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state troopers = spawn of the devil
got pulled over again today. (time since last speeding ticket: one month. time between previous ticket and last ticket: three years. in short: fox is not an unsafe driver.) looked at speedometer as soon as i saw lights in rearview. speed: 60 mph. stopped car, opened window, gave cop license and registration without fighting.
cop: i clocked you at sixty-nine miles per hour, and the speed limit's fifty-five. any particular reason for going that fast?
fox: i didn't think i was going that fast. i was just keeping up with the traffic.
cop: well, the traffic doesn't set the speed -- that's why all these signs are posted. i'm going to write you a summons for sixty-nine in a fifty-five.
fox: can i ask, though, since i was staying with the, you know, the flow of traffic, why you picked me off in particular?
cop: well, the pickup truck in the left lane was going fifty-five, and you came on the radar at sixty-nine.
fox: did i.
i'm furious. i'm not paying this thing without contesting it; the court date is four days after my last exam and big term paper due date but before i go home for christmas, so even though the courthouse is 40 miles away, i'm fuckin' there. i just had a ticket a month ago, and since then i've been quite careful not to drive recklessly, too fast, etc. (and, as i noted, previously i hadn't had one for three years -- and even that was a bum rap, nailed for exceeding the speed limit while passing an eighteen-wheeler whose exhaust i'd been eating for thirty miles, and the cop said "i know the traffic in general is moving pretty fast, but i have to make an example of someone", but never mind -- so it's not like i make a habit of this.) so:
1. i'm already making a conscious effort to drive safely, not too fast, etc.
1a. the traffic was moderate, and i was just in it, not zipping around or passing or anything.
2. as soon as i saw the lights in the rearview, i looked at the dial and saw the needle at 60.
3. by the cop's own admission, the truck in the left lane was doing 55.
4. so how the fuck could the radar have clocked me at 69?
i expect the radar actually clocked me at 59, and the cop (middle-aged, not wearing glasses -- for all i know, needs his vision checked) was itchy to get his quota taken care of. sonofabitch.
anyone know where i can find documentation on those radar guns' margin of error?
cop: i clocked you at sixty-nine miles per hour, and the speed limit's fifty-five. any particular reason for going that fast?
fox: i didn't think i was going that fast. i was just keeping up with the traffic.
cop: well, the traffic doesn't set the speed -- that's why all these signs are posted. i'm going to write you a summons for sixty-nine in a fifty-five.
fox: can i ask, though, since i was staying with the, you know, the flow of traffic, why you picked me off in particular?
cop: well, the pickup truck in the left lane was going fifty-five, and you came on the radar at sixty-nine.
fox: did i.
i'm furious. i'm not paying this thing without contesting it; the court date is four days after my last exam and big term paper due date but before i go home for christmas, so even though the courthouse is 40 miles away, i'm fuckin' there. i just had a ticket a month ago, and since then i've been quite careful not to drive recklessly, too fast, etc. (and, as i noted, previously i hadn't had one for three years -- and even that was a bum rap, nailed for exceeding the speed limit while passing an eighteen-wheeler whose exhaust i'd been eating for thirty miles, and the cop said "i know the traffic in general is moving pretty fast, but i have to make an example of someone", but never mind -- so it's not like i make a habit of this.) so:
1. i'm already making a conscious effort to drive safely, not too fast, etc.
1a. the traffic was moderate, and i was just in it, not zipping around or passing or anything.
2. as soon as i saw the lights in the rearview, i looked at the dial and saw the needle at 60.
3. by the cop's own admission, the truck in the left lane was doing 55.
4. so how the fuck could the radar have clocked me at 69?
i expect the radar actually clocked me at 59, and the cop (middle-aged, not wearing glasses -- for all i know, needs his vision checked) was itchy to get his quota taken care of. sonofabitch.
anyone know where i can find documentation on those radar guns' margin of error?