17 April 2008

Today's traffic story

| JD114
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Seems a colleague’s friend was driving along the Monaro Highway yesterday chatting on the old mobile (as you do) when she noticed a police car was behind her. Within a second she had mumbled gotta go and literally threw the phone down hoping against hope she had not been seen. But it was not to be, the flashing lights came on and she was pulled over.

“Do you know why I pulled you over?” the cop asked.
“Ummm yes…. because I was talking on my mobile” she replied with trepidation.
“Actually you were speeding, 98 in an 80 zone” he replied, “but now I’m going to book you for that as well!”

Net result: over $600 in fines and presumably 6 points off the old licence account as well.

Moral of the story? Well I guess it would have to be: don’t assume the cop knows you’re half as guilty as you really are!

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Yes, agree completely Thumper. Most people thankfully only have brushes with the law on the road so this becomes their main focus. There is a LOT more to Policing then giving out traffic tickets unless you work for the traffic unit itself.

I don’t think it would be the best use of my time to pull over every driver that didn’t indicate, was doing 65 in in 60 zone or went through an amber light. Although if I considered any of those offences dangerous given the circumstances I certainly would.

I admit, I am a bit loathe to be too honest on here, I am risking a bit by typing what I do but I am trying to be honest and constructive in what I write. I assume that the average crim does does not view this website given what I know about them. But nor do I want to give the average traffic offender some kind of advantage of knowledge of how to get away with traffic offences. Nor do I wish to give my identity away to any colleagues of superiors of mine that may visit this site.

It’s a fine line I tread I agree, but I’m trying to be helpful and make people understand our perspective. It’s like any job that you observe from the outside looking in, there is a lot more to it then meets the eye and mine is a very public career at that. I do wish to make the point that all Police have their own levels of discretion though and if in doubt, obey the law or face the potential consequences! That way you have nothing to really worry about. I’m just trying to be realistic about it and put a human perspective on it all.

Respect … now there is a word for social instruction. And driving.

I go with Proud … even way back, there never was, never has been, never even suggested by any senior officer that there was/is a quota.

What it comes down to is a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay, like any job. Sure, an officer can come in with triple the average (maybe pissant*) tickets, or just a few … just like say, a mechanic can service four cars a day and his mate alongside 10.; a brickie build a wall or his mate half-a-house. Ya do your job. Your employer will notice.

* warning … this adjective may induce convulsions in some roadusers who also use Riot.

You really don’t get sarcasim do you ant…..lol My point was, proving tailgating is harder than just “oh look tailgating, guilty”.

Rear-enders aren’t always caused by tail-gating, it can be caused by in-attention, ie driver at a safe distance behind vehicle in front, looks down for a few seconds to change radio settings, then runs into rear of vehicle in front that has stopped for some reason. This would be negligent driving, not tailgating.

I say again….To prove the offence of tail-gating observation time is needed, people will rarely tailgate for an extended period with a marked police vehicle observing. People, if they contest a tail-gating ticket can come up with all sorts of reasons and defences for being seen at that particular time travelling too close to the vehicle in front, ie un-expected closing of gap when vehicle in front braked etc, etc. Police need to observe the alleged “tail-gating” to discount these defences and also importantly, make sure that this person IS actually tail-gating. IT IS NOT THAT SIMPLE.

Ant, that is the exact reason i replied with a post. I have every respect for the police and what they do – they are under paid, under resourced and have one of the most thankless jobs on the planet.

my point is that someone could take what proud local has written and make a story out of it, especially a program like the two that i mentioned before.

All i’m tryin to say is that proud local should be a bit less detailed in his comments as some red neck from queanbeyan is likely to pick up on them and take them to ACA, TT or even Jerry Springer!!

Keep up the good work proud local, i know what a tough and thankless job you guys have.

Actually, I think it’s fair enough that an anonymous policeperson can come and put their side of the story. I’d hate to think that people could threaten them and go beat up a story out of it. The fact that there’s tons of admin work attached to anything they do nowadays is a point that probably needs to be made, so that at least we’re aware of it, and at best, maybe people will start thinking of ways to make police more effective.

As to the other poster, rear-enders are precisely why tailgating IS an offence. so you are actually saying it’s OK for them to tailgate as when they smash in to someone’s car, with all the attendant injury, destruction of property etc, they’ll get theirs. Yeah, but some hapless citizen will lose their car, possibly their health, and that’s OK? Your statement shows that road rules are failing, because they’re not being enforced.

Proud Local, you make a couple of statements that concern me – “most of the time what they are doing is not overly dangerous and I tend to turn a blind eye to it” Not overly dangerous? So what they are doing is dangerous, but not overly. Interesting, where do you draw the line? So your message here is the public can break the law and endanger the lives of other motorists as long as it is not overly dangerous and you will turn a blind eye to it – going against everything that law enforcement and the AFP stands for.

A word of advice my friend – you shouldn’t be making these statements in a public forum and I am sure the AFP have guidelines against you doing so. This is the kind of thing that ends up on trashy shows like a current affair and today tonight!

No, no, NO! Man if there is only ONE point here that I want to make is that there is NO quota system in the ACT alright? Can we all be clear on that?

However if every month it was revealed that you booked NOBODY or very few drivers, valid criticism could be made of you for not doing your job properly. Lets face it, there are plenty of driving offences to be found, we all seem them every day. So whilst there is no quota system, we are always on the lookout for various driving offenses, particularly when the shift is a little quiet.

I have already made it clear that I could book every 2nd car for not indicating but then most of the time what they are doing is not overly dangerous and I tend to turn a blind eye to it. If they did it repeatably with me behind them then I would probably ticket them for just being plain disrespectful to me as a Police Officer and plain annoying to all other vehicles.

So no ant, we DON’T go after easy takes, no one in my squad does anyway but all officers have their own tolerance levels and pet hates.

As for Genie with his:

“Several days I wish i was a police officer driving around so i can book all the idiots speeding to excess and weaving in and out of traffic… but it just seems the real police dont care anymore.”

Thats all fine and well until a lot of these drivers decide to contest the ticket and court briefs come flooding into your inbox. Thus you spend all of your time inside the station doing hours of paperwork attached to each brief instead of getting out and about doing “real” Policing whatever that means.

Does everyone see the problem here? The more people we book, the more they dispute it, and the more time we spend inside the station doing annoying paperwork. All this for what really are trivial matters in the big scheme of law and order. Talk about disincentive to give out tickets. Hence why I tend to only do it for more serious/dangerous offensives that I clearly observed myself and are not easily disputed. If there is any doubt in my mind, I don’t issue the ticket.

Hope that clears some things up a bit.

Well ant, it seems you have all the answers my friend. Why don’t to you go out and apply for the afp and show em how it’s done. Do you know what it takes to prove the offence of “tailgating”. Observation time is needed, and people tend not to “tailgate” for an extended time when there is a marked police vehicle near them.

But rest assurred that these heiness offenders do end up getting thier tickets, when they rear end someone else and then it is proven they were tailgating.

So I take it that speeding, mobile phones, running red lights, drink driving aren’t serious and are easy takes?

Hamilton said :

I think the quota system is great, nothing like putting measures in place to ensure that our tax payer funded public servants are doing their jobs.

Except what we’re seeing is cops going after easy takes, rather than general stuff like tailgating, queuing across intersections and other anti-social behaviour. So certain things are being pinged, others are let slide.

Proud Local – Are you more likely to let someone off if you have filled your quota for the day? I would imagine there are enough bad drivers in Canberra not to have to worry about getting your 3 for the day. Although i’d imagine you are better off filling your quota earlier in the shift so your not stressing out towards the end. Do you get a black mark against your name if you dont fill your quota?

I think the quota system is great, nothing like putting measures in place to ensure that our tax payer funded public servants are doing their jobs.

Keep up the good work.

Genie,

#1 Where you there?

#2 Where you there? Did you take into account that the police may have been on the way to a higher priority job, and did the right thing by stopping to make sure all were ok, before responding to the more urgent job they were already going too? Did anyone at any time mention to the police the other driver was drunk? How did you know the other driver was drunk? Who was it that ruled your sister was the driver at fault?

#3 How was the accident the fault of the illegally parked vehicle? (not saying it wasn’t, but how did it cause the accident)

What did your sisters insurance company say about the accident and who was at fault? Usually, if it clearly wasn’t thier customers fault, the insurance company would fight it out with the other “at fault” party/s to re-coup costs from the other insurance or the other driver/s.

This is not intended to “have a go” at you or anything like that, but quite few people post “stories” and “incidents” on here they weren’t even present for, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s hearsay, even if it does come from a family member or trusted friend. Sometimes people are honestly trying to tell the story as it was, but “exaggerate” it a little or don’t tell “all” the story, which can change how the incident actually happened or circumstances as to what occurred, was said etc, etc.

I have some interesting stories about police officers that make me disrespect them a little bit…

#1 is a mate drove home his 4 drunken mates from Civic one night… gets pulled over by the police. He was unlicenced. So the police office told them someone else in the car had to drive. So one of the drunk passengers took over the driving home. No fines, no RBT’s nothing !!! A little sad and the police’s behalf.

#2 My sister recently had a car accident, with a minute a police car was just driving past. Got out to make sure no one was hurt then left straight away. The guy that hit my sister was drunk. Accident however is ruled her fault as the police never breathlysed him at the scene. Later when filing the police report we were told unless the police witnessed the accident, the other driver could have disputed he has a drink the second he get out of the car, which would have rendered the test useless… I’m sorry but what a crock of shit !!!!!!

#3.. My sisters accident was due to the result of an illegally parked car blocking her view. Yet the police officers didn’t book the car.

Several days I wish i was a police officer driving around so i can book all the idiots speeding to excess and weaving in and out of traffic… but it just seems the real police dont care anymore.

Too true MRB, I know a few of the local cops who have let kiddies off (for minor offences) because they were honest and polite. Same with traffic stops I would imagine.

If your polite and still get a ticket, well wear it and just pay the fine.

SkipDaRoo….”Dispute the talking on mobile, the Police can not go into court and say they saw you talking on it, judge will throw it out.”

Firstly, a Judge will never hear this matter – it will always be a Magistrate.

Secondly, the offence is not TALK on a mobile, it is USE a mobile. You use it whilst in control of a vehicle – whether talking, checking text messsages or anything else, the result is the same. If deemed necessary, the police will get your mobile number (legally so…) and do a check on calls made/received and match it to the the time/date that they had a chat with you.

This whole “deny everything” act is stupid. If someone says straight out “I didn’t do it” – even if a cop clearly saw them – imagine what the cop thinks. It’s a lot to do with acknowledging that you made a mistake, and that you’re a responsible driver and accept that. If you flat out deny any wrong doing when the cop(s) have clearly seen the error of your ways, it is inevitable that the cop will think that you’re a arrogant member of the driving public and as such really can’t use their discretion.

It’s hard to show you’ve learnt your lesson and changed your driver attitude when you essentially lie to the police by saying “I wasn’t speeding/I didn’t go through that red light etc etc…”

The people on this thread, and the other related threads, who suggest to “deny everything” are really quite immature. If you were committing an offence and got caught, deal with it as an responsible adult should.

Thanks Harley 😉

All we can hope for is a speedy loss of the remaining points.

carpet and curtains: “Do not get ouut of the car lady!” [she got thrown into a pool at aparty and HAD to take her clothes off to dry – you don’t get many excuses like that].

Saw some good use of resources and manpower the other day: three officers working radar on the GDE near that wide open bit at the AIS. Must be a black spot. Road safety. Or, “this will be fun”. Don’t know if they would get their money’s worth though; I use that stretch a lot and everyone seems to just putt along….

I do like a challenge though; pulled up alongside to a motorcycle officer at a set of lights the other week. Right next to him on the Harley. He looked over with a very slow turn of the head…thinking….thinking… and just nodded. A bit of adrenalin and sphincter work makes ya day.

I use my mobile phone to photogragph mobile phone users whilst driving

That is brilliant! (you should insert a Don’t Read At Work warning at the top though, I’ve just embarassed myself).

Ok, here’s a true story that provides proof that lame excuses do work sometimes, and a classic example of what NOT to say to a police officer.

Many years ago I was in the back of a friends car driving through Fortitude Valley in Brisbane. There were four of us, the driver was on P plates and the only one sober, it was about 2am and raining hard.

The driver was having a hard time finding the right way out of the Valley and onto the Story bridge. He was driving slow in the rain, searching in vain for road signs and managed to drive through a yellow light that went red before he got through the intersection.

The only car anywhere in sight suddenly roars up behind us, siren, lights, the works.

Driver pulls over to the side of the road (think it was Brunswick st).

Police officer taps on drivers window, driver winds down window and conversation goes something like this:

Officer: “Do you know what you just did?”

Driver: “No Sir”

Officer: “You just ran a red light, any good reason for doing that?”

Driver: ” Well Sir, we’re lost and we’re from Gladstone. We don’t have any traffic lights up there, so I didn’t realise how fast they change to red.” (A total lie)

Officer: “I see, but it was still a pretty stupid thing to do, wasn’t it”

At this point inebriated front seat passenger leans across driver and says loudly “You reckon we’re stupid, at least we’re not gettin farkin wet!”

Queue cricket sounds.

After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably about 2 seconds, police officer starts pissing himself laughing. Driver just pisses himself (without the laughing part).

Officer quietly says to driver “That was damn funny, but if I can still see you, your car, or your drunken mates in 30 seconds you had better like watchhouse food”.

We left town.

I’m chuckling here at the memory of one of my last ski days in Utah last April. I was skiing with the friend of a friend, he’d come in from Colorado. It was a hot spring day and the snow was shin-deep moosh by 3pm so we bailed back to his car, got our stuff off, put the skis in teh car, got 2 beers from his esky and drove down to SLC, drinking them. I’d forgotten yanks still did that!

Years ago in Vermont, during spring, some bloke was utilising the snow in the back of his ute to store bottles of beer for convenient access. His ute looked like a beer porcupine.

It is a no brainer.
Dispute the talking on mobile, the Police can not go into court and say they saw you talking on it, judge will throw it out.

That being said, no avoiding the speeding ticket

Morgan, you got me wrong, I agree with JS Mill’s postulate entirely. I’m all for RBTs, and it amazes me how anti-RBT most of my American friends are, even when presented with damning factual evidence that they save lives. One of them constantly harasses me about it and accuses me of supporting “the govt taking random tissue samples” (lol) from its citizens. No matter how logically I argue, he won’t relent. I think he just likes to drink and drive.

The extent to which many Americans believe in their God-given right to do whatever the hell they please is quite scary, but explains the foreign policy behaviour of the country quite well… lol

you’d presume it operates as a cloak for police discretion. i realise that the plural of anecdote is not data, but in my experience p-plates equals increased police attention.

i know it’s common practice for young would-be drink drivers to take their plates off before attempting the drive home. if you get pulled over drunk you’re screwed anyway, but not having plates on may let you creep home undetected–or so the logic goes.

i wonder if random has a legal definition, or if it has been tested in regard to rbt and charges arising.

NB: the ‘attitude test’ doesn’t seem to apply if you are a young male. I was driving home from a uni exam after Floriade had ended, and for some reason the speed limit on Cth. Bridge was still 60 rather than the normal 70. So I was doing 70 over the bridge, tired and oblivious to the copper following me. He pulled me over, I very politely explained myself, and thought I had a pretty good chance of being let go. He wasn’t a traffic cop as far as I could tell, and seemed a fair enough bloke, but he gave me some bullshit patronising spiel and then ticketed me for $150. Way to protect the community….what a chump.

I also love the “random breath tests” I get with regularity far exceeding randomness. The best one was the copper who stalked me all the way out from north of civic and then pulled me over near Parliament and nonchalantly told me this was a ‘random’ breath test.

Yeah, in most of the US, they don’t have RBTs like ours where they pull everyone/anyone over. If a cop does bail you up and suspects you’re blotto, they administer the “How Drunk Are You Really” test (that’s what they call it!), which tests your balance. Many of my colleagues loved that test, as we taught balance for a living: skiing. A mate in Colorado who was fully French qualified (ie he could really ski) passed those tests numerous times and he was plastered when he’d left the bar.

Attitude is the biggest determinant in whether you’ll be given a reprieve.

When I was a lad a group of us were wandering along London Circuit on a Friday night, The speed limit in those days was 35 mph. A car full of young louts that looked like it had just finished doing ‘the laps’ for the night came past perhaps a little fast. A cop car pulled them over. The exchange went something like this:

Officer: Can you tell me why you were speeding along here?
Hoon: I wasn’t f**king speeding ya clown
Officer: I followed you along London Cct and determined that you were exceeding the speed limit. Can I see your licence please etc…
Hoon: Why don’t you do something useful like book parked cars or something you ****s always bullshit I wasn’t speeding, you can’t prove it I got my mates here to testify… etc
The hoon kept nagging the cop as the booking proceeded, then this gem:
Officer: Son, how old is your grandmother?
Hoon: S*** I dunno, 78 I think.
Officer: There you go sonny, 78mph in a 35mph zone. Cop hands him his ticket and all of a sudden the hoon and his mates go deathly quiet and carefully drive off!

Minime2, did you compliment her for going to the effort to make sure her “carpet matched the curtains”?

la mente torbida8:32 am 18 Apr 08

@meconium

Yes I did – thanks for the spelling lesson – my bad 🙂

BTW: is it fecal matter or crude opium?

Timberwolf658:14 am 18 Apr 08

swamiOFswank said :

Out of sheer but foolish politeness, I once unfortunately said ‘thank you’ to a Cooma cop as he walked away after giving me a +15km ticket. Never again. I could have kicked myself.

That is a crack up, I would do something stupid like that!!

I kind of feel a bit sorry for the lady, she sounds like her honesty got he into trouble.

+1 Spikeydog (#23)

Read my comment on “yellow light” saga. Seems like Proud Local is currently proud; I am ex-proud.

I stick with the warning that any comment from you may very well confirm the wrongdoing and come up in court evidence. But, bigger warning: do not outright deny in any kind of aggressive fashion … a good excuse might help you right there and then, but the “proud” have heard them all. Polite.

An extreme case: many years ago pulled a very very slow driver over in a back street for going very very slow. He was well dressed, polite, and it seemed, pissed as a newt. Looking at the licence I saw that we were stopped right in front of his house. Why so well dressed and pissed? Just been to his son’s funeral. I helped him walk into his house. Only one ever that ‘got away’.

There was the nude lady driver [real blonde] speeding in a VW on the highway down near Cronulla…but that is another story.

The BEST thing you can do is fully admit to what you were doing wrong as that makes you appear to be a good and honest person despite the fact that you were breaking the law. If you play it cagey, then chances are you are on your way to failing to attitude test. Same if you use lame excuses like being “late for work, picking up family members etc…”.

I let a woman off for using a mobile phone once cause her answer was “A man just physically attacked my car with a tyre iron in a road rage accident and I drove off in a fearful panic and called my husband on the phone for help.” I got her to ring her husband and hand the phone straight to me where he repeated the same story that his wife had just called him about.

I thought that was a pretty good excuse and she get off scott free. A person later rang the station to report that she had seen the above mentioned road rage incident and was willing to be a witness for it. Never worked out the guy’s identity unfortunately.

And no, we don’t ask the question to help build our case, the opposite is true. It’s a small chance for the driver to get OUT of the ticket as per the above example. Most excuses won’t cut it though and if you are going to BS it had better be good!

🙂

RuffnReady said :

ant/jimbocool – interestingly, most US states DO NOT have random breath testing (the cop has to have a reason to pull you over), and many don’t even breath test and still administer “sobriety tests”. Most Americans see breath testing as an infringement of their civil rights (I have argued this point many a time). As for talking on a mobile while driving, it seems not to be a crime. I couldn’t believe the things I saw people doing while driving over there.

I dont think JS Mill would agree with you, liberty stops when you endanger the safety of others by drink driving. You can only exercise your freedom while not denying freedom to others.

If you don’t like it go and see if you can find the state of nature.

Talking on a mobile while driving impairs you as much as mid-range drink driving according to the studies, so no sympathy there. Doubly stupid for doing it on the worst highway in Australia for fatalities, while speeding. All your friend needed to do was kill themselves and they could be up for a Darwin award!

ant/jimbocool – interestingly, most US states DO NOT have random breath testing (the cop has to have a reason to pull you over), and many don’t even breath test and still administer “sobriety tests”. Most Americans see breath testing as an infringement of their civil rights (I have argued this point many a time). As for talking on a mobile while driving, it seems not to be a crime. I couldn’t believe the things I saw people doing while driving over there.

Your friend must have hit a traffic cop, highway patrol, cockroach – what ever you want to call them. Their job is to give out tickets to anybody breaking road rules. Meet any of the other cops around town and you’d have to fail the attitude test before you get a ticket. Depending on how badly you fail it is how many other things they will look for and how fast(slow) they will dish out the ticket. One of the reasons for being cautioned is admissions to the offence if you don’t make them and don’t look like you give a shit then you will probably walk away with a fine. Again Chris Rock got it right. Be polite.

The only reason a policeman asks you anything is to gather evidence to build a case.

Only answer exactly what you were asked, do not volunteer anything else. Remain polite. If taken to a police station, to answer questions, call a lawyer and say nothing.

It is not what hey know, what they suspect, or what their gut tells them. It is what they can prove. You do not need to add to the evidence they compile.

swamiOFswank6:51 pm 17 Apr 08

Out of sheer but foolish politeness, I once unfortunately said ‘thank you’ to a Cooma cop as he walked away after giving me a +15km ticket. Never again. I could have kicked myself.

This driver was talking on a mobile phone and obviously failed to notice that she was doing almost 20k’s over the speed limit, sorta shows living proof that talking on mobile phones whilst driving distracts you from the driving task…. Imagine if that was a vehicle stopping suddenly in front (ie, Amber light…lol) or a child running out onto the road. The result can be more disasterous (yes, unlikely a child running onto the road on the monaro, but you get the gist) A traffic fine should be the least of your trouble, if you get in a rear-ender because of being on the phone, the insrance costs, etc eclipse the would be fine…..

Do we have a defense against self-incrimination in Australia? Or is that the product of watching too many American TV shows? Wonder how they would react to that response on the side of the Monaro highway during rush hour?

Katie said :

“That’s Hilarious! I always wondered what the point of cops asking you such questions is”

I used to know a guy who was pulled over for speeding and was asked this question. He told the policeman that he had a bad case of diarrhoea and that if he didn’t get to a toilet soon he’d be wearing it. He pulled the faces and everything and said something along the lines of “I know it’s wrong and I’m happy to take the ticket but could you please be quick about it? I’m not sure how much longer I can hold it”. He said the policeman let him go but told him to drive the speed limit.
Not sure if it’s a true story – he swore it was. Either way it’s pretty funny…

I also know someone who used this, however in that case the police followed him to the nearest public toilet and watched him enter before leaving and not giving the ticket. That was about 15 years ago in QLD though.

F.A.T = “Failed the Attitude Test”, is that correct TAD?

Moral of the story = Admit NOTHING 🙂

they can book you for something that they didnt even see?

That’s total entrapment! What a terrifying question. I’d wet myself. Has my past caught up with me?? Was it that lollypop I nicked when I was 8? Is it because I parked illegally the other day? What? WHAT???

hairy nosed wombat4:07 pm 17 Apr 08

My favourite response to an copper who asks “why were you speeding” is?

Last week, my wife ran away with a copper, and I thought you were going to return her!.

“I believe the cops ask ‘why were you speeding’ because answering with an excuse constitutes admitting that you were intentionally speeding.” Cheeky Buggers!

“That’s Hilarious! I always wondered what the point of cops asking you such questions is”

I used to know a guy who was pulled over for speeding and was asked this question. He told the policeman that he had a bad case of diarrhoea and that if he didn’t get to a toilet soon he’d be wearing it. He pulled the faces and everything and said something along the lines of “I know it’s wrong and I’m happy to take the ticket but could you please be quick about it? I’m not sure how much longer I can hold it”. He said the policeman let him go but told him to drive the speed limit.
Not sure if it’s a true story – he swore it was. Either way it’s pretty funny…

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy3:45 pm 17 Apr 08

I believe the cops ask ‘why were you speeding’ because answering with an excuse constitutes admitting that you were intentionally speeding.

If I ever get pulled over for speeding (yeah, right) I’ll try denying it and see what happens.

Deano said :

Seems to be a bit of a blitz going on on the Monaro at the moment. Not only was there a camera van along parked there, but a marked car was stationed just before the gaol doing radar checks and booking people speeding up before the end of the 80 zone.

On the way back south I noticed that the speed camera signs just before Hindmarsh Drive had been uncovered. Up on the overpass were half a dozen officers with radars checking the traffic in both directions.

Those 80 zones are a pain in the butt, especially the nice 4 lane divided road one. Nearly any other state and quite a few of our roads would be 100 instead of 80 or 90.

Deano said :

but a marked car was stationed just before the gaol doing radar checks and booking people

Trying to drum up a bit of business for the facility, perhaps?

-“That’s Hilarious! I always wondered what the point of cops asking you such questions is” –

The point of asking the question is so you come back with an answer – As soon as you come back with an answer (e.g I am late picking up the kids) you have admitted that you were speeding!

NEVER ANSWER THAT QUESTION – be polite but deny till you die!

Did you mean “Schadenfreude” mente?

Seems to be a bit of a blitz going on on the Monaro at the moment. Not only was there a camera van along parked there, but a marked car was stationed just before the gaol doing radar checks and booking people speeding up before the end of the 80 zone.

On the way back south I noticed that the speed camera signs just before Hindmarsh Drive had been uncovered. Up on the overpass were half a dozen officers with radars checking the traffic in both directions.

In Texas people use their laptops when driving…they have special cradles for them, just like mobile phone cradles.
They also have a very civilised prescribed BAC limit of 0.08 – although that’s not as civilised as Louisiana where it’s 0.1!

you know I meant polite.

If you were police the getting away with it ratio goes up one more.

la mente torbida2:52 pm 17 Apr 08

Pure gold! shaudenfraud

Actually be nice and police and admit wrongdoing will get you out of it 3 out of 4 times.

It’s called the “attitude test”.

I’m just waiting for some sanctimonious so-and-so to say “oh it serves her right for breaking the LAW”.

It’s quite a shock in the US, people there use their time pushing supermarket trolleys, and driving, as the time to catch up on their phone calls. I was at the main intersection in Park City many a time, waiting to cross, looking at 2 and 3 lanes of traffic each way, stopped at the lights, and sometimes *every single driver* I could see was on their mobiles.

Suck eggs!

That’s Hilarious! I always wondered what the point of cops asking you such questions is.
I also always found it funny that when they ask you , if there was any reasons you were speeding? I mean is there really any thing you can say to get out of it? My wife is having a baby? An emergency at work? Whats the point of asking that?

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