Stupid Cops!

[Shamrock]

I hate the cops. They caught me speeding. I was doing 11.2 mph over the speed limit according to the officer. :| He gave me a ticket with a terrible fine. The worse part is that there were cars in front of me going faster, and I was passing a car that was going just as fast but obviously slower since I was passing it.Anyway, the dude speeds out of his little hiding spot and pulls me over. What a jerk.

If the lovable, cuddly HL2.net community would be kind enough to offer me a dollar to help me pay for this, I would be forever grateful and even pay for an American TF2 server! I'm so low for cash to pay for a stupid ticket. You guys don't have to, but if you would like to donate to the poor Shamrock fund to help a Uni kid pay off a stupid ticket, private message me.

Oh and in the words of NWA, "**** the police!"

 

[Pesmerga]

Yeah those dang police always making sure you don't break the law.

 

[Baal]

My friend got a ticket for doing a rolling stop at a red light last week on a Saturday night at 11:50PM with no traffic around at all. $160 later and now he's only one point away from losing his license.

He's going to fight it I think :|

 

[Solaris]

****ing stupid police pulling you over for speeding when there is a genocide happening in Dafur.

 

[Pesmerga]

My friend got a ticket for doing a rolling stop at a red light last week on a Saturday night at 11:50PM with no traffic around at all. $160 later and now he's only one point away from losing his license.

He's going to fight it I think :|

How does one try to justify a rolling stop at a RED LIGHT. Jesus, you're all stupid drivers.

 

[Shamrock]

How does one try to justify a rolling stop at a RED LIGHT. Jesus, you're all stupid drivers.

:| That is unjustifiable, I think anyway.

But mine, I was keeping the same speed with everyone. There is no reason to pull me over out of the bunch when there are people in front of me going faster than I am! Its just irrational!

 

[CptStern]

I'm no fan of cops but ....

I hate the cops. They caught me speeding.

nuff said

 

[DreamThrall]

You were still breaking the law, and over 10mph over the limit... so its not like it was just a little bit over like everyone does. Also, a lot of cars have their speedometers tweaked a little so it looks like you're going a few mph faster than you really are, so to you, it could've easily appeared that you were closer to 15mph over the limit, which honestly, is kinda asking to get pulled over.

 

[CptStern]

****ing stupid police pulling you over for speeding when there is a genocide happening in Dafur.

lol

Cop: boy, do you know how fast you were going?
Shamrock: shouldnt you be in Darfur?

 

[Shamrock]

You were still breaking the law, and over 10mph over the limit... so its not like it was just a little bit over like everyone does.

You are missing the point. I was keeping up with everyone. Traffic was moving at 10 mph over the speed limit.

Gah. I hate tickets. Now, I have to open my check book and write my first check.

 

[DreamThrall]

Okay, but "keeping up with traffic" doesn't make it legal to speed. Also, there was nothing stopping you from lightening up on the gas pedal a bit.

 

[Pesmerga]

I got a $100 ticket for wreckless driving about 3 months ago. I fish tailed all over the highway going 95mph and ended up doing a barrel roll on the right grassy side. I consider myself very fortunate no one was in the way.

 

[Shamrock]

Okay, but "keeping up with traffic" doesn't make it legal to speed.

I know. I realize that. Bloody copper.

The worst part is that I knew something bad was going to happen today. If I wouldn't have skipped my first class, I wouldn't have been speeding nor have been late. I hate karma. It has been on my ass the past few weeks.

I got a $100 ticket for wreckless driving about 3 months ago. I fish tailed all over the highway going 95mph and ended up doing a barrel roll on the right grassy side. I consider myself very fortunate no one was in the way.

Whoa. How did that happen?

 

[The Monkey]

Here a person gets fines according to how much income they have. That's better than fixed fines, IMO.

 

[Viperidae]

Cops just don't understand, eh Will?

 

[Beerdude26]

Over here you get a standard 50euro fine + 5euro more per kilometre you went too fast.

 

[Krynn72]

Owned.

As for why he picked you out of everyone? He can only pull over one of you, so you were just in the wrong place at the right time. Which is ironic since you should have been in class.

 

[Shamrock]

Owned.

As for why he picked you out of everyone? He can only pull over one of you, so you were just in the wrong place at the right time. Which is ironic since you should have been in class.

Haha. Well, sort of. I was running late to a class. I skipped my first one. The second class was 2 hours later.

But alas, I did get owned. I paid my fine. Everything is better now.

 

[DreamThrall]

Everything is better now.

Until you have to renew your car insurance of course... have fun with that :thumbs:

 

[repiV]

If everyone on the road is exceeding the speed limit by 10mph, it's a much more reliable indicator that the speed limit is set at least 10mph too low rather than that they were all in the wrong...
Speed limits are, by and large, meaningless. People who would tell you otherwise don't understand how road safety really works.

Of course, it's in the interests of politicians to propagate the lie, because it's a simple 'solution' to a complicated problem, and speed enforcement is a profitable stealth tax. I say they're killing people for the sake of revenue.

 

[DreamThrall]

If everyone on the road is exceeding the speed limit by 10mph, it's a much more reliable indicator that the speed limit is set at least 10mph too low rather than that they were all in the wrong...
Speed limits are, by and large, meaningless. People who would tell you otherwise don't understand how road safety really works.

So if there are 10 people in a row doing 20mph over the speed limit in an otherwise quiet residential neighborhood, potentially with children around, you're saying that the speed limit should really be 45mph instead of 25mph, simply because the drivers of those vehicles saw it fit to drive like that?

Speed limits are not meaningless, they're put in place to protect the safety not only of the people driving on the road, but pedestrians and what/whoever else may be sharing the same general area as the road. THAT is how road safety works, and it is not, nor should it be, subject simply to the convenience of drivers who can't follow the rules.

 

[repiV]

So if there are 10 people in a row doing 20mph over the speed limit in an otherwise quiet residential neighborhood, potentially with children around, you're saying that the speed limit should really be 45mph instead of 25mph?

You wouldn't find 10 people in a row doing 20mph over the speed limit in a quiet residential neighbourhood, because it isn't safe to do so.
The only people who don't exceed speed limits for one reason or another are menaces on the road. It would be both ironic and tragic if you were to kill someone by being on the wrong side of the road because you refused to break the speed limit to overtake.

Speed limits are not meaningless, they're put in place to protect the safety not only of the people driving on the road, but pedestrians and what/whoever else may be using the same area around the road. THAT is how road safety works, and it is not, nor should it be, subject simply to the convenience of people who can't follow the rules.

Pray tell, how can a sign tell you what is a safe speed for all times of day and night, all weather conditions, all vehicle types, all abilities of driver/rider, all traffic conditions and accounting for any other variables?
A speed limit can never be anything else except hopelessly inaccurate - it's complete and absolute bollocks. The only person who is qualified to decide on the safe speed at any one moment in time is the person in control of the vehicle.
Pedestrians are responsible for their own safety - the road is for vehicles, it's their responsibility to ensure it's safe to cross before doing so. Pedestrians are quite frankly ****ing idiots, and they cause most of the accidents they are involved in - actually just lastnight on my way home from work, doing about 25 down near Victoria station (not because the speed limit is 30, because that was an appropriate speed - you'll regularly find me doing 60 through 30 limits) and some moronic woman runs straight into the road and I plough straight into the side of her after getting about half a second of braking in. The momentum of her running must have cushioned the impact, as she spun round, said "sorry" and then proceeded to run across the other lanes again without looking. Complete ****ing idiots.
I ride a motorbike, by the way, which is why she wasn't injured in any real way. But if I had been doing a shoulder check when she decided to run into the road, I probably would have been thrown from my bike and injured to a far greater degree than she would have been. Why doesn't she get a ****ing ticket?

You'll have to demonstrate with evidence how speed limits contribute to road safety - and you will be unable to. Right now, your only argument is regurgitating what your driving examiner told you.
Guess what? That ain't good enough. The vast majority of people actually have no idea how they steer their bikes, and this includes many instructors, ex-world class racers and people who have been riding for decades. The status quo is not a justification.

 

[DreamThrall]

You wouldn't find 10 people in a row doing 20mph over the speed limit in a quiet residential neighbourhood, because it isn't safe to do so.
The only people who don't exceed speed limits for one reason or another are menaces on the road.



Pray tell, how can a sign tell you what is a safe speed for all times of day and night, all weather conditions, all vehicle types, all abilities of driver/rider, all traffic conditions and accounting for any other variables?
A speed limit can never be anything else except hopelessly inaccurate - it's complete and absolute bollocks. The only person who is qualified to decide on the safe speed at any one moment in time is the person in control of the vehicle.
Pedestrians are responsible for their own safety - the road is for vehicles, it's their responsibility to ensure it's safe to cross before doing so. Pedestrians are quite frankly ****ing idiots, and they cause most of the accidents they are involved in - actually just lastnight on my way home from work, doing about 25 down near Victoria station (not because the speed limit is 30, because that was an appropriate speed - you'll regularly find me doing 60 through 30 limits) and some moronic woman runs straight into the road and I plough straight into the side of her after getting about half a second of braking in. The momentum of her running must have cushioned the impact, as she spun round, said "sorry" and then proceeded to run across the other lanes again without looking. Complete ****ing idiots.
I ride a motorbike, by the way, which is why she wasn't injured in any real way.

You'll have to demonstrate with evidence how speed limits contribute to road safety - and you will be unable to. Right now, your only argument is regurgitating what your driving examiner told you.
Guess what? That ain't good enough. The vast majority of people actually have no idea how they steer their bikes, and this includes many instructors, ex-world class racers and people who have been riding for decades. The status quo is not a justification.

Well I suppose you're correct in one respect, that a sign can't be completely accurate in every circumstance.

However, it's been my experience after driving for nearly 7 years (not long compared to many people, but probably longer than most people here, except of course CptStern, whose first car was probably a model t ) that most drivers are complete morons who wouldn't know a safe driving speed for a given condition if the sign slapped them in the head. THAT is the reason these signs and laws exist.

Also, if you're doing 2x the speed limit and a pedestrian walks in front of you without looking and you hit them, it will be YOUR fault, not theirs, and you will most likely be tried and convicted for involuntary manslaughter if you kill/mangle them. That's another reason these signs and laws exist. Felony convictions aside, doesn't really matter whose fault it is, because these things are bound to happen, so at least if people drive at or around the prescribed speed, hopefully if a pedestrian (or child) isn't paying attention they'll be able to slow down in time to avoid a casualty.

 

[repiV]

Well I suppose you're correct in one respect, that a sign can't be completely accurate in every circumstance.

However, it's been my experience after driving for nearly 7 years (not long compared to many people, but probably longer than most people here, except of course CptStern, whose first car was probably a model t ) that most drivers are complete morons who wouldn't know a safe driving speed for a given condition if the sign slapped them in the head. THAT is the reason these signs and laws exist.

Why do you think that is? It's almost certainly because they've been conditioned to drive at the speed the sign says rather than at the safe speed for the conditions. Setting a safe and appropriate speed is first and foremost about knowing when to slow down, and if everyone is conditioned to do a steady 30 on this road, a steady 40 on that road etc, how on earth are they going to learn how to slow down when necessary?
It's quite clear to see that aggressive enforcement of speed limits is actually very likely to be making the roads more dangerous.
From a legal perspective, there's a simple solution anyway. Leave speed limits in place, but remove the absolute offence of speeding. So it must be proven in a court of law that you were driving dangerously in order for a conviction to occur.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to education. Fighter pilots hardly ever have an accident, but flying a fighter jet is infinitely more dangerous than driving a car. Road safety policy should be about looking at real problems and coming up with appropriate solutions, not just restricting everyone's speed and hoping something good happens as a result.

Also, if you're doing 2x the speed limit and a pedestrian walks in front of you without looking and you hit them, it will be YOUR fault, not theirs, and you will most likely be tried and convicted for involuntary manslaughter if you kill/mangle them.

Legally, possibly so. It doesn't mean it would really be my fault, though. Unless I came round a blind corner at double the speed limit, they've got no excuse for walking into the road. The other nightmare in London is pedestrians who walk blindly between lanes of traffic into the path of oncoming bikes. Completely impossible to anticipate. MORONS.
And if the speed limit is about reducing damage from apparently inevitable accidents, rather than reducing accidents themselves, why do bikes not have higher speed limits than cars? I would probably do less damage if I hit someone at 100mph than a Range Rover would at 30.

That's another reason these signs and laws exist. Felony convictions aside, doesn't really matter whose fault it is, because these things are bound to happen, so at least if people drive at or around the prescribed speed, hopefully if someone isn't paying attention they'll be able to slow down in time to avoid a casualty.

But that's the ironic thing - aggressive speed limit enforcement stops people from paying attention to the road because they're paranoid about their speedometer. Even if I'm gunning it at 150mph, you can always guarantee that 100% of my attention will be devoted to the road ahead. Unlike the drive-by-numbers automatons.
Apart from my altercation with the ****wit pedestrian yesterday, I have never been involved in a collision. Not bad for someone who pays absolutely no attention to speed limits. And on a motorbike. In London. Very prone to being hit by cars.

 

[586FAC75]

Also, if you're doing 2x the speed limit and a pedestrian walks in front of you without looking and you hit them, it will be YOUR fault, not theirs, and you will most likely be tried and convicted for involuntary manslaughter if you kill/mangle them.

That's why I wish Jaywalking was illegal in the UK, there are as many stupid pedestrians as there are stupid drivers.

 

[repiV]

That's why I wish Jaywalking was illegal in the UK, there are as many stupid pedestrians as there are stupid drivers.

Riding through the West End on a Friday night is like playing a game of "dodge the pedestrian". I had a whole horde of the ****ers (hundreds of em) cross the road when it was my green light last Friday, meanwhile my friends had disappeared into the traffic up ahead and I revved my engine to get them to move out of my ****ing way and all I got was a load of abuse shouted at me. Cyclists and pedicabs have a high moron percentage, too.
They think they own the road...

 

[Cheomesh]

I hate the cops. They caught me speeding. I was doing 11.2 mph over the speed limit according to the officer. :| He gave me a ticket with a terrible fine. The worse part is that there were cars in front of me going faster, and I was passing a car that was going just as fast but obviously slower since I was passing it.Anyway, the dude speeds out of his little hiding spot and pulls me over. What a jerk.

If the lovable, cuddly HL2.net community would be kind enough to offer me a dollar to help me pay for this, I would be forever grateful and even pay for an American TF2 server! I'm so low for cash to pay for a stupid ticket. You guys don't have to, but if you would like to donate to the poor Shamrock fund to help a Uni kid pay off a stupid ticket, private message me.

Oh and in the words of NWA, "**** the police!"

It's snot-nosed little shits like you that make cops get bad reputations. Grow up, learn to read numbers or GTFO.

 

[repiV]

It's snot-nosed little shits like you that make cops get bad reputations. Grow up, learn to read numbers or GTFO.

Why is he a snot-nosed little shit? Why does he need to grow up?
The police give themselves a bad reputation. For every good one, there are five jumped up little Hitlers who seem to have mistaken their role as public servants for that of state-sanctioned thugs.

 

[DreamThrall]

Why is he a snot-nosed little shit? Why does he need to grow up?
The police give themselves a bad reputation. For every good one, there are five jumped up little Hitlers who seem to have mistaken their role as public servants for that of state-sanctioned thugs.

Okay, but this isn't about police brutality. The OP was blatantly speeding and breaking the law, and the OP blames the cop doing his job for the consequences his own idiocy. That, I believe, is what was meant by "snot-nosed little shit".

 

[Raxxman]

I'm not against people being done for speeding, but I've been pulled over for:

A. Doing 71 to 73 on the motorway. (this is stupid because it's not court legal, they have to allow for a 10% margin of error for the equipment on both sides and my speedo said 70ish) In the slow lane at that...

B. Accelerating too fast. Didn't go over 30 mph (limit) but apparently could of potentially gone over 30 mph... thus was justification to haul me over for 30 mins while they fruitlessly check over every detail of the car to their dismay find it's in order. While they assured me they could book me for wreckless driving (within legal limits!)

C. was stopped on foot traveling from home by a squad car after a night out with a mate. We were detained, repeatedly questioned, and searched all while offering no resistance. One cop (a tall man with an Irish accent) kept telling me I was suspicious and proceeded to rip apart all my tissues (I had bad hayfever, most of them were used). In the end another 2 squad cars turned up with a patrol van, over 10 police surround two teenagers offering no resistance. By this point we were getting arsey because they'd been questioning us for a good 20 to 30 minutes without actually telling us why. In the end they were investigating a reported shop window breaking (not looting, just vandalism, with the description being that of '2 men'. At this point I had to state the bleeding obvious, that we were coming from the opposite direction, heading towards the crime scene, not away. At this point I was threatened by the Irish cop, telling me he'd 'ride me into the station' to watch the CCTV of the incident. To which I replied they were welcome too as the station was on the way in. After this farce went on for a good 35/40 mins they decided to let us go (probably after a hot tip about 2 more teenagers seen walking in town) while telling us to try and not look so suspicious... Turned out the window breaking didn't even occur, so I have no fecking idea what those dumbasses were up to.

D. Driving a Jersey licensed car. Officer told me that the car had been caught on a camera speeding south of were we were, he was disappointed to hear that the car had never been to Wales (where he said the speeding took place) he then said the car wasn't on the system (no shit, it's a Jersey car, not a UK one) Which clearly showed that the previous reason was total bullshit.

E. When a passenger in my mates car, we got stuck on country B roads behind a car that was driving very erratically. Massive breaking round corners (to excess, we're talking down to 4-5 miles an hour on at most 30 degree bends) erratic acceleration. In the end we reach an overtaking point were we gun it past the car (as much as a ford KA can gun) As we overtake I look across to see an old woman on the phone (naughty naughty, that's illegal) Turns out she's a police woman, and after hanging up from whoever she's nattering on too she phones a pursuit car after being unable to keep up with us and our dangerous none-speeding antics. They pull out the works on my mate, breathalyser, insurance, full car inspection. They even told him that 'It wasn't the point' he was under the speed limit he was a bad bad driver. In the end they charged him for having washer fluid dangerously low (for anyone who doesn't know a ford KA has about a half liter washer tank and is therefore under guidelines always dangerously low).

Just to clarify at all these times I was neither charged or ever directly accused (cept the ped situation I was kinda but never formally accused) of actually doing anything. Generally when challenged with the old chestnut of not actually breaking any laws they suggested that the law isn't important.

So yeah cops can be stupid.

 

[repiV]

Okay, but this isn't about police brutality. The OP was blatantly speeding and breaking the law, and the OP blames the cop doing his job for the consequences his own idiocy. That, I believe, is what was meant by "snot-nosed little shit".

He wasn't being an idiot. He would have been an idiot, had he decided to obey the speed limit and thus become a rolling roadblock to the rest of the traffic driving 10mph faster. If he had obeyed the speed limit, he would have been the most dangerous vehicle on that road at that time.
He did nothing wrong. The problem is the law.

The 70mph national speed limit for example is complete bull. It was pretty much a random number drawn out of a hat by a committee at a time when the fastest thing around could hit a top speed of 85mph. In reality on today's roads, 70mph is pretty much an absolute minimum safe speed on an uncongested motorway or major dual carriageway.
Take a spin on the A3 and you'll be hard pushed to find any vehicle travelling at less than 95mph.

 

[15357]

heh. Over here, you never get pulled over by the police for speeding. Oh no, it's the omnipresent "traffic information collector" cameras that get you.

 

[evil^milk]

Well, you deserved it - too bad he chose you to fine instead of all the other losers.

GG.

 

[lePobz]

The way I see it, if you're over the speed limit, it's your job to be on the lookout for traffic cops / speed cameras / mobile radars ... if you get caught, you should accept you got beaten by the system and you missed one. If you don't like to play that game, stay under the speed limit.

And saying 'well other traffic infront was going faster' is no excuse. They wouldn't be infront for long if they were going faster, so they were either going slower or they were going the same speed. That doesn't matter anyway, as you are responsible for driving your car, not theirs.

If you don't like the fine, don't go over the limit... and stop complaining. Begging for money on a forum is just stupid.

 

[repiV]

The way I see it, if you're over the speed limit, it's your job to be on the lookout for traffic cops / speed cameras / mobile radars ... if you get caught, you should accept you got beaten by the system and you missed one. If you don't like to play that game, stay under the speed limit.

So you find it acceptable that road safety has been reduced to playing a game against the system - using up brainpower that should be devoted to driving?

And saying 'well other traffic infront was going faster' is no excuse. They wouldn't be infront for long if they were going faster, so they were either going slower or they were going the same speed. That doesn't matter anyway, as you are responsible for driving your car, not theirs.

He drove his car responsibly by maintaining an appropriate speed for the conditions.

If you don't like the fine, don't go over the limit... and stop complaining. Begging for money on a forum is just stupid.

Yes, it's stupid - but it doesn't change the fact that he did absolutely nothing wrong. 11mph over the speed limit? Biiiig ****ing deal. I've slipped between cars in lanes 2 and 3 at three figure speeds in relative safety (considering the inherent danger involved in filtering on the motorway) on numerous occassions. It's certainly a whole lot safer than the alternative of drifting slowly between the cars, thus remaining in the "killzone" for longer and becoming much more likely to be squashed. In, clear, out. A two second job.

 

[lePobz]

Wait a minute, repiV ... i'm not saying it's acceptable, i'm just saying it's how it is ... you go over the limit, you have to be on your guard. I know it sucks, I know how distracting a road is that is laced with speed cameras.

 

[repiV]

Wait a minute, repiV ... i'm not saying it's acceptable, i'm just saying it's how it is ... you go over the limit, you have to be on your guard. I know it sucks, I know how distracting a road is that is laced with speed cameras.

Oh, right. Gotcha. Personally I think it's not a situation that we should lie down and take though. It's an enormous injustice.
Speed cameras have nearly caused me to have a serious accident twice. Once when I overtook a lorry on the A41, only to land right on top of a scamera that the lorry had hidden from view - had to slam on the brakes real hard, and a car that had followed my overtake narrowly managed to avoid rear-ending me. I could have easily been killed that day.
The other time I was coming home on the North Circular at 3 in the morning, no traffic whatsoever. Doing about 80 or so (positively dawdling, considering the conditions) and then ran into a speed camera hidden at the exit of a tunnel. My emergency braking in the wet induced a near-unrecoverable rear wheel slide.
"Safety cameras" indeed.

 

[Pesmerga]

If he had obeyed the speed limit, he would have been the most dangerous vehicle on that road at that time.
He did nothing wrong.

That's the biggest load of shit ever.

Once when I overtook a lorry on the A41, only to land right on top of a scamera that the lorry had hidden from view - had to slam on the brakes real hard, and a car that had followed my overtake narrowly managed to avoid rear-ending me. I could have easily been killed that day.
The other time I was coming home on the North Circular at 3 in the morning, no traffic whatsoever. Doing about 80 or so (positively dawdling, considering the conditions) and then ran into a speed camera hidden at the exit of a tunnel. My emergency braking in the wet induced a near-unrecoverable rear wheel slide.
"Safety cameras" indeed.

Both avoided by, you guessed it, following the speed limit. You save about ten minutes speeding, and consume more gas.

 

[repiV]

That's the biggest load of shit ever.

You've got a big mouth for a punk kid with nothing to add to the discussion. You probably don't even drive, so STFU.

 

[Pesmerga]

You've got a big mouth for a punk kid with nothing to add to the discussion. You probably don't even drive, so STFU.

I own a Mazda 636lx, payed $3000 grande for it, and pay my own insurance. You're the twat here, repiv, and you're a stupid twat at that. Don't like the law? Tough shit.