? (Maybe I'm an exception?)

D MENAC 7

Oh yeah, no tickets as of this writing. One of our campus cops at work did offer to set up a radar on a nice long stretch of a road nearby to see how fast I could get it up to. Thought he was joking but he wasn't. I told him maybe sometime when it gets warm just to check out the accuracy of my DIGITAL spedometer.

Squidward

Total damage = $406.. 341 for ticket, 40 for traffic school, and 25 for online class fee.

Speed-ER doc

Harsh. You had to pay the ticket AND traffic school? Was the traffic school mandated because of the high speed (over 30+)?

In Texas, if the ticket is not 25+ or more over the limit, we can take traffic school (we call it defensive driving) to get out of paying the ticket and it doesn't appear on our record. And why did they call it bail? Were you arrested? More details please.

93rdcurrent

In CA. they call the fine bail. Go figure. Why aren't you guys asking about radar detectors? Escort has a new one that is built in and has a laser shifter front and rear... ooooohhhh... It's about $750 installed but when you consider the $50-250 for the ticket and the extra $25-50/month for the insurance for 3 years, well it just starts to sound a little better.

Squidward

Living in CA has its advantages and disadvantages.. One of them being our traffic and parking tickets.. they're designed to collect money. I'll pay for the ticket and online traffic school, and do an online 30-minute review and "quiz". VERY easy. Minimal overhead, maximum revenue. And for parking tickets, private sector (Lockheed Martin) handles all legal and administrative fees, and splits the net revenue from the tickets with the city of L.A. Nice setup, eh? See this link.



Anyway, what I got was nothing special, just a speeding ticket.. your everyday, typical traffic infraction..

In CA, you have two choices, fight the ticket, or pay the fine. If you fight, you give up your chance to attend traffic school to avoid getting a point added to your DMV record. If you do attend traffic school, you have to pay an administrative fee of $40 and the class fee of $25 - $50 (varies from school to school), ON TOP of your "bail" amount (fine).

For your curiosity, this is what a CA ticket looks like in the back:

Speed-ER doc

Thanks for the update. Does your insurance only go up as you get points, or do they not find out about it if there are no points?

Never mind, I think I understand it does go away with traffic school after reading the ticket back.

Here, the reason to take defensive driving is to avoid the insurance hit. We can take it every year to remove a ticket. Insurance rate also goes down if you take the class.

We also have deferred adjudication, where you pay a fee (bribe) to the court so that if you don't get another moving violation within 3 months, the ticket disappears. My favorite!

93rdcurrent

I enjoyed that privelage in CA. but here in WA. we get no such break. We can pay the fine and it won't go on our record if we don't get another ticket in 3 years... who can go without for 3 years?!? If you get another ticket then you have to deal with both going on your record at once. It's a conspiracy I tell ya.

Squidward

LOL that's jacked, man...
I guess that's one good way to keep people from getting tickets..

get two at a time heheh

RX-8 friend

Often, radar detectors will not help. I have a Valentine 1, but here they use "instant on" radar. If I'm going faster than I should, there's no traffic. If there's no traffic you get no warning of instant on radar (you see them checking other vehicles ahead of you). I have an Amateur radio in my car and monitor police activity so I have -some- idea where they are working. That and the V1 have saved me about 5 tickets in the last two years.

I see Lockheed Martin has really diversified. They also do the "photo radar" that many jurestictions use. My V1 also picks it up .

"But your honor, no-one can drive an RX-7/8 at the speed limit. It's obviously Mazda's fault."

Monique

aww that sucks.
i have an escort cordless solo s2 that my hubby bought me for xmas (haven't been pulled over yet, knock on wood). radar det's can give us a false sense of security tho.
i usually know where the speed traps are but ive gotten stopped anyway. coast looked clear but looks ARE deceiving! anyway it was the day i got my 8 and he let me go (there r some cool ones out there). the next time i get stopped i plan on changing my display from "mph" to "km" and will play "dumb blonde" by pretending i dont know how to get it back to "mph" hehe hopefully it'll work since there's no actual needle. i'll tell him i was just on my way to the dealership to ask how to change it back. plan B: call my cop friend to get it fixed like those in my past!

rx8gator

I see this thread has mostly Velocity Red 8's. Mine is too. They say red is the most ticketed color, stands out or something. None yet in mine, but being careful. BTW, Monique, VELOCITY, not VILOCITY.

ranger4277

Anybody ever hear of the 1 cent rule? Overpay your ticket by one cent (any amount over works) and the county/state/whatever will try and refund your overpayment... just tear up the check and ignore it. The point is that insurance can't be notified until the transaction is complete, so as long as you don't accept the refund, theoretically insurance never finds out!

I've heard first hand accounts of this working, but never had to try it myself.

Mr Tate

I test drove the rx8 today.......and got an f'in ticket!!!!!!
what the hell is that all about? the damn a hole wouldn't let me off. 71 in a 50....are you kidding me?

Squidward

yes, I've heard of it, and it is a common urban legend.

the reality is if you overpay you get a refund, and if you don't cash it within 90 days, the refund stays with the court..
if you underpay, your case remains open and, if you don't settle up, eventually a warrant will be issued for your arrest.

Speed-ER doc

That's his job.