Driver's School (traffic ticket)

[Pete]

BTW, the officer that stopped me did not ask for proof of registration or insurance.

He clearly wanted to hurry and get back to writing more tickets.

[TheTravellers]

BTW, the officer that stopped me did not ask for proof of registration or insurance.

He clearly wanted to hurry and get back to writing more tickets.

Wow, that's very unusual - all the times I've been stopped here, the a-holes (yes, they were, and I was generally neutral, and hadn't been doing anything dangerous - rolling a stop sign (stick shift - who doesn't roll stop signs while driving a stick), "following too closely" (while coming up on a guy stopped at a stop sign), and 10 MPH over is about as scary as I was doing) *always* checked every single thing out, took them forever to get back to me...

[RadicalModerate]

I can't remember the last time I had a speeding ticket. The closest thing to it, was the time that an officer of the law out in Arcadia followed me almost all the way to the Lake Arcadia Dam, early in the morning, before the sun was up, on my way to work, before he pulled me over. I was doing a couple of miles over the limit within the actual township. He said that he had his lights on (to pull me over) for at least a couple of miles. He said he thought he would have to call the sheriff to continue the pursuit. I was doing about 55 in an insane posted 70 mph speed zone (old Route 66, after the improvements). I said, "Sorry. I guess you got me." We shared a laugh. I wished him well. We both went on our way. Me, to work. He to his duty. That is an absolutely true story. Every time I drive through Nichols Hills (25 mph on Penn and 20 on Grand) I think to myself: "Is this entire enclave some sort of Special School Zone for The Vaguely Retarded?" And then I drive the speed limit. (Welcome back to Oklahoma, Pete.)

[RadicalModerate]

p.s. I just remembered the last time I got a Speeding Ticket: It was c/o Forest Park back in the mid-80s. Whatever you do avoid Forest Park. (or don't. your choice.) Oh! And if you ever drive though The Village, be sure not to exceed the 35 mph limit. Especially if the traffic is moving at 20 or 60 mph. =~)

[RadicalModerate]

BTW, the officer that stopped me did not ask for proof of registration or insurance.

He clearly wanted to hurry and get back to writing more tickets.

And . . . ?

[rezman]

Looking back over the years since, I've been stopped by OCPD, Warr Acres, Bethany, Moore, El Reno, Mustang, Okla County Sherriff, OHP, Ferris Tx, and Texas HP. Not once have I ever been asked for my vehicle registration.

[Pete]

^

Must be a California thing.

But not asking for proof of insurance?

[rezman]

Ever since the compulsory Insurance laws took affect, I have been asked to show proof of insurance almost every time. There were a coulple times when the officer didn't, but that was definitely the exception. That last time up on Western, the officer didn't ask for it because he was able to look me up and verify it before he even got out of his car.

[Urbanized]

Yeah, I rarely have been pulled over in the past dozen or so years since I moved from the 'burbs to the edge of downtown, but pretty much anytime I have ever been pulled over in Oklahoma I've been asked for proof of insurance.

[rezman]

The Ferris Texas stop was back in the late 90's. A smallish town revenue generator sitting in the median on I-45 just south of Dallas. I had recently slowed down from a long 100mph sprint with about 6 other cars coming up from Houston, and I got off at Palmer to get some fuel. After getting back on the highway, I came up on two of the cars I had been running high speed with pulled over by LEO's. Not long after I passed them, the Ferris cop got me for 10 over.

[RadicalModerate]

Driving School? . . . : Beware of The Bridge on The Main Street of America (Route 66, aka The Mother Road) in the vicinity of Luther. Don't ask me why . . . Simply be sure to obey the tricky Speed Limit signs. I learned that from my brother. Luther tried to make a Federal Case out of it. As the old saying goes: "Learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to make them all yourself." =~)

[tfvc.org]

When I got pulled over the officer told me I could have pulled my insurance up on my phone to show him. Right, I am going to give you my unlocked phone to take to your car to verify insurance and rifle through it while you are at it. I would rather give you the paper I printed out.

[OKCRT]

p.s. I just remembered the last time I got a Speeding Ticket: It was c/o Forest Park back in the mid-80s. Whatever you do avoid Forest Park. (or don't. your choice.) Oh! And if you ever drive though The Village, be sure not to exceed the 35 mph limit. Especially if the traffic is moving at 20 or 60 mph. =~)

Forest Park-early 80s going east on NE 36th st. There's a Stop sign. Just started raining very lightly. Hit brakes to stop and slid a little bit past the stop sign from oil on the road. Cop sitting across street lights me up. Gives me ticket and court date. I go to court on the date on the ticket and guess what? Court closed,it was in the school I believe. Next day they had issued a warrant and suspended my drivers lic. for not paying ticket. Yes,true story no joke.

[Kemotblue]

Frankly, I am surprised I wasn't driving faster given the setting -- divided 4-lane road with nothing along the north side (this is the completely empty stretch that drew a multi-use proposal) and going downhill.

It's stuff like this that makes people unsympathetic to the police department's constant cry for more officers. And him being a jackass didn't make it any better.

WOW! That's 30mph! look at that straightaway and wide open looks like a 40mph street not a 30mph street. I don't see a lot of posted speed limit signs.

[rezman]

Arcadia is still a speed trap town, but not near as bad as it used to be. One of my old neighbors out there got a speeding ticket and he didn't pay it by the due date. He works in the area of Memorial Road and Santa Fe, and the Arcadia police chief showed up at his work in uniform and called him out about about his overdue fine. When my neighbor asked him about the ticket turning into a bench warrant and arrest, the chief told him that he wasn't going to arrest him. He would just keep showing up at his work until he paid the fine.

[OKCRT]

Arcadia is still a speed trap town, but not near as bad as it used to be. One of my old neighbors out there got a speeding ticket and he didn't pay it by the due date. He works in the area of Memorial Road and Santa Fe, and the Arcadia police chief showed up at his work in uniform and called him out about about his overdue fine. When my neighbor asked him about the ticket turning into a bench warrant and arrest, the chief told him that he wasn't going to arrest him. He would just keep showing up at his work until he paid the fine.

Sounds like Barney Fife.

[Tritone]

When I got pulled over the officer told me I could have pulled my insurance up on my phone to show him. Right, I am going to give you my unlocked phone to take to your car to verify insurance and rifle through it while you are at it. I would rather give you the paper I printed out.

What, isn't anyone going to say that if you have nothing to hide that you shouldn't need to worry? Mind if we look around in your car (or house) a little bit? After all, if you don't have anything to hide...

[OKCRT]

Times are getting to where you need to have one of those GoPro cameras strapped to your head so you can record everything that happens.

[Thomas Vu]

When I got pulled over the officer told me I could have pulled my insurance up on my phone to show him. Right, I am going to give you my unlocked phone to take to your car to verify insurance and rifle through it while you are at it. I would rather give you the paper I printed out.

That never occurred to me. Officers have never taken my phone to their car.

[tfvc.org]

I don't have anything on my phone that would be incriminating, especially since the only thing I do is the occasional speeding, however I don't think it is anyone's business to go through my phone. In the early 2000s I was dumb enough to leave my phone at my desk while I went on break and someone decided to use my phone to call and harass an ex. Well for weeks I was harassed by one of her friends, I ended up calling the police and a nice officer called that person and told him to knock it off. Since then I do not let my phone out of my posession.

[Plutonic Panda]

^

Yep. When it's something silly like this where they don't even think it's worth reporting on your driving record, it functions exactly like a tax. A very big tax.

As others have said, it's just a revenue generation scheme and there is really no fairness or legitimate due process.

It also should be said that if you want to contest in court, you have to take time off work because it's always in the middle of a week day. That's another big burden on the working class.


I can say the one thing that was way, way worse about California: Parking tickets. Any municipality (and there were hundreds just in the L.A. area) can come up with whatever fine they want. They all employ these low-wage meter watchers in little electric vehicles and they see meters about to expire and sit there and wait for them to click over, then issue like a $75 ticket. Yes, $75 for not feeding a quarter into the meter.

They also do this ridiculous thing that if you don't have your front license plate displayed -- which 95% of the people do not -- they write you a ticket for that as well. So the little city of El Segundo or wherever pulls in about $150 a throw and they do this dozens and dozens of times an hour. Why on earth is a *city* fining you for your state license plate?? Don't know but it doesn't matter, they can and they do and they are highly, highly incentivized to do so without any real opportunity to contest.

I've already had like 10 parking tickets since I've been here in the past year. I've learned that.

[BBatesokc]

I highly recommend a dash cam in a person's car - wish they came standard. I use this one and have for years - best features for the price. When I get pulled over I rotate one of the camera to my driver's side door to record my interaction with the officer.

I buy from this seller because his price is the best usually and the product is as advertised.

The Original Dashcam 2 4SK606 Black 4SIGHT Auto Video Recording Camera 2" | eBay

[RadicalModerate]

I've already had like 10 parking tickets since I've been here in the past year. I've learned that.

Back where I grew up--Boulder, Colorado--it was always difficult to find a parking place anywhere in the vicinity of the campus. Once you found one, you really didn't want to move your vehicle. Many, many parking tickets were issued. A community service, performed by voluteers, was to pull parking tickets (of complete strangers) out from under windshield wipers and dispose of them. It was common knowledge this was being done. What one could do would be to pay every 5th parking ticket received. Then, when challenged for unpaid parking tickets, one could say something like, "I pay parking tickets. Check your records. Someone must have pulled those others out from under my windshield wipers." I'm not sure how well that would work in the modern world, but it worked well back in the day.

[u50254082]

I highly recommend a dash cam in a person's car - wish they came standard. I use this one and have for years - best features for the price. When I get pulled over I rotate one of the camera to my driver's side door to record my interaction with the officer.

I buy from this seller because his price is the best usually and the product is as advertised.

The Original Dashcam 2 4SK606 Black 4SIGHT Auto Video Recording Camera 2" | eBay

It looks like that is dual lens? Does it perform decently well when one lens is pointing backwards to catch if someone rear ends you?

Also, has it survived the heat and sunlight of an Oklahoma summer?

[Uptowner]

about 5-8 seems to be the magic number. And I avoid speeding down declines. I haven't been ticketed in years. I got a ticket doing 41 on 23rd(30MPH) street years ago and the cop told me if he sees 10MPH or over he's going for it, but I he never went to the effort for 5MPH. Also, 23rd only has a single sign stating the 30mph zone between classen and penn.

Now I'm going to go knock on all the wood...