T Nation

Damn Cops!

Off Topic
#1


Damn cops. They were out in full force Friday night. I was heading east down University Ave and decided to take a shortcut downtown by turning right at the intersection of University and 13th (busy place by UF and downtown area). I pulled into the turn lane. Stopped. Checked traffic, accelerated and turned. Two seconds later, motorcycle cop on my ass.

“Do you know why I pulled you over,” he says.

“Well, I wasn’t speeding,” I say. I start thinking to myself, yeah, I know why you pulled me over. I’m a young guy in a sporty convertible living in a college town.

“Well, I saw her head whip back into the seat around that corner,” he says referring to Joy. “There is no turn on red,” he says. “May I have your license please.”

I’m grumbling…no turn on red. What the hell is up with that? I always make a right turn on red. When the hell did they put a sign up that says that? I never even saw a sign.

One minute later, someone else gets pulled for the same thing.

“Sign this please. Do you understand the citation?” he says.

“Yup,” I say.

“Have a good night,” he says.

$96! F’ GPD cops!

As I proceed downtown, GPD is everywhere. Pulling people over right and left. motorcycle cops, car cops, foot patrol, even a horse patrol giving out parking tickets.

It must have been a fund-raiser for the city.

And I can’t go to school for this one. I’ve used up my five lifetime school options. Three points on my license, and I’ve only had the car for three weeks. And it was a waste of a ticket. Speeding is one thing. It would be justified, and I would feel like it was “acceptable.” But a right turn on red? That is such horse shit!

#2
  1. Hooked on phonics worked for me!!
  2. Read the signs.
  3. I hope you never need a cop to protect you or any of your loved ones.
  4. Nice cars will not increase the length of your penis.
#3

Nice S2000. Yeah I hate it when cops do something like that. We let the police department borrow the 3rd floor of our footall stadium at school for something and that whole week they used it they did nothing but make that area of North Charleston a ridiculous speed trap. I didn’t get a ticket but it drove me up the wall and alot of people at school got tickets. So basically the police used out property and wrote everyone tickets. Its like letting a cop clock people in your own front yard then he gives you a ticket.

#4

[quote]1. Hooked on phonics worked for me!!
2. Read the signs.
3. I hope you never need a cop to protect you or any of your loved ones.
4. Nice cars will not increase the length of your penis.[/quote]

  1. I’m glad it worked for you. I don’t need “hooked on phonics.” I speak fine, thank you. Do you never use slang? Or are you too cool for that?

  2. Normally, I do read and notice the signs. This time, I didn’t. When you travel a road often, sometimes you don’t notice a new sign that doesn’t stand out very well. Forgive me oh great doogie. I’m sure you’ve never missed a sign. And you’ve probably never had a ticket, either. Bravo!

  3. I don’t need a traffic cop to protect me or my family thank you.

  4. Who said I needed to increase the length of my penis? I’ve never had a complaint, and I’m quite satisfied with my manhood. Maybe that’s something that would best suit you.

I love sporty cars because they are fun. I’m sorry that I’m not boring and old like you.

#5

Oh, Nate Dogg. I was just funnin’ you.

#6

Nate,
If they really did change the sign there, and it was fairly recently, you would have a good argument in court. Might get you a PBJ. You can probably find out when the sign got put in by either a) looking at the city records, or b) talking to people that work in an adjacent building.

Good luck!

#7

You and FitnForty are always giving me a hard time!

#8

Hmmmm…nephorm, I may have to look into that!

#9

Nate Dogg,

I have a few theorys on traffic control. First, I think that anyone who has a capable car and has passed a “special road test” and paid whopping fee, ought to be able to speed. As long as road conditions permit: 1. Daylight 2.No inclement weather 3. Low traffic area. Under good conditions you are allowed to drive 25 miles over the speed limit. (This is only on the highway, in the city there is no special circumstance).

Now some of you might be thinking, how the heck is a cop supposed to know who has this speical license? Simple, your plate will designate it at all times, and in addition to this you have a specially colored marker attached somewhere on your vehicle that can easily be seen. (You could forge one of these but the penalty would be quite severe, far more than the cost of a ticket for speeding-perhaps a Felony).

This still may sound a bit off the wall to some, but it has the potential to raise a great deal of money for the state. Also, if there was found to be a higher rate of accidents after a one year period the test could be ended.

Um, it’s unique!

#10

Try pleading it. Get with the prosecutor before the hearing tell him you want to plead guilty and pay the fine. “Ask” him if he can work with you on the points. Most of the time he will plead all the guilites concurrently in one batch before the judge. If your on the list you’ll pay the fine and not get points. Worth a try.

With all those violations if he checks your record he may tell you you are screwed but you’ll be no worse off then you are now.

#11

ZEB, that would be sweet. For those of us who can drive fast safely, we should be allowed to do so. There’s nothing like some open road and not having to worry about a speeding ticket.

They have the autobahn in Germany, so why can’t we do something like that in the States?

Obviously, not everyone would be granted the permit, as there are many people that just can’t drive.

Maybe one of the requirements would be that you have to take a professional driving course that teaches you all the tricks of the trade, including high speed driving, cornering, braking, avoiding accidents, etc.

#12

You own a S2000 and your complaining about a $96 dollar ticket? Yeah… I feel bad for ya.

If you really wanna fight it, and it’s a new sign up there, take the court date and protest it that way. Make sure to come in with the date that the sign was posted and that you never noticed it as it was a new one. Judges are normally rather sweet people that way. And if they aren’t, most they can do is make you pay the same amount.

#13

Pay the fine. Making the cop come in to testify, perhaps on his day off, will piss him off and you could get red flagged. And, stop your outrageous criminal behavior before you end up in da big house.

#14

AvoidsRoids,

Cops love to testify on their days off they get overtime pay.

#15

Just thought I’d chime in since I live in gainesville too and my friend got a ticket for those dumbass signs at the beginning of this year. They just put them in at the start of the fall semester to get more revenue…there were no signs there for Years so I have no idea why they put them in other than to ticket people. It’s not just you though, I still make that turn half the time without thinking about it. All corners of university and 13th have those no turn on red signs now

#16

I hate to say it but it’s for b.s. reasons like this/ and many others, that I sometime question being a cop.

#17

ZEB is absolutely correct.

One of my buddies is a cop and makes mad dough on his days off going to court.

B.

#18

Me thinks this was just an excuse to show us a pic of your car.

#19

Merlin,

Well, it certainly is pretty, isn’t it? heheh.

But it sucks to get a ticket!

#20

If it will help you feel better NateDogg, know that I got a $190 ticket on my snowmobile a couple weekends ago.

I was so pissed when the officer told me how much the ticket was I just about tore his fucking head off. Felt like I had been violated. I guess I forgot what I learned on my crotch-rocket in college. It’s usually cheaper to hit the gas (and far more satisfying).

War “Never let the law get in the way of a good time.” horse