the following steps may help you get out of a costly speeding ticket:
on my way to work on Fri. nite I was doing about 80mph when I see Crown Vic headlights quickly approaching in my rear view. then the strobes. I started slowing down and hit my indicator to let the trooper know I had every intention of pulling over. 1. always pull over as soon as possible. do not proceed to a spot that you deem "safe". the trooper will decide where a safe spot is. 2. once stopped turn on your interior light so the cop can see what's going on inside your vehicle and 3. kill the engine. 4. try to have your ID and stuff readily available for the cop once he arrives at your window. his time is valuable. also, 5. keep your hands visible for the cop. I always hang both hands out the window with my ID and paperwork. 6. if you can, address the cop by what municipality he is from: "good evening trooper, officer, patrolman, ect". an extra feather in your cap is if you can spot the stripes on their shoulder and address them as Corporal, Sgt, Lt. they love that. 7. ask how they are. show a little humanity. they usually ask "how are you?" right back. use a little humor and respond with "well I was doing fine until..." they usually chuckle. the trooper informed me I was doing 90 in a 55. I knew I was only doing 80 but 8. I didn't argue with him. try to agree but not really confess any guilt. my response was "man, I knew I was kinda picking up speed but I didn't realize I got up to 90" the trooper went to his car, came back 10 min later and returned my ID and issued me a citation for Obedience To Traffic Control Devices! NO POINTS and the fine is much cheaper than what is could have been for speeding. only $109.50 after all the EMS garbage is tacked on. by showing a little civility these 8 easy steps may help you avoid a costly ticket and raised insurance rates. use them wisely my friends.

 

WOW! Did YOU get lucky! No way would I've gotten off that easy. Wait a minute! I DID get off EASIER than that ONE time, not too long ago. I passed a farmer pulling a hay rake. He was doing about 50. Traffic was heavy, but there was a break before the semi coming, so I punched it and went around him. There was a state trooper directly behind the semi, and as we passed, he clocked me at 81, and I was on the brakes. He did a u-turn, but it took him 4 miles to get around the same truck I passed. He pulled me over and told me "Do you know how fast you were doing? 81, eightyone, EIGHTY-ONE! I told him I was on the brakes, as he could see, and traffic was heavy, as it took him the 4 miles to get around the same guy. He chewed me out, but never even looked at my license or registration. Just a chewing, cuz he knew that I wasn't speeding, other than to pass the same truck he couldn't get around either. BTW, I'm guessing HE hit 81 going around the same guy!!!
It DOES pay to be polite, not only with cops, but with EVERYONE! Conflict will get you no where, other than stressed.
"Do unto others as you would them do unto you".
Smile and say "Have a nice day"

 

Totally agree with the above...be nice to the cop, and you put yourself in a better situation.

I've gotten out of more than 1 ticket before, just acting nice, and being totally honest. If you know you were speeding, admit it, if you know how fast you were going, admit it. Doing this has gotten me answers like "I appreciate your honesty, when your honest with us, we have a hard time being mean," then he chuckled, and let me go. I've also had similar cases as Wayne, no ticket, but he chewed my *** out...but thats fine with me, just let them chew you out, and don't back talk them. Sometimes all they want to do is try and get a point across...if they feel the chewing is getting through to you, they may let you go. They also sometimes use this chewing as an attitude test, if you start to cop and attitude, boom, instant ticket!

 

I've gotten out of way more tickets than I should have, but I've also been handed the ones I really deserved. The first time that came to mind happened a few months ago on my way to a movie with my girlfriend. We were runnin kinda late (my fault of course, not) and it was a half hour drive. So I was speeding a little bit (65ish in a 55), but it we were still runnin late so I bumped it up to 75. Like 2 miles out with about 5 minutes to spare, a County Deputy clocked me and flipped around. Mind you it was dark and kinda heavy traffic. Anywho... I pulled over, the officer got out of the car, started walkin to the passenger side of my car and that's when I noticed it was a female officer. I rolled the window down, looked at my girlfriend and said "great, hear we go." She bent down to see me and asked why I was in such a hurry. I was speechless and all I could do was stare, she was SO f-in hot!!! Like bottom jaw on the ground and drooling hot, you all know what I'm talkin about. She started snappin her fingers and proceded to check me back into reality, I apoligized and said that she wasn't quite who I was expecting to see. She laughed a little bit and asked exactly what I meant. I flat out told her the she was way to attractive to be an officer of the law. She got a sort of shy smile and got back to the point of the stop. I was completely honest with her and apologized for speeding and that I realized it was wrong. Fortunately, she gave me a warning, told me to keep it under 60, and thanked me for "the much needed and appreciated compliment" as she said. I told her I was very surprised she doesn't hear that too often and she stated that she assumed everyone else was scared to say it. She flirtaciously laughed a little more, said to have a good night, and let me go. I was so happy and shocked that I almost started speeding again, my girlfriend looked at me said what the f**k was that! All I could do was smile the rest of the night

 

i dont agree with 3 things on your "steps". first one, pull over as soon as possiable, sadly to say with how many different police cars there are, some ppl do inpersonate a police officer. 2nd, have your liceanse and reg ready, that usally means you are moving around your car once pulled over and that makes the officer nervous, u dont wont someone with a gun on the edge, he/she never knows what to expect. wait till he/she asks for them.3rd, hanging your hands out the window i think makes it look like you are guilty before u even started. (plus he/she could think u are tring to drop somthing illiagal) keep your hands on the wheel. humor i dont think will work, his job is to uphold the law, he pulled u over for a reason,not a laughing matter, maybe later after the ice is broken. one more thing, dont get nearvous when he/she starts writing things down,at that point hes just writing down your info.

 

I was doing 90 in a 65 on the OH tpk headed to cleveland back in july. I got stopped in my white nissan rental car (more like jetson mobile!) ON THE TURN AROUND AREA... becase on either side of this section was nothing but jersey barrier. we had to drive 2 miles before he could pull me over... i was very honest with him, that i was speeding because A) the car had no cruise control B) i was on the phone with delta trying to verify flight information, thus i knew while i had my eyes on the road i wasn't monitoring my speed. C) yea i was probably speeding.

Cop Let me Off. I got REALLY lucky. They probably would have towed me.

 

Fischer brought up a good point. Not to bash the cops, but the ones around my city are already on edge with the nutcases trying to take potshots at them. I don't need to put them on edge anymore.

Secondly, my brother in-law who is a cop, has openly admitted he'll write anyone a ticket if the need warrants. Doesn't matter how polite or hot they are. Although, he did say that being polite and respectful will help avoid getting yourself into more trouble. He arrested a moron who decided a ticket wasn't enough, and wanted a nice ride to the precinct after the idiot insulted him.

Ironically, like the others here, I have gotten away with more warnings than tickets for speeding. That was in Arizona. Unfortunately, warnings are not that common in Jacksonville, so I usually try to avoid attracting their attention. LOL

That should be another thread - legally avoiding attracting the attention of Officer Friendly.

 

You made some good points in your post, Vincenti, but I also agree with Jim Fischer about keeping your hands on the steering wheel until the cop comes up to your window. I once read a book written by a former trooper about how to avoid speeding tickets, and he said that same thing about keeping your hands on the wheel. It's also better to wait until the cop comes up to your window and has asked for your license & reg to pull them out. If for some reason you keep your reg in your glovebox, then tell the officer that and *ask* him if it's OK for you to reach over to get it. If you don't ask first and just reach over to your glovebox, he could think you're going for a gun. Yes, most cops do like having their egos stroked, so if you can address them by their rank (if you're sure you know it), so much the better.
The last two times I got pulled over for speeding - once on my way home from work, and the other time while driving on the interstate in one of the southern states (I was sure the trooper was just itching to give this "Yankee" a ticket) - I got away with just a warning each time. I think a lot of it had to do with being polite to the cop, not arguing with him, and apologizing for not watching my speed more carefully.

 

Was that RT.80? If so I'm surprised you got pulled over people are always speeding on that turnpike, and I hardly ever see patrol cars, sounds like you were unlucky to have been noticed in the first place. Although you definitely are lucky to not have been ticketed.

 

East, I was heading on 76 TO I80 north... I got pulled over 5 MILES before the exit. You know the part, where 76 has jersey barriers on both sides and in order to get pulled over you have to stop in the turnaround section in the middle. I got noticed because I had a PA plate. And the car was nicer than the ones around me. LOL. I was NOT in my monte but my nissan rental car after my 98 got totaled.