Cops, lesson learned......

[Broken_Hero]

The lesson learned is that getting violated by the cops, without lubrication leaves a burning sensation, and unpleasant feelings in the nether regions. Today, I got into some cop trouble. Yep, I was speeding 16 miles over to be exact, and my fine...145 bucks yep. The kicker is, I got a 170 dollar ticket for careless driving when I sped away. When I sped away, I was on a dirt shoulder, and getting back into traffic I had to give the van gas, and the van kicked up dirt to get back onto the highway. The cop follows me with his lights, and pulls me over and rants about how he is going to give me a 1,000 ticket for property damamge. I was like what for? He states that I speed away and was careless and caused chips and what not on his windshield and the front of his cruiser.

After much debating, I took the, Yes sir, yes sir, no sir, sorry sir actions....He ripped up the 1,000 ticket though, and gave me a 170 dollar ticket for careless driving, aka kicking up dirt. There were two cops involved with this incident, and both said I could contest both, but both would testify againt the 170 carelessness. So, I got screwed. I all ready paid the 170 ticket, and paid 20 bucks on the speeding ticket. Don't get me wrong, I deserved the 145 dollar speeding ticket, but the other one? Give me a break. And the cops wonder why the citizens don't care to much for them. Not that I hate cops, but given my current situation I am harboring some bias, so forgive me.

BTW, this is my first POST here on DU, so treat me nice! So, please share your cop horror stories.

edit: Spelling

[sendero]

1. My very first experience...

... with a policeman pretty much soured me on them forever. He basically accused me of lying, I wasn't lying, and was a total dick while he was at it. I was a naive 16 year old kid who learned a valuable lesson - don't bother trying to talk to the police, they are damaged goods at best.

I later found that this applied mostly to small-town cops, larger city cops have seen a few mountains and don't get torqued over a molehill :)

[Broken_Hero]

4. Yeah, I got mine today, in a one horse town

in Noel, Missouri...damn, and this isn't my first time either. I have had tickets for seatbelts before, and other minor offenses, but this is the first time I have ever been hit with a staggering ticket(s)...

[Debi]

2. The careless driving ticket could endanger your license and raise your

insurance premium.

So I hope you didn't really pay that ticket yet. Rather you should consult a lawyer about it.

[Broken_Hero]

3. all ready did....

should i drop my name from my wifes car insurance?...our cars are insured through her, but my name is on it as well...should I take my name off the insurance? or would it matter, would they still hit my wife with higher premiums?

[Debi]

5. I don't know - I don't think you can drop your name if you're going

to drive the vehicle.

I'm in Iowa so our laws might be different - can you get the Code of Laws online in your state?

If your Department of Motor Vehicles sends you a notice about your license get to a lawyer right away.

I just know in Iowa you can lose your license for something like 90 days for a careless driving ticket ( I'm not a lawyer so I don't know the exact laws). And a ticket that shows disregard for other drivers (careless driving/running a red light or stop sign/getting a ticket for being in an accident) will make your insurance company raise your rates because you become more of a risk to their company.

It wouldn't hurt to call your agent and talk to them about it.

[Broken_Hero]

7. I don't know, but from what my wife

tells me, we got full coverage, so if anyone, with our permission is driving our vehicles and they get into a wreck, the car is covered, so i'm thinking, if they make us pay more, than just drop my name tomorrow...or maybe not, i'm not sure, my wife isn't home yet, i'm sure she is going to livid, i'm just borderline wanting a beer.

From what the cops told me, my insurance will go up because of the speeding, but not the carelessness, they said with the carelessness only my drivers liscene would be in jeopardy of being revoked....but, they said with the minor penalty, it wouldn't happen....they said if i cut someone off, while doing it, than liscene would be gone, and i would be in jail now...but they said, that the speeding will probably result in a higher insurance premium...but i'm not sure how much, or ...anything, thing just happend a couple hours ago...i just got home about half an hour ago...

[Debi]

8. Yeah, the speeding will raise the rates as well, but not as bad

In Iowa there is careless and wreckless (I don't know the difference between the two but I think wreckless is worse)

It just sucks for you right now, huh?

Sorry.

[LostinVA]

6. You have to have insurance if you're driving

[skygazer]

11. Actually that depends on the state

It's been a while since I lived there so maybe it's changed but it used to be there was no insurance law in New Hampshire. Or helmet law either for motorcycles. Live Free or Die - they take that shit seriously there!

[Goblinmonger]

19. Don't call your agent

If you are worried, call an attorney. If you call your agent, you are screwed. Remember, they don't work for you, they work for the insurance company. As soon as you let your agent know about this, you will not be able to go back and fix it as you would if you called a lawyer.

[flvegan]

9. Tell it to the judge

Fight the second ticket. Take pics of where you were pulled over. See what he/she says.

[RiffRandell]

10. That really sucks.

I recently got a speeding ticket and neither my husband nor I had any for about 7 years. What I researched on the internet said most insurance companies don't review your record that often so 1 speeding ticket shouldn't affect your rate. I would seriously consider fighting the second ticket. Take pictures of the area as another poster suggested.

As for my cop horror story (there have been a few) about 7 years ago my husband was out of town on business and I was on my way home from waitressing at a restaurant. I was so beat, just wanted to get home, so I was speeding. It was late and dark with very few cars on the road. There were some local cases in the courts about police pulling women over in dark areas late at night and assaulting them.

The cop asked me if I knew how fast I was going, I said no, he told me, then ordered me out of the car to look at his radar. I said no, that's ok, I believe him he can just write me the ticket and I'll go home. He then screamed at me to get out of the car, I did, saw the radar, he ordered me back in the car, then lectured me on how I should treat him the way I want to be treated.

I was shaking so bad, made it home, called my husband, looked at the ticket and the cop didn't put carbon between his copy and mine, so on Monday I had to go and get a copy of the ticket at the courthouse.

[Xithras]

12. If your rocks really hit his car, the ticket was legitimate.

Sorry to say it, but it's the truth. If you legitimately had to gun it to get into traffic and up to speed, you should have had the courtesy to roll up a bit so your gravel spray wouldn't hit his vehicle.

People chucking up rocks on gravel roads is a peeve of mine, since I've lost two windshields this way. In both cases, I had to take the other guys plate number and report it to the police as an accident to get my insurance to cover it. Both of the other drivers were furious when they found out, but a little courtesy could have saved them a lot of money in jacked insurance rates (in California, if your car throws a rock and damages another vehicle, you're just as responsible for the damage as if you'd run into the car with your own).

[Xithras]

13. I forgot my horror story.

When I was 19 I was driving my old VW Beetle when I had a blowout on my front tire. I put my spare on, but the thing was bald as a babies but. As luck would have it, it started raining an hour later.

So I'm driving through town in a pouring rainstorm with foggy windows, a bald tire, and bad wipers, when the COP I was following stopped suddenly. I nailed my brakes and slid right into the back end of his car. We both pulled off to the side and saw that there was no damage to either car, when the cop starts to lecture me on the importance of maintaining a safe vehicle. A few minutes into it, it starts to rain again. Since I was only wearing a tshirt, I asked if I coulg grab my jacket front he car and he told me no...I had to stand there and get soaked. He rambled on for another twenty minutes, warmly wrapped in his jacket and dry under his umbrella, while I stood there and literally got drenched to my underwear by the winter rain. Cold doesn't even begin to explain how I felt at that moment.

Finally, he looked at me and said I could go. I asked him if I was getting a ticket or anything, and he just looked at me and said, "Are you fsking kidding me? Do you have any idea how much paperwork I'd have to fill out if I cited you for hitting MY car?"

I guess I should be thankful for that, but the cop was just being a prick by making me stand there in the rain. He was enjoying it, the sick twit.

[Broken_Hero]

14. I didn't....

All i saw on the hood of the cruiser was dirt/dust, and not even much, and every car has that on it, I didn't see any chips in the wind shield either, but the cops said they were there. They were jumping on my pretty bad, and after arguing for a bit, I started to take the "yes sir, no sir, sorry sir" mentality. There wasnt anything i could do. His cruiser was a solid 40 yards behind my van, when i pulled over....there isn't much room to pull over where i was, so he had to pull over in someone else's driveway, and then he walked to my vehicle. And I waited until he got back into his cruiser, before I took off, cause its been my experience that the cops wait for you to take off.

But seriously, two cops words against mine...whos' gonna win that, how can i prove the chips (if there were any there) weren't there before they pulled me over. I bent over and tried talking my way out of a 1,000 property damage ticket...

I have some other stories, failure to stop at a green light...yeah, I said it. I was in riverside california, and my boss and i got pulled over for running a green light...nice fat ticket that day, was it our fault the damn cop was color blind?

Seat belts...my friend Angel and I got a seat belt violation inside a parking lot at our apartment, we got into the car, and as he was backing out of his spot, we both put our seatbelts on...and a cop saw that, gave us both 35 dollar seat belt tickets, cause our seatbelts weren't on, "while car was in motion."

A few others...:)

[Xithras]

15. He was 40 yards behind you?

If you wanted to fight it, that fact could be on your side. To throw a rock 120 feet and have it strike several feet up, you'd have had to completely light them up as you were pulling away. If you did that, the cop should have cited you accordingly. The fact that he DIDN'T cite you for that shows that his charge is BS.

If that's the case, I wouldn't have paid it. I'd have done the math and showed the judge just what kind of effort would have been required to do that kind of damage.

[Broken_Hero]

16. at least 40 yards, maybe fartther....

the road i was on was pretty small, and no shoulder, I literally had to pull over on someone's driveway entrance, to pull over...the next driveway close to where i pulled over was quite a distance aways, and thats where the copper pulled over.

I all ready paid the ticket, and started on the speeding one. I didn't know what to do, i know how things are in this area, a lot of good old boys and what not, and the fact that i was sitting their arguing back with them, probably got them all pissed off. Another thing i didn't mention. When they pulled me over the second time, i stopped, put the car in park, and they ordered me out of the van, and the one short bastard cop was arguing at me about peeling out...and I said i didnt, and he walked up to the back, left tire of my van and kicked up dirt...and said, "see, you did it again here." When I left the cop, the first time, i was doing probably 15 trying, to get off the side of the damn road...and I did kick up dirt, but we haven't had a decent rain here since july, so go figure. I just chalk it up to asshole cops, being assholes.

I didn't know what else to do, the man in me argued for about five more minutes, and then I started giving up when he was about half way done with that 1,000 property damage ticket. When you are face to face with a 1,000 dollar fine, from two cops vs me, plus a judge who probably the cops buddy...doesn't bode well for me. Thats why i did what i did...I have been faced with this before in California a few times...every time we argued...shit, not even argue, just ask a question, the cops think you are disrespecting them...but anyways. :)

[Floogeldy]

18. Sure thing.

I don't know about you but, when I get pulled over, cops always park a half of a fucking football field behind me.

:sarcasm:

[Floogeldy]

17. There are two sides to every story.

You might declare that you did not get pissed off and peel out after you got the first ticket, throwing dust and rocks all over the cop car, but I will not necessarily believe you.

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[Broken_Hero]

20. Yeah, I know...:)

I do admit, i was pissed off, I was...at my damn mistake of speeding, but in order to get into traffic, I had to accelarate to get back into traffic, I was going about 15-20 mph tops, to get back on to the road...got pulled over again, for kicking up dirt...:)