Go, go, granny, go, go. Granny be good!

 

You're such a funny lady. I'm on the road for a very long time this coming weekend to nothern NJ, now watch! Hope I didn't jinx myself.

 

May 11th - 3 AM - Houston, TX. I was working in a refinery in east Houston (Pasadena). I had been at the hotel, and received a call that I needed to get back to the refinery. I was driving down the access road at a pretty good clip when the flashing lights came on behind me.

I remembered what a friend of mine on the San Jose, CA police force told me - if you are stopped at night - turn your dome light on and drape your hands over the steering wheel. It goes a long way towards making the officer calm and helps defuse a potentially dangerous situation for the officer.

I was driving a rental Saturn VUE (what a piece of crap BTW) and couldn't find the dome light, so I rolled down the window and stuck both my hands out the window and left them there until he came up to the window.

He asked for my license. I told him that my license was in my wallet in my back pocket and I was going to get my wallet.

He asked me where I was working, where I was staying, and whether I was on my way in to work or back to the hotel. (I had my work coveralls on). I told him I was on my way in to work. He just told me to slow down and let me go - WHEW.

 

Valentine one, no tickets in over 15 years. These things pay for themselves quick.

 

Do you have your Valentine hidden? Ours was on the dash. As I mentioned, +1 got a ticket with the Valentine 1. It went off, but it was too late. We have a feeling that something may have been wrong with it, even though it was only a year old.

Anyway, a state trooper friend told us it was very likely the reason a ticket was given instead of a warning. If the police officer sees a radar detector, he assumes you are a habitual speeder, and you've got a ticket coming.

+1 had been stopped twice in the S before we got the Valentine, and both times was let off with a warning, he was going at least 10-15 mph over the limit those two times, and yet only 8 over when he got the ticket.

 

^^^ Lainey i have mine mounted on my visor, its hard wired into the overhead light. Its almost impossible to see if your outside the car. In Mississippi if your caught with it there is no way you can get out of the ticket, the trooper puts an "R" on the ticket and circles it.
You have to be smart when using a detector,always make sure there is a car ahead of you to pick up the radar first. If mine goes off i slow down.

 

As soon as I finished college I bought a black Camaro Z28. (Awful piece of junk, but fast for its time.) I spent the next few years telling unbelieving people that I'd never been pulled over in that car. I then decided to get cute and ordered personalized plates saying "NVR CAUT". I got a ticket before the plates even arrived.

A mounty pulled me over in Middle-of-nowhere, BC. Once he saw my US plates he insisted that I must have a gun in the car. He was sure that everyone in the States owns guns, and that we take them with us everywhere.

 

Sometime in April at 10:30 pm, after working a 14 hour day, I was finally on my way home. It was dark and rainy. I was tired, frustrated, chilled and hungry. I'd been working all day and didn't stop to have lunch or dinner.

Route 46 West in New Jersey is a fun road at night. It has all of the best and worst features of an old US highway but at night it's empty. Its nothing like an interstate, its much more fun. So, with 21 miles to go, I put my Si in gear and took off. I just wanted to get home.

I knew he got me as soon as my V-1 started to chirp. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him do a quick "U" turn and with the lights flashing I pulled over. He said I was doing 62, I said, "No, no, I was only doing 55." But he said, "The speed limit on this part of 46 is 40 so you were still speeding." He was right, there is a 3 mile stretch in Denville where the speed limit goes from 45 to 40 and back to 50. He was waiting in the 40 mph zone. Its a known speed trap, but I was too tired to think about it.

Needless to say, I wasn't too happy.

I wouldn't mind except that when New Jersey Govenor Jon Corzine's car was involved in the accident his driver was doing 91 miles per hour, and at least I was wearing my seat belt. Corzine wasn't.

None the less, the cop handed me the ticket and told me that he was nice enough to reduce the speed to 57 mph to save me $5 and wished me a good night. I of course rolled up the window, uttered a few choice words and left.

Now I'm $105 poorer. The next day I was driving real conservatively. Luckily it happened in Denville, the next town over from mine. Had it happened in Randolph, my town, the fine would've been $400.

I think I like it better when the townships collected their revenue through taxes.

 

 

Oh Trav, you're scaring me. You must have been some kinda bold back in the day to order those plates. I just ordered my vanity plates and just hope that I won't be a target because of them. A free drink at the next meet to the first one to guess what thy say (no brainer ).