Serious Cop Pwnage

[Primer]

completely off topic, but is there any relation between MMATM and mattm, or is that just a coincidence?

and don't forget about daftmatt ...er...dRaftrmatt

[blas]

Pezzle, one of my coworkers at the gas station was pulled over and ticketed for going 42 in a 40. Needless to say, she never ended up having to pay that ticket.

For the record, she was coming down a hill, where the cop was staking out.

[Pezzle]

The traditional "5 mph over rule" was designed to reduce the problem like Pezzle has. Some speedometers are not as accurate as they could be, and so most cops give 5mph worth of leniency, though they can still pull you over at 51 in a 50 if they like, or if they suspect anything - which has happened to me twice (and I'm still ticket-free).

They have those radars-on-a-cart that they set up that tells you your speed just to scare you into thinking there's a speed trap ahead. I've approached one with my needle at exactly the line between 30 and 40, in a 35 zone and it flashed saying I was going 40. The funny part was, the other day I went through the same 35 mph but different area (right at top of a small incline) and it said I was going 31.

A little OT, it's very funny all the times I've been pulled over I only ever got a ticket because I'd forgotten my wallet that day. Every time I get pulled over it's over something stupid or weird. For instance I had 4 cop cars pull me over once with guns drawn because my vehicle matched a description they'd received of a certain wife beating and drug dealing individual. Or the time the cop in west virginia pulled me over becuase I had my right rear license plate illuminator out, and told me he was trying to prove he wasn't sleeping... he he. SO many bored cops here.

[MMATM]

The traditional "5 mph over rule" was designed to reduce the problem like Pezzle has. Some speedometers are not as accurate as they could be, and so most cops give 5mph worth of leniency, though they can still pull you over at 51 in a 50 if they like, or if they suspect anything - which has happened to me twice (and I'm still ticket-free).

If Pezzle had been going at 50 exactly, the speedometer would have (theoretically) read 54 tops, which is within the 5mph of typical wiggle room given. Does this mean that everyone should speed 5mph above the posted limit? No. The point of the leniency is to allow for speedometer imprecision. If you're speeding 55 in a 50 according to your speedometer, you might be going 60 without even knowing it.

On a related note, no speed limits below 20mph (exclusive) can be authorized and enforced, because speedometers are not required to be accurate below 20mph. The driver must have some way of knowing that he or she was speeding before getting the ticket. This does not, of course, excuse people with broken or unreadable speedometers, or with no speedometers at all. Also, speeding above 20mph in a posted-below-20mph zone is probably enforceable, so I wouldn't try it.

[Pezzle]

The problem to me is that all the crap in my dashboard is analog. I once got pulled over for going 58 in a 50, but according to my odometer I was fluctuating between 50 and 54 (I have no cruise control). Either the cop paced me poorly or he wanted my number, and trust me he did ask for it.

[Pagan]

I'll be barreling down one of the hills around here going about 40 (35 zone, but the traffic around me does 45)-

...and now I only do 40 on that stretch of hills

Technically, though, you would still get a speeding ticket.

We've got a column in the paper here, "Road Warrior" that people write in with traffic questions. One was about the police giving you 5mph over the posted before they would pull you over and the old "go with the flow". Neither of which are allowed for. If you are going 36 in a 35, you're speeding, no ifs, ands, or buts.

Of course, I've never encountered a cop that anal!

And totally OT -
Arm - your name makes me think of Trogdor (http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/~cs423/423sp...ry/trogdor.png) for some reason.

[Broomjockey]

why police can get away w/entrapment. Guess they aren't reaching their quotas.

That's not entrapment. Entrapment is when you pressure someone into committing an illegal they wouldn't do normally. Classic examples are offering a bribe to an official, or an undercover officer posing as a hooker offering sex in exchange for money. Police aren't allowed to do those things, as without the overt act, the subject may not have done those things.

Radar traps, and stings like this aren't entrapment. The person would have done the same thing regardless of the police's actions, as any traffic block would have caused the same situation. If you want to argue whether or not it's actually entrapment, or anything of that type, you need to take it to Fratching.

[Willis]

The guy in the OP sounded like he deserved it, but I've always wondered why police can get away w/entrapment. Guess they aren't reaching their quotas.

[Arm]

Yeah, the pedestrians have to follow the rules too, even if they don't believe it.

Unless you wind up with something like we have in my town here. It's a college town, so they finally wound up just posting signs at every road that enters it saying that in the city, pedestrians have the right of way everywhere. Which seriously sucks, because when you watch them, it FEELS like it's only a matter of time 'til you wind up wearing one as a hood ornament. I drive an old Explorer (hey, I'd love to get something new and fuel-efficient, feel like loaning me 20K?) and it weighs something like a couple of tons... I'll be barreling down one of the hills around here going about 40 (35 zone, but the traffic around me does 45)- and this hill is something like just shy of half a mile, straight, from top to bottom- and someone will just decide that, hey, he needs to cross five lanes of traffic *right now*. Half of them will watch me coming for a second and THEN step out. The others don't even look.

...but yes. Cop traps are funny. One of the three speeding tickets I ever got... it wasn't a trap, per se. But it's why I only do 40 on that hill. See, that hill makes up one half of a sort of saddle between two hills. The opposite hill is every bit as steep. And on that hill, close to the bottom, squats a very crooked building. It is the local police station

I was in a hurry to get to class one day, and the light at the top of the hill came green so I dropped the hammer and headed off. Took my foot off the gas once I hit 35, but - at the time - I liked to let it all coast, because if the light at the bottom was green I could make it most of the way up the other side of the hill before touching the gas again.

...yeeaaahhhh. There was an unmarked car heading back to the station. They paced me long enough for me to get to 46, then popped in behind me and turned on the lights. Nothing like getting pulled over RIGHT in front of the station.

...and now I only do 40 on that stretch of hills

(to clarify, the students cross on the hillside opposite where I got pulled over. Even when I used to speed on that road, I didn't speed on that hillside. The side I would speed on had nothing on the other side of the road except a steep face going up about 20 feet or so)

[Emrld]

I am glad the lady was crossing in a cross walk and wearing bright pink.

I was making a right turn onto a street at a light . . .on green.
Now I know to be careful at this intersection as I have seen two people with guide dogs and another with a red and white cane that use the intersection on a regular basis. (Therefore I check the crosswalk before making my turn even on green)
I make the turn and half way up the street some idiot is crossing at a saunter. I hit my brakes and the car beside me hits his brakes and lights . . .I pull over . . .he hollara at me to go on. (I have the top of the car down) The pedestrian got a ticket. Due to crossing in the middle of the street instead of walking to one of the two corners he was between. (one of which is at a light with a crosswalk signal)
The cop (who knows me, my car, and the secured dog in my car) later called to tell me about writing the pedestrian a ticket. Guy kept saying pedestrian has the right of way. Apparently that only applies if the pedestrian is following the rules of where to cross.

[blas]

I swear I pissed myself laughing the day some idiot in a Honda van didn't like me only going 10 over the speed limit and blew past me at nearly 50 mph as a Sheriff's deputy was in the oncoming lane coming right at him! OH MY GOSH it was TOO FUNNY! I immediately pulled over and let the cop whip a U-turn and pull that dumbass over. He didn't even sit on the radio or in the car for a few mins like a normal pull-over, he got right out, slammed the door and stomped over to the van idiot.

[Dark-Star]

Beautiful! I LOVE it when some jerk in one of those Suburban Assault Vehicles gets busted! Go cops!

[mattm04]

completely off topic, but is there any relation between MMATM and mattm, or is that just a coincidence?

Just a coincidence.

[smileyeagle1021]

completely off topic, but is there any relation between MMATM and mattm, or is that just a coincidence?

back on topic... I love stories about idiots getting pwned in such obvious traps...
I can always tell when it is a trap because the plant will be completely out of character (ie, someone who isn't setting up a trap will look both ways anxiously before making a mad dash because they know people aren't going to stop)

[mattm04]

I stopped for two kids in a crosswalk a few weeks ago and the asshole behind me flew past me, almost hitting my car. One of the kids (about 12-15) ended up jumping on my hood to get out of the way. Thankfully neither were hurt, I took off after the idiot who by chance wend down the road that goes by the Police station. The 911 dispatcher said they had several complaints abot the car, including a earlier hit and run involving a car at a light. According to the Police logs a driver was stopped and arrested on multiple charges near the station in a similar car to the guy I saw.