Speeding Tickets

icsept

Master
Joined
Oct 12, 2008
Messages
3,531
Location
Oklahoma
I’m sorry, but I’ve got to rant. I needed to go to my office this morning to handle some business. Got on a multi-lane freeway and saw an unmarked cop in the rear view mirror. I moved to the center lane, but too late, he pulled me over. Five minutes later I had a $150 ticket and was told that the cop “saved me $100” by reducing the speed.

The way I see it, these traffic enforcement cops can easily write over $10,000 worth of tickets per day. Harassing citizens who are merely trying to lead their life. As a voluntaryist I feel totally violated by being forced off the road and robbed at gun point. Let’s all be real, this has nothing to do with safety, or “protecting and serving” the public. It’s a naked, disgusting cash grab to fund the city government and the fat police pension funds.
 

Bucky

Hall of Famer
Joined
Jul 20, 2018
Messages
9,097
I’m sorry, but I’ve got to rant. I needed to go to my office this morning to handle some business. Got on a multi-lane freeway and saw an unmarked cop in the rear view mirror. I moved to the center lane, but too late, he pulled me over. Five minutes later I had a $150 ticket and was told that the cop “saved me $100” by reducing the speed.

The way I see it, these traffic enforcement cops can easily write over $10,000 worth of tickets per day. Harassing citizens who are merely trying to lead their life. As a voluntaryist I feel totally violated by being forced off the road and robbed at gun point. Let’s all be real, this has nothing to do with safety, or “protecting and serving” the public. It’s a naked, disgusting cash grab to fund the city government and the fat police pension funds.

Sometimes it's nice to rant! Couldn't agree more. I was pulled over the other night leaving work because my rear license plate light was out. I was let off with a warning, gee thanks officer. Petty Police State will look for any reason to pull you over and **** with you.
 

icsept

Master
Joined
Oct 12, 2008
Messages
3,531
Location
Oklahoma
Sometimes it's nice to rant! Couldn't agree more. I was pulled over the other night leaving work because my rear license plate light was out. I was let off with a warning, gee thanks officer. Petty Police State will look for any reason to pull you over and **** with you.

Yeah, you got pulled over by the “pretext” stop crew. Looking for drugs, warrants, or any reason to arrest people. Not the revenue churners.
 
Joined
Sep 12, 2016
Messages
1,740
I got a citation for driving with a burned-out headlight. It wasn't a moving violation (no "points" on the driving record), but I still had to pay a $35 "administrative fee" (on top of the repair expenses) even after doing everything right and getting the headlight fixed before driving at night again.

I honestly don't understand why black people complain about the police so much. Cops treat them with kid gloves because they know they're just one phone call to the NAACP away from a lawsuit/suspension/public shaming. White people, on the other hand, unless we're wealthy and have access to a good, genuinely capable attorney, have no protection from police abuse.
 

Thrashen

Hall of Famer
Joined
Jun 4, 2007
Messages
5,706
Location
Pennsylvania
Earlier this year, I was dropping off a push lawn mower that I fixed for my friend. I have a side business where I “flip” cars that I get for free or for scrap value and also do car and lawnmower repairs for others. Anyway, after dropping off his mower (the auto choke was bad), I turned on my headlights and noticed that one was burned out. Not 5 minutes later, two local cops (both young) pulled me over. They told me about the light and I said I could easily fix it within 5 minutes and would do so immediately. They checked my inspection, insurance, drivers license, and registration...all valid.

Suddenly, the one officer told me he “smelled marijuana” in my car, which is a Ford Focus with over 350,000 miles and several mismatched doors/fenders and mismatched rims. I politely informed them that I’ve never drank alcohol a day in my life, let alone use marijuana. They didn’t believe me, so I begged them to search my car. So they did. For 30 minutes, they painstakingly tore apart everything I had, which consists of project files for my job, numerous tool boxes, battery jump packs, car jacks, tire repair stuff, fluids, air compressor, and other emergency supplies. Of course, they found absolutely nothing aside from a machete and some knives that I keep in the car for protection. They patted me down, frisked me on the hood of the police car, had me take off my shoes, pull up my shirt, shake out my shorts, etc. I kept asking them to bring a drug-sniffing dog or administer a drug test (blood/hair/urine), but they declined my requests. They tore my entire car apart and even had me pop the hood so they could look in the engine bay! Keep in mind, this entire embarrassing incident occurred in the parking lot of a bar, which is where I pulled over. As they harassed me, numerous drunk drivers left the bar. Oh, the irony!

I got a $150 fine for the headlight and fought it in court. I told the magistrate the entire story with the one cop present. The judge actually seemed somewhat sympathetic. I just got my money back a few weeks ago.

They perceived me to be a drug-addicted lowlife and “profiled” me because of my car. I told them that I’m a civil engineer and surveyor (I showed them my business card), that I own a $250,000 home (with 9 acres) that I paid off in 5 years, that I’ve been married for over 10 years and have kids, that I wholeheartedly despise drugs and have never taken anything harder than Ibuprofen in my life, etc.

Virtually everyone the police interact with is lying to them, so why should they believe me? I’m still “pro-police,” but they handled this situation poorly.
 
Last edited:

Don Wassall

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
30,319
Location
Pennsylvania
Eric Peters is a car expert with paleo-libertarian political views who writes a lot about some of the issues mentioned in this thread regarding police over-reaction as well as the decline of cars in general as they rapidly move toward being over-computerized and self-driving, thus fitting in better with the nanny/big brother state and the resulting loss of much of the freedom of the road cars used to represent, a big part of the way Americans used to view freedom in general. Lew Rockwell.com is one of the sites I check regularly and they run a lot of his opinion pieces, which are always interesting and usually have good comments afterward. His website is https://www.ericpetersautos.com/. The Politics section is most pertinent but there's also a lot of stuff about cars on it for car buffs.
 
Joined
Sep 12, 2016
Messages
1,740
I once had a BMW as a rental car and when I was speeding up to pass another car, a "speed alarm" went off. It wouldn't surprise me if in about 10 or 15 years (or sooner) some politician tries to push legislation for those "speed alarms," along with being made mandatory "for our safety," to be automatically recorded and sent to the local law enforcement agency.
 

NWsoccerfan

Mentor
Joined
Jun 3, 2014
Messages
567
Reading these stories I can definitely relate to some of what you guys are saying. I’ve never felt that traffic cops are really there for safety(most of the time). It’s a revenue system. About 5 years ago I was on my way to work and came up to a red light that I was taking a right at. I did a quick California stop and went. There was a police officer sitting at the gas station who pulled out instantly and pulled me over for not stopping completely at the red light before going. I’m positive he had a little sting operation going and probably pulled over at least 50-60 people that day. As he issued me my ticket he informed me that I could have the ticket dismissed if I agree to take a “traffic safety” class offered by the police department. I ended up taking the class because the ticket was something like 200$ whereas the class was only 100$ and I didn’t want the infraction on my record. The class was actually somewhat entertaining but it was clear to me that it’s a money generator. The government figured out long ago that it’s good business to ding average people for all sorts of things because they are the ones who work and have families and actually care about things like credit and traffic records. The average schmuck has something to lose if they refuse to pay their tickets and fines and they usually have something tangible the government can threaten to take away. Big government doing what they do best.
 
Top