Caught speeding - make a run for it?

"spdnomo" > wrote in message
. ..
> Some time ago I was driving cross country from the west coast to the
> east coast. While I'm normally a pretty safe driver and observe the
> speed limits and the rules of the road, this time I found myself in
> one of those <don't know what to call them> that you sometimes
> encounter when driving long distances when everyone around you is
> going pretty fast and the cars coming up behind you pretty much force
> you to keep up the pace or get run over. We were all doing over 90
> mpg on the interstate in the middle of nowhere. I'd say the fastest
> ones must have been going over 100, as they were blasting past me and
> I was doing about 95. Anyway, I stayed on the right lane and tried to
> fall back a bit planning to slow down and get below the speed limit
> where I'm comfortable. I made it to the back of the pack and fell
> behind but didn't slow down soon enough and a state trooper hiding
> behind a good spot nabbed me. I panicked and quickly slowed down to
> the speed limit. It took him a long time to catch up with me since he
> had to start from 0. I noticed he trailed me for a long while keeping
> a pretty good distance from me for oh I'd say a couple miles before he
> finally went in for the kill. Of course I got the old "give me a good
> reason not to throw you in jail right now" and ate a good sized
> portion of humble pie. In the end he let me off with a ticket. It
> was pretty expensive, and involved pleading guilty to a criminal
> traffic offense by mail from the east coast. All this got me to
> thinking: what would have happened if instead of slowing down I had
> just kept on going. He would have never been able to catch up me
> with, since I was going over 90 and he was stopped when I passed him.
> Would he have put out a BOLO or an APB on me or something? Would I
> have been intercepted by a dozen troopers and helicopters/ the works
> further on down the interstate? Was I better off slowing down like I
> did and letting him catch up to me or should I have made a run for it
> and then slowed down once I lost him?

Why slow down? You should have made him work for that pull over. If you
stayed at 100, he would have go get going at least 150 to catch up with you
in a short time as to not loose you. Does he really want to go that fast
over just a speeder? You don't really know he is after you until they are
behind you and flashing the lights at you.

Don't know what state it was in, but some states have "speed trap" laws. It
other words the police must be visible when they catch you speeding, and not
hiding behind some sign or something.

GeekBoy wrote:
>Don't know what state it was in, but some states have "speed trap" laws. It
>other words the police must be visible when they catch you speeding, and not
>hiding behind some sign or something.

That's a speed trap????? That's common sense! What're they supposed
to do, put up a sign that says "COP AHEAD"???

I always thought a speed trap was when they lowered the speed limit
drastically, for no apparent reason, and put the cop on the other side
of the sign so you had no chance to slow down in the first place. Or
maybe the sign was partly hidden. Or....

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> GeekBoy wrote:
>>Don't know what state it was in, but some states have "speed trap" laws.
>>It
>>other words the police must be visible when they catch you speeding, and
>>not
>>hiding behind some sign or something.
>
> That's a speed trap????? That's common sense! What're they supposed
> to do, put up a sign that says "COP AHEAD"???
>


Yes it is. In the 80s that hiding go so bad that many small municipal police
stations were funding their budget with speed traps.
I remember this small town in central Texas called Nolanville. So small I
think population was about 50 or less people, yet they had like 4 police
cars.
They were able to afford that through speed traps.

Shortly after the state stepped in stopped all that they were down to one
police car and you could see the other cars parked in front and slowly being
stripped of their parts to keep the one car they had left over running.


> I always thought a speed trap was when they lowered the speed limit
> drastically, for no apparent reason, and put the cop on the other side
> of the sign so you had no chance to slow down in the first place. Or
> maybe the sign was partly hidden. Or....
>

That could be one also. However in Texas they cannot hide. Their view can be
obscured though. For examaple on some highways in you are in a lighted area
and some areas are not lighted very well and covered by trees, due to the
contrast the car is difficult to see until it is too late.

Geekboy wrote:
>In the 80s that hiding go so bad that many small municipal police
>stations were funding their budget with speed traps.

Yes, I've heard of these. And I don't like that practice any more than
anyone else in this ng.

But in the normal course of things, where the primary purpose really is
to get people to slow down, the squad car has to be hidden or somehow
else a surprise. Otherwise folks just slow down temporarily when the
car is visible. The thing that keeps many scofflaws in check is the
fear that that squad car could be hidden anywhere, ready to pounce if
their speed goes too far astray.

Actually, with all those radar detectors around, I've often thought it
woudl be a good idea to just plaster a community with random radar
emitters to get folks to slow down, or at least mask the presence of
the actual squad car.

Again, none of this is intended to replace the classic speed trap for
out of town money type situation. That's
abomimbmbi....abinamaboble...abobo....bad.

In article .com>,
wrote:
>
>I always thought a speed trap was when they lowered the speed limit
>drastically, for no apparent reason, and put the cop on the other side
>of the sign so you had no chance to slow down in the first place. Or
>maybe the sign was partly hidden. Or....

In Pennsylvania, there is a law restricting how drastically the speed
limit can be reduced, and also a minimum distance past the reduced speed
limit sign before the lower limit can be enforced.

- Don Klipstein )