Koz

That SUCKS Joe! When you enter the next town over from me (Rutherford) they have a railroad trestle on the boarder that you have to go under. As soon as you come though the trestle a cop is standing at the stop sign (you will not see him until you are at the stop sign) and he is looking for seat belts, inspection sticker and cell phone use. My neighbor was complaining he got all three tickets in one shot. They also have a cop standing at a stop sign just as you get off the major highway (Route 3 east) entering Rutherford. He is standing (literally) a couple feet from the highway.

Koz

kitlz

Koz, I think I know where you're talking about. Will be in Rutherford next week to catch the bus into NYC. I'll keep an eye out, not that I plan on breaking any laws.

Again, I'm all for obeying the law. One thing that bothers me though is the law changed in April to say a driver has to stop if a pedestrian has a foot in the crosswalk. It might not be realistic in all circumstances due to speed, day/night, and/or weather conditions. Maybe this was the case for Joeb's wife. Now the majority of drivers I see,including myself, do stop. It's a shame we have to be mind readers when it comes to pedestrians and take our eyes off the road to look out for them.

Habious

I get that pedestrians have the right-of-way, and I understand the reasons why. But, I really think there needs to be some kind of a "Common Sense" clause written into laws!

Here in downtown Washington DC, go drive around the George Washington University campus and watch the students walking around.

They walk across the street, outside the crosswalk, against the light, wearing their headphones, and don't even bother to look.

If you honk, you get the "Hey, pedestrians have the right-of-way here!" attitude.

And yes, the law says that if I run your stupid-a$$ over, I'm in the wrong. We can have that conversation in court, assuming you live.

Sango

iTrader: (10)

In these cases, has there any abuse of their power doing this?

An example would be, the undercover officer puts their foot on the crosswalk when they know that the vehicle is too close that they will not be able to stop in time under normal braking distances? Therefore give ticket?

It's more like saying, the light turned orange on the intersection but then you're too close to the intersection to get on the brakes and just go through it to be safer than stamping on the brakes hard to stop.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Sucks...I've been aware of this for the technicality but the local cops I had mentioned this to feel halfway is acceptable. This sounds like a Cali thing.

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

I believe Jersey is right behind Cali in the state billions deficit.

syzygy

I was driving at night within a 30 MPH neighborhood many years ago when I was driving a 100 HP honda civic.

I'm driving at approximately 20 MPH. Why? Because there are many deer in this neighborhood and they often jump out at you if you're not careful. I err on the side of being "too slow" when I'm driving in an neighborhood.

Anyways, as I'm crawling along at a snail's pace, I see a cop car up ahead at a stop sign waiting to take a turn into the cross street that I am going on. That is, we're at at "T" intersection - I am going along on the short "-" end (left to right) of the "T", the cop is waiting at a stop sign at the "|" end of the T waiting to take a right turn.

As I said, I am going along at a snail's pace and up ahead I could see the cop itching forward. I was close enough so that he was forced to wait for me to pass before he could get onto the road, but far enough that going 20 MPH appeared to be testing his patience.

So, being rather stupid, what do I do? I accelerate from 20 MPH to 30 MPH - hard - in a 100 HP honda civic. It is important to note that I made sure I accelerated only to the speed limit (30 MPH). Why did I do this? I did it as a courtesy. The cop appeared to be in a hurry so I decided to accelerate from well below the speed limit to the speed limit in order to hasten his right turn.

What happens as I pass the cop? I see the flashing lights and I am pulled over.

Cop: "Do you know why I pulled you over?"
Me: "No sir"
Cop: "I pulled you over for speeding"
Me: "That's odd, I made sure to stay under the speed limit the entire time. What speed was I allegedly going at according to your radar or laser"
Cop: "Well, I did not get you on laser or radar but I could tell by the sound of your engine that you were going too fast"

Was...was he joking me? No, he wasn't joking.

He handed me a speeding ticket. Under "alleged speed"? Nothing. Blank. Empty.

Under "method of capture" - the choices are

1) Radar
2) Laser
3) Pace

I did not see a fourth choice of "sounded like he was going too fast"

What did the officer choose? He first bubbled in "Pace", and then wrote a gigantic "X" through pace.

So, I had a speeding ticket where the alleged speed was: " " (blank), the method of capture had "pace" bubbled and then an "X" through that choice. Under reason for stop he wrote "speeding"

And for what? Because I sounded like I was going too fast. Those 4 banger 100 HP civics make a lot of noise for not a whole lot of acceleration. I actually mentioned this to him. Do you know what the cop said?

"Well, you know, I've seen honda civics that can do 0 to 60 in 6 or 7 seconds. I know your car can't but still"

What? Was he joking? His rationalization for stopping me because I sounded like I was going too fast was to tell me that there existed cars of my class (civics) that could do 0 to 60 rather quickly, but that my car clearly wasn't one of those cars?

Well, I plead "not guilty" and take the ticket to court. I did not request the help of a traffic lawyer, I didn't need one.

I have a pre-trial hearing with the judge. The officer does not show up. I show the ticket to the judge and tell the judge the entire story. The judge literally laughs and says that she's sorry I had to waste my time driving to the court house.

That's it. Ticket is dismissed, I don't have to pay any fine.

tqlla3k

iTrader: (1)

The officer still won. For a lot of people, fighting a ticket means taking time off of work, finding someone to take care of your kids... etc.

What did the officer "lose" by giving you a complete BS ticket? Nothing.