In retrospect, the music did warn me...

[texscottyd]

After a morning of heavy rains, the weather cleared up enough for me to sneak out for a quick ride.   

Random play of music over the helmet speakers, and out of the 5,000+ songs in my iTunes, the first three it spun up were:
”I Fought the Law” - The Clash
”Police Truck” - Dead Kennedys
”A Pig is a Pig” - Plasmatics 

Discussions & opinions of my music library aside, what’s the common theme here? 

Just about the time I thought “that’s a weird coincidence” I got tagged with instant on radar as I crested a small hill...  80 in a 55, and he had me dead-to-rights.   The cosmos was trying to warn me, but I didn’t pick up the message in time.   

Fortunately the officer was very cool, and ended up letting me go with a warning since my license, registration, and insurance were all in proper order.  Lucky break... I’ll pay more attention next time. 

[rustyshackles]

Your lucky day.  I’m interested to hear how you handled the LEO encounter - do you think anything you said or did contributed to getting let off with a warning? Aside from having the other stuff in order?

[texscottyd]

2 hours ago, rustyshackles said:

Your lucky day.  I’m interested to hear how you handled the LEO encounter - do you think anything you said or did contributed to getting let off with a warning? Aside from having the other stuff in order?

I’ve always taken the approach of being honest, humble, and respectful.   I waved an acknowledgment & started to pull over as soon as the lights came on & it was obvious he was turning around, and then pulled off at a turnout where we could safely get well off the highway.    I figure if they have to chase you down, it just raises their blood pressure before you even make first contact.   

I had my helmet off before the officer exited his car, and was standing a bit away from the bike...  I’m admittedly a pretty non-threatening guy (clean cut, balding, no tattoos or piercings), but I still didn’t want to do anything to make him nervous or suspicious of my intentions.   I told him I had a mask in the saddlebag, and then waited for his okay to get it out... he seemed to appreciate that.   

The discussion was quick.  I acknowledged I was speeding, said 80 sounded about right, apologized but didn’t make any excuse...  He checked my paperwork, called in my license from his car, then came back & sent me on my way.  He specifically thanked me for ‘owning it’ and wished me a nice day.   This was the Texas Department of Public Safety (our state highway patrol), who have a reputation for being fair but stern...  generally, if you get a ticket from the DPS, you legitimately deserved it.    

[dazzler24]

So fundamentally - good manners.  They cost nothing and are yet worth so much. 👍

[Stew]

Thats the way to do it.

[BBB]

The same approach has worked for me on several occasions too @texscottyd . Clean, well maintained bike, wearing good protective gear, helmet off and quiet demeanour.  We don’t have to carry paperwork so it’s normally just a radio check, a short lecture/ bollocking, quick chat about bikes in general and thats it.

Unfortunately I rarely see police cars anymore, it’s gone over to average speed cameras on popular roads in North Wales. And there’s no arguing with time/distance equations.  

[HGP61]

Yip, your first song said it all " don't fight with the law they have too many friends"

[Heli ATP]

I asked my cop friend once what was the secret to not getting a ticket..

 

His response....

 

Don't break the law!   

🙂

[johnmark101]

Sounds like you handled the situation perfectly.  It is always best to be polite and cooperative when stopped by the police.  

[texscottyd]

7 hours ago, dazzler24 said:

So fundamentally - good manners.  They cost nothing and are yet worth so much. 👍

Perfectly stated.  I wish everyone shared this perspective...

[kmev]

In an era where everyone argues with the cops because that seems to be "in",  being friendly will get you farther than anything else. Also, the drunks and fighters never want to remove their helmet, so having the helmet off before the cop gets to you sends a message. 

[bamarider]

The few times I've been pulled over I've handled it the same way and have been lucky that it worked. I think a head full of gray hair helps too..

[texscottyd]

6 hours ago, bamarider said:

I think a head full of gray hair helps too..

Mine mostly turned loose before it turned gray, but same net effect I suppose.   

285 miles today with no further law enforcement contact, so all is well.  

[Stew]

18 minutes ago, texscottyd said:

Mine mostly turned loose before it turned gray, but same net effect I suppose.   

285 miles today with no further law enforcement contact, so all is well.  

Do you have average speed cameras there? Or Camera vans, (looking very inconspicuous) that park at the side of the road, filming all the speeders?

[2and3cylinders]

It seems that the UK's big brother system is making strong inroads here with speed cameras, especially in urban and suburban areas.  I hate the red light cameras which IMO cause more incidents than they prevent, which has sprung a movement to remove them, more so because they are seen, quite rightly, as revenue generators.  Unrealistic speed limits and cruisers with cameras are still prevalent, however less frequent in the country.  Small boroughs definitely rely on citations for a good bit of their budgets but realize it's a double-edged sword for tourism.

In our wide open spaces, we are subject to police aircraft with their ground partners waiting to wave you over down the road.

On urban freeways and toll roads they leave parked vans with automated speed cameras but in some locals they must track you rolling without necessarily using radar or Lidar.  Several years ago I got nailed in a small Wisconsin town by a parked cop using Lidar (laser).  He sat right where the limit dropped from 45 mph to like 20 in one block.  He was nailing people left and right all day.  More recently me and a bud were hunted down by no less than 4 local yokels (county sheriffs) after they tried to catch up to us for over 8 miles.  They only caught us on a long straightaway where we finally noticed them and slowed down.  My officer cited me for passing more than one vehicle at a time even though he wasn't sure doing so was unlawful.  I stupidly admitting doing so in the correct belief there was nothing specific in the vehicle code excluding it.  He said he could of given another for speeding but admitted when we talked he never got a good clock on us.  I elected to go before a judge with an attorney.  Mysteriously both me and my buds cops recordings of our stops went missing.  Long story short we both got off except for the 300 USD each for our aged lawyer; money well spent.  I should of known better to go squidly on a weekday after 1500 but developed the red mist in my eyes like a youngster that got the better of me.

While I very infrequently get nailed (knock on plastic), I'm always polite, respectful and mindful of the extremely difficult job LEOs have.  On the rare occasions I got caught and had to pay the piper, I thought of it as another road use tax...