Best ....."I got pulled over " stories....

[CanDman]

ya....Happy Aussie day fellas......maybe after your 6th wobbly pop you can tell us a real downunda storay from when you got pulled over........since Klavs was a bit lame....   

[ribbert]

ya....Happy Aussie day fellas......maybe after your 6th wobbly pop you can tell us a real downunda storay from when you got pulled over........since Klavs was a bit lame....   

Driving to me had always been an activity in itself, like riding a bike, not just a means of getting from A to B.
I always drove fast from day one and favoured cars that would cruise and corner well at speed over tyre smokers from the traffic lights. In the 70's and 80's these were mostly European cars, although I did have a lot of petrol head cars as well.

In 1995 travelling from Adelaide to Melbourne, a distance of 750 km's with not much in between, I set out at 10.00pm and settled into my usual speed of 160kph. I had done this trip 30 or 40 times. It became obvious very quickly that this was an unusual night, clear as a bell and no traffic. As soon as I hit the open road I upped the cruise control to 200kph knowing there would only be a few times I would need to slow down for tiny townships, one reasonably sized town and the odd corner. I had done the trip many times at this speed, particularly through the night.
I had taken delivery of the car only a month or so earlier and had changed out the stock tyres for better ones before picking it up. My wife was in the passenger seat and my two under 5 yo's buckled up in the back.

The road was eerily empty, just a couple of trucks every hour or so. The drive was uneventful for the first 500km's.
At that speed you don't spend a lot of time looking in the mirror, until you see the blue flashing lights illuminating the inside of the car!!

I pulled over and after producing drivers licence etc. I asked them what on earth they were doing out on the highway at that time with only one vehicle an hour, if they were lucky, passing by.

The cop told me they had abandoned their shift on the road hours earlier for just that reason and returned to the station where they were monitoring the truckies CB radio transmissions.

It turned out the truckies had  been talking about this car flying past them (I was going twice their speed) and had been amusing themselves speculating when I would next pass one of them, giving their location at the time. The next truck would then report that I had just passed them and so on. The cop told me they had been listening to this for hours and could calculate to the minute when I would get there (Horsham) and had come out just to meet me.

I didn't deny the speed or become argumentative, what's to argue? The cop told me the new judge in town was making his stamp on the place and he couldn't be absolutely sure that the court appearance this speed would normally require wouldn't get a 7 day custodial sentence and given my attitude, age etc he didn't think it warranted that risk so he gave me the maximum on the spot fine - $450.

I got back in the car and my wife casually asked "how much this time?" I told her and she commented "that's a lot" I assured her it was a bargain.

There were no demerit points in those days and as long as you kept paying you couldn't lose your licence other than for drink driving. Not too many years before that even drink driving would most likely just see your car locked up on the side of the road and the cops would take the keys and you would collect them from the station the next morning, unless you were a smart ass.

What was really sad was it became a defining moment when I realised that era of driving was over. Public sentiment, Police attitude and speed detecting technology had changed the game.

From that day on I lost a great deal of interest in cars, any old shitbox can be driven down the road at the speed limit in comfort and safety. Driving just became a matter of getting from A to B.

I still miss "driving" today.

Thank God for motorbikes!!

Having paid a large sum of money to discover the speedo error at that speed was 13kmh I kept the carbon copy of the ticket in my wallet for some years until the "speed detected - 187kph" became illegible. so, no photo's, no video.

Some years earlier I was sprung doing 240 on a CB1100R (sold everywhere BUT the USA) on the freeway out of Adelaide and didn't even get a ticket, but that's another story.

Noel

[The General]

ya....Happy Aussie day fellas......maybe after your 6th wobbly pop you can tell us a real downunda storay from when you got pulled over.......  

Geez Noel $450 is a bargain even for 1995...But ya right it was the end of an era, just like the Pill heralded a dramatic social change along with breathalyzers!

Been thinking about this challenge and came to the conclusion I`ve been pretty unproductive for the Constabulary pockets. Most of my run ins were from Cage parking in unusual places at night! (esp between 1966 and 1974)  (1949 Dodge with huge rear seat, 56 FJ, VW Combi, 63EJ panelVan, then EH & HR til I got a 74 HQ shagon Wagon!)

I honestly believe I have a very reliable sixth sense that accurateley predicts the presence of blue uniforms.

I first experienced this phenomenon in November 1966 in my first year as an apprentice. I commuted to work (Guildford to Merrylands NSW) on a 250cc Heel sprung BMW. I soon discovered that if I took the Woolworths Intersection without stopping for traffic I would be heading uphill at 60mph towards the level bridge that crossed the Massive Pipeline supplying water to all of Sydney. Anything less than 60 and my back wheel would not sucesssfully clear the entire bridge span of about 11 metres. I know cause I had been practising everyday for about 6 weeks.
The approach gave no vision of the otherside and sure enough one day for the first time, something told me to just putter over it! 
Yep, you`ve guessed it....on the otherside was parked a heavily fortified paddy wagon with two men in blue beside it, legs spread apart, ready to pounce on the bad arse that comes through there every afternoon (according to residents!) at 4.30 pm weekdays!

That sense has got me out of a lot of trouble over the years but interestingly like superman I discovered early on that it lost it`s strength when I wasn`t wearing my clothes or was in close proximity ta claptonite!

[FJmonkey]

Not FJ related but recent, the car I was in was pulled over in Mexico City. I was with two co-workers returning to San Luis Potosi after reviewing welding robots at Lincoln Electric for a future purchase. The motor cops were parked where they can see traffic entering the freeway.  Shortly after entering the freeway the two moto cops, the one riding pillion (on 1 bike) motioned that we are to pull over. They speed up and motioned to a second vehicle (also with out of state plates) to pull over as well. The freeways here do not have shoulders, we followed till we could exit and the moto cops and two cars pulled to a stop. Not knowing the language very well I missed what was said so I retell this part after it was told to me. We were pulled over for a routine check. Our rental car was missing the equivalent of a registration card (vehicle ID of sorts). This gave the moto cops exactly what they wanted and demanded that we pay 6,000 Pesos as a fine or have the car impounded. Then the fine changed to 3,000 Pesos each (for the 3 of us in the car 9,000 total), then after some talking they would accept 4,000 Pesos ($4000MXD x 0.074 = $296USD).  That is right, cash on the spot or loose your car. We collected what we could, I handed over a meager 400 Pesos and $32USD (all but the 40 Pesos I had in my pocket) to get the fine paid. During my visit to this wonderful country I was told of a driving phenomenon called
Mordita

Now I have experienced it first hand, nice country to visit but I wouldn't want to live here...

I hope my company accepts Mordita as a business expense without a receipt.... 

Hard to see but I did not dare to photo them close up for fear the fine would go up or lose my phone. No telling what this kind of corrupt policing would do if they can do this shit. Two pics of the moto cops as we followed them to exit the freeway.

[Bones]

ya....Happy Aussie day fellas......maybe after your 6th wobbly pop you can tell us a real downunda storay from when you got pulled over........since Klavs was a bit lame....   

There were no demerit points in those days and as long as you kept paying you couldn't lose your licence other than for drink driving. Not too many years before that even drink driving would most likely just see your car locked up on the side of the road and the cops would take the keys and you would collect them from the station the next morning, unless you were a smart ass.

Some years earlier I was sprung doing 240 on a CB1100R (sold everywhere BUT the USA) on the freeway out of Adelaide and didn't even get a ticket, but that's another story.

Noel

It's amazing the differences in laws between the states of Australia back then. I remember in 1976, just got my license, driving a mates HR Holden, coming up to an 80 kph zone, planted the accelerator to get up to 80mph ( kmh was fairly new back then plus being young I didn't give a fuck ) next thing a cop jumps out on the road, pulls me over, gives me a serve about speeding, cop a fine.( pretty cheap) but!!! lose 3 points off my license.

Being a P Plater back then you had 4 points to last 12 months, then went on to an open license where you had 9 points, so only having my license about 4 days and losing 3 points I thought fuck this, couldn't care less about the consequences and went on to cop many fines and losses of licenses, plus 3 stints of drink driving before I finally woke up.

I can honestly say I haven't lost a point off my license in 28 yrs, but I can imagine getting caught now in Queensland doing 240kmh like Noel, I'd be hung from chains with bricks tied to my balls and Cambell Newman berating me for riding a motorbike.

                                                                           Tony.

[ribbert]

............ but I can imagine getting caught now in Queensland doing 240kmh like Noel, I'd be hung from chains with bricks tied to my balls and Cambell Newman berating me for riding a motorbike.

                                                                           Tony

If you got caught doing either of those things in Victoria now you would be guaranteed a spot on the nightly news, a mention on the front page of the paper and the Police commissioner himself, if not the Premier, commenting on it.
This happened recently with a guy doing 235 on a bike (on a highway), it made headlines and was all over the media for a few days. There were even TV interviews with people who had simply seen him ride past. Big deal!

And then there would be the penalties.......

Noel

[Hoobz]

Geez. I am totally new here, as of today, and contributing to this thread might not be the best move..but here goes. A few for you.

In Victoria. Australia.

When I was about 22 a friend and I were trail riding totally illegal MX KX250 smokers in the sticks close by. Totally naughty bikes on illegal trails.
Cops come on their KTMs. We hit it. My mate in front, goes into a corner wayyyy too hot. Over shoots the corner and off into to the bush. Keeps going.
I pin it, and away but feeling wayyy too guilty. I stop and wait, and wait. One cop pulls up on his KTM300 finally, and goes bezerk at me. Asks me why I stop and I say I'm not leaving my mate behind. He takes my details, and tells me to start pushing my bike back to my ute (pick up). It's a farken hot 35 deg C day. I strip off all my mx riding gear to my pants only and push and push.
Nearly back at the ute, they pull up to me again, after about an hour. The cop can't believe I pushed it all that way. Let's me off on the spot in respect.

One day two of us were riding sporties (I was on a Triumph Daytona) on a nice curvy open bush land highway. I was infront and seeing no one was coming down the other side of a huge valley did what we all do. Hold it open to the bottom As my mate was starting to follow me down the valley he could clearly see a cop car starting to crest over the other side towards me. He could see me pinning it on the tank going down the valley, and realised I hade zero chance of knowing what was coming.
When I did see him I hit the anchors hard, but yep. Got me. I stopped because I had no knowledge of the roads there, plus it's illegal to take off right. 180 in a 100. Luckily he didn't get me at full song. Got chatting, offered him a ride...haha...the speedo wasn't working etc etc. he dropped it to 127 for me. Kept my licence.

Driving my modified track car WRX to Bright late one night. It's a windy nice bit of bitumen. Running late for the motel arrival cut off time. Foggy. Damn, cop car is following a car doing 95 in a 100. So why not right? Yep, I overtook them both in a slightly tight section of twisty... It's a little bit foggy and wet...Missus says that was really dumb...I tell her it's no biggie don't worry...then the lights come on. Uh oh. Haha.
Officer was really questioning my reasoning to overtaking. I had no where to go and was getting a ticket anyway, so I merely asked if there was any point in arguing any point about what I did. Amazingly, he said to go for it. So I did. This may surprise some.
I told him this car is actually a track car, but legal, it's worked and very quick. I know it's limits and mine and am currently coming second in the modified class of a track day series, I felt absolutely in control and planned the manoeuvre fully. Incredibly, he appreciated my honesty and let me off. Asking me to make sure I only used the fog lamps when no one else was in view. Bizarre.

3 times I have been clearly seen by cops cruising along on only the back wheel while riding my KTM530 converted to supermoto on the road. One time I was caught out again by a crest. Balancing a beauty up a hill when a fully marked patrol car came over the top again straight at me. I set it down and looked up at the sky in animated disgust at myself, showing the officer I was clearly sprung. But, incredibly, he never showed in my mirror. So what do you do after that? Celebrate with another huge wheelie while laughing.

One time I was on the back wheel in front of another friend and patrol car came around the corner. This time they turned around and followed us for a while. My mate was riding a big Harley on his limited learner permit and was breaking the law by doing so. I was thinking like mad of a way to get them to pull me over and not him. So there was a break in traffic, I picked a tight gap and went for it a bit. Damn. Didn't work. They pulled him over instead. I returned for support. They never even check my licence, just said hi to me. Hilarious. My buddy lost his licence for six months over it. He still pissed off at me for attracting their attention.

Apparently, rumour has it, that a rider in Vic went to court over his wheelstand fine. He won the case and was let off, because the officer wrote the ticket for dangerous riding. He had people go in to bat saying he is a very accomplished rider and has full control while on the back wheel. There is actually no law here saying you need to be on both wheels. As long as you aren't speeding, you are good to go, maybe? Every time I have been caught on the rear I was under the speed limit. Maybe that's why? Don't know. Does anyone in here form Vic know?

I have a vid on YouTube showing me riding around on the back wheel for ages on a push bike. Maybe I could have used that, and argued in court that I can do the same on a motorcycle but would never put it on YouTube? Lol.

I got a couple more. But that will do. I have totally changed my ways over the last year or so. Must be getting old. Had my fun. I doubt I'd ever do much like those stories anymore.

My personal experience with police here has been brilliant. It seems like when you take your helmet off and see you are a bit older, they seem to think you are a bit more skilled and mature. Lol.

[ribbert]

There is actually no law here saying you need to be on both wheels. Maybe that's why? Don't know. Does anyone in here form Vic know?

I believe it is a given that if the front wheel is off the road you are not in control of the vehicle. I also thought it got a specific mention in the anti hoon laws.
What ever rule they apply doesn't matter, get sprung pulling a wheelie and your done, and taking it to court these days would be a waste off money (more money!)

Vic Police no longer exercise roadside discretion.

Noel

[Arnie]

Vic Police no longer exercise roadside discretion.

Noel

Vic Police no longer are allowed any roadside discretion.  Once they've called it in, you're toast.

[Hoobz]

Well, so glad I am a good boy these days then gents   

[Klavdy]

You know the motorcycle cop isn't gunna let you off with a warning when he throws his helmet and keeps screaming "CUNT" at you.

[Arnie]

You know the motorcycle cop isn't gunna let you off with a warning when he throws his helmet and keeps screaming "CUNT" at you.

Speaking from personal experience, are you?   

[CanDman]

You know the motorcycle cop isn't gunna let you off with a warning when he throws his helmet and keeps screaming "CUNT" at you.

Speaking from personal experience, are you?   

Now why would anyone call Klav a cunt ? 

[mz_rider]

Going a bit off-topic, but this story from England about 10 years ago might raise a smile:

Motorcyclist requests trial by combat

Jobless mechanic Leon Humphreys shocked magistrates by demanding the right to trial by combat under medieval law when he appeared at a Suffolk court.

Mr Humphreys, 60, made his request after being charged with failing to notify the DVLA (Driver & Vehicle Licensing Authority) that his motorcycle was off the road. He claimed he was entitled to ask the court to establish his guilt or innocence by allowing him to fight to the death against a champion nominated by the DVLA. Mr Humphreys, of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, said the fact that he had opted for trial by combat meant he did not have to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. But JPs in the town decided to log his unusual request as a not guilty plea and adjourned his case until November 22 to fix a date for his trial.

The right to trial by combat was introduced in Britain by the Normans after the invasion of 1066. Under the law people used to fight each other to solve disputes. It was assumed the person in the right would win as God would back the victor. The law used to allow people like priests, women and the elderly to substitute champions to fight on their behalf. The practice was commonplace until the 1300s when the system of trial by jury began to be introduced instead.

Bachelor Leon said after the hearing: "I believe the right to trial by combat is still on the statute books. I can ask for it because the new Human Rights law gives ordinary people the right to use the law for their own purposes. I am willing to fight a champion put up by the DVLA if they want to accept my challenge – but they must remember it is a fight to the death. The victor speaks in the name of God and justice so it is a reasonable enough way of sorting the matter out. I know I am in the right so I do not have anything to worry about. I am reasonably fit and not afraid of taking anyone on in a fight."

Traditionally fights under the trial by combat law used to be settled by combatants wielding swords, lances or staves with iron heads. Former seaman Mr Humphreys said he was unsure which party would have the right to decide on the weapons used if the DVLA accepted his challenge. But he added that he was prepared to fight with Japanese samurai swords, razor sharp Ghurka knives or even heavy blacksmith hammers.

He was taken to court after failing to pay a £25 fine for not notifying the DVLA that his Suzuki 125 cc motorcycle was off the road. But he said: "It is my property and it is my right to do what I like with it."

A spokesman for the Lord Chancellor's department, which runs Britain's courts, said: "I am not aware that anyone has the right to demand trial by combat these days. It has been the law for hundreds of years that people can only ask for trial by jury or by magistrates if they are accused of a lesser offence. If this man claims he has the right to trial by combat then he will have to present the court with evidence of the legislation to show he has the right to do so." A DVLA spokeswoman said: "We have never dealt with a request for trial by combat before. We are looking into the legal issues."

[Dads_FJ]

Going a bit off-topic, but this story from England about 10 years ago might raise a smile:

Motorcyclist requests trial by combat

Jobless mechanic Leon Humphreys shocked magistrates by demanding the right to trial by combat under medieval law when he appeared at a Suffolk court.

Mr Humphreys, 60, made his request after being charged with failing to notify the DVLA (Driver & Vehicle Licensing Authority) that his motorcycle was off the road. He claimed he was entitled to ask the court to establish his guilt or innocence by allowing him to fight to the death against a champion nominated by the DVLA. Mr Humphreys, of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, said the fact that he had opted for trial by combat meant he did not have to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. But JPs in the town decided to log his unusual request as a not guilty plea and adjourned his case until November 22 to fix a date for his trial.

The right to trial by combat was introduced in Britain by the Normans after the invasion of 1066. Under the law people used to fight each other to solve disputes. It was assumed the person in the right would win as God would back the victor. The law used to allow people like priests, women and the elderly to substitute champions to fight on their behalf. The practice was commonplace until the 1300s when the system of trial by jury began to be introduced instead.

Bachelor Leon said after the hearing: "I believe the right to trial by combat is still on the statute books. I can ask for it because the new Human Rights law gives ordinary people the right to use the law for their own purposes. I am willing to fight a champion put up by the DVLA if they want to accept my challenge – but they must remember it is a fight to the death. The victor speaks in the name of God and justice so it is a reasonable enough way of sorting the matter out. I know I am in the right so I do not have anything to worry about. I am reasonably fit and not afraid of taking anyone on in a fight."

Traditionally fights under the trial by combat law used to be settled by combatants wielding swords, lances or staves with iron heads. Former seaman Mr Humphreys said he was unsure which party would have the right to decide on the weapons used if the DVLA accepted his challenge. But he added that he was prepared to fight with Japanese samurai swords, razor sharp Ghurka knives or even heavy blacksmith hammers.

He was taken to court after failing to pay a £25 fine for not notifying the DVLA that his Suzuki 125 cc motorcycle was off the road. But he said: "It is my property and it is my right to do what I like with it."

A spokesman for the Lord Chancellor's department, which runs Britain's courts, said: "I am not aware that anyone has the right to demand trial by combat these days. It has been the law for hundreds of years that people can only ask for trial by jury or by magistrates if they are accused of a lesser offence. If this man claims he has the right to trial by combat then he will have to present the court with evidence of the legislation to show he has the right to do so." A DVLA spokeswoman said: "We have never dealt with a request for trial by combat before. We are looking into the legal issues."

Awesome story!  10 years ago?  anybody know how it ended?