FHP caught Brevard County’s Deputy of the Year Michael Fultz riding his motorcycle 111 mph but did not arrest him under Florida’s ‘Super Speeder’ law, News 6 has learned.
Somehow read this that he avoided arrest because of the “Super Speeder” law. Like if you speed fast enough, it’s so impressive, they let you out of the ticket. Didn’t realize this was NOTtheonion. Made for an interesting interpretation on my first read.
So once upon a time, a long long time ago (well past all applicable statutes of limitation) I noticed a pattern when people would get pulled over for speeding. If they were speeding a little, it was a speed trap and the cop was there to write tickets, it would take a whole lot of charm and luck to get let off in that situation.
If they were speeding a lot, like a whole lot, they’d get pulled over by officers who were more interested in where they were going in such a hurry rather than handing out tickets. Having established that the driver isn’t fleeing the scene of a crime or something like that, they’d generally be let off with a warning - often just a verbal warning, but even sometimes a written warning on the official forms.
You’re basically talking about the difference between traffic cops and regular patrol.
More pedantically, it’s “Traffic enforcement unit cops” or “Cops who went out of their way to take a speed measurement certification course and get issued the equipment and thus are expected to use them or lose them” vs. “Cops who didn’t.”
As you can imagine, the latter doesn’t care nearly as much about traffic enforcement.
Ironically enough, I am pretty sure I got let off by traffic enforcement units a couple of times when I was far enough over to qualify for “the expensive ticket”, but very rarely when it was just 12-15 mph over. Also, even though I tend to drive about 9 over most of the time, I seem to get an awful lot of tickets for 15 over - where the fine takes a bump up… Their word against mine…
In my area (HCSO, PCPD) you could tell by their boots: jackboots = traffic enforcement.
Of course there’s also FHP, who are basically an entire agency of only traffic enforcement.
I’d recommend getting a dash cam and your speedometer calibrated, just in case you got a wheel resize or gear configuration change that made your speedometer inaccurate. We were required to calibrate our patrol cars every year if we used it to measure speed, but there is zero such requirement for random motorists. I think the LIDAR and RADAR guns were yearly too, but I never applied for the class required to use one so I’m not sure.
I “calibrate” my speedos vs GPS every so often, they’re reasonably close (+/- 2mph at 70).
I waffle about the dash cam, of course I’ll want it after something happens and I don’t have it, but on the other hand I also hate the thought of a protracted court fight for what?
There are tons of nightmare scenarios you can avoid by having a dashcam including the police lying about something you did while driving, which could lead to all sorts of awful things for you.
Yeah, and I’ve faced a couple of those potential nightmares… unfortunately, my experience has been: the cops act a lot worse when you have “anti-cop tech” visible in your car, for instance I got the most bogus speeding ticket of all time when a radar detector was visible. Times I’ve been “at their mercy” where they could plant anything, claim anything, do anything, no witnesses around just me and them, they’ve always been more decent - almost never wrote anything up, just waved me on about my business after the stop.
For awhile, I ran around with 10 old registrations in the trunk but “couldn’t find” the most recent one, even though the sticker on the tag was updated. I must have gotten 3 written warnings for “no valid registration” when I thought I was going to get a speeding ticket. They got a free look inside my trunk, got to write something up, and didn’t have to hit me with a speeding fine. It’s far from ideal, in the ideal world everything is on audio/video record and we base everything on the actual truth, but cops being human (and subject to human pettiness) sometimes having that record just makes them want to show you everything they can do to you without you being able to effectively fight back - including dragging your ass in to court for no reason whatsoever, they don’t even bother to show - or maybe they do and they lie when they get there and they know (and in some towns are related to) the judge… If they know they have nothing of substance to present in court (like that radar detector cop) they just don’t show up.
A radar detector is very different from a dash cam, including in law depending on your area.
I think you’re just doing mental gymnastics to make a reason for not getting one. Just be honest with yourself and say “I don’t feel like it.”
It reminds me of the people who point out that seat-belts trap people in cars so they won’t wear a seat-belt. They don’t think rationally about the very remote odds of that, they just latch on to it as an excuse to do what they were already going to do.
Is that really why they ask where you’re going? Like coincidentally they think they are also going to solve some massive crime? Like “I’m in a rush to get to my drug deal! Oops.”
The thing is, smarter people think better than to speed while carrying a body or a kilo of cocaine in the trunk, but smarter people tend not to commit crime as often, on average.
So as much as it makes no sense to you, it does when you factor in common criminals. Supervisors monitoring your KPIs don’t care if the arrest was made on a dumb person or a smart person.
If it were me, I’d respond: “Okay, I’ll follow you to the nearest public bathroom, but you’re still getting the citation.”
Someone pulled that on me once, but I saw them pass a few public bathrooms as they cut around a line of cars in traffic to get to the turn lane a bit faster by going down the wrong way of the roadway, so they were obviously lying.
You might have more luck with your lie among lazier/less discerning/dumber cops, it’s true.
Before I was old enough to drive, I once was riding with a friend who’d recently gotten food poisoning and who really needed a restroom. He was speeding to get there and, when he got pulled over, told the officer so.
I don’t remember the exact words, but after issuing the ticket, the policeman basically said “just pull over and shit on the side of the road if you need to.”
Well, I think the first clue is when they put their lights on and tell you to pull over, if you don’t then they have reason to call in the cavalry and “maintain order and justice in the land” by forcing you to stop, comply, lie face down while they cuff you first and ask questions later.
If you play nice (darn) then they ask the questions politely first and look for “tells” - you know: blood dripping from the trunk, piles of loose cash in the floorboards, a dark complexion (driving while black) - all the “usual suspects’” signs - probable cause. A remarkable percentage of actual criminals are not stone cold liars who are able to cooly answer the questions and act like nothing unusual is going on.
Somehow read this that he avoided arrest because of the “Super Speeder” law. Like if you speed fast enough, it’s so impressive, they let you out of the ticket. Didn’t realize this was NOTtheonion. Made for an interesting interpretation on my first read.
That’s exactly how my brain read the headline.
So once upon a time, a long long time ago (well past all applicable statutes of limitation) I noticed a pattern when people would get pulled over for speeding. If they were speeding a little, it was a speed trap and the cop was there to write tickets, it would take a whole lot of charm and luck to get let off in that situation.
If they were speeding a lot, like a whole lot, they’d get pulled over by officers who were more interested in where they were going in such a hurry rather than handing out tickets. Having established that the driver isn’t fleeing the scene of a crime or something like that, they’d generally be let off with a warning - often just a verbal warning, but even sometimes a written warning on the official forms.
You’re basically talking about the difference between traffic cops and regular patrol.
More pedantically, it’s “Traffic enforcement unit cops” or “Cops who went out of their way to take a speed measurement certification course and get issued the equipment and thus are expected to use them or lose them” vs. “Cops who didn’t.”
As you can imagine, the latter doesn’t care nearly as much about traffic enforcement.
- Ex-cop
Ironically enough, I am pretty sure I got let off by traffic enforcement units a couple of times when I was far enough over to qualify for “the expensive ticket”, but very rarely when it was just 12-15 mph over. Also, even though I tend to drive about 9 over most of the time, I seem to get an awful lot of tickets for 15 over - where the fine takes a bump up… Their word against mine…
In my area (HCSO, PCPD) you could tell by their boots: jackboots = traffic enforcement.
Of course there’s also FHP, who are basically an entire agency of only traffic enforcement.
I’d recommend getting a dash cam and your speedometer calibrated, just in case you got a wheel resize or gear configuration change that made your speedometer inaccurate. We were required to calibrate our patrol cars every year if we used it to measure speed, but there is zero such requirement for random motorists. I think the LIDAR and RADAR guns were yearly too, but I never applied for the class required to use one so I’m not sure.
I “calibrate” my speedos vs GPS every so often, they’re reasonably close (+/- 2mph at 70).
I waffle about the dash cam, of course I’ll want it after something happens and I don’t have it, but on the other hand I also hate the thought of a protracted court fight for what?
There are tons of nightmare scenarios you can avoid by having a dashcam including the police lying about something you did while driving, which could lead to all sorts of awful things for you.
For $50, it’s a no-brainer to me.
Yeah, and I’ve faced a couple of those potential nightmares… unfortunately, my experience has been: the cops act a lot worse when you have “anti-cop tech” visible in your car, for instance I got the most bogus speeding ticket of all time when a radar detector was visible. Times I’ve been “at their mercy” where they could plant anything, claim anything, do anything, no witnesses around just me and them, they’ve always been more decent - almost never wrote anything up, just waved me on about my business after the stop.
For awhile, I ran around with 10 old registrations in the trunk but “couldn’t find” the most recent one, even though the sticker on the tag was updated. I must have gotten 3 written warnings for “no valid registration” when I thought I was going to get a speeding ticket. They got a free look inside my trunk, got to write something up, and didn’t have to hit me with a speeding fine. It’s far from ideal, in the ideal world everything is on audio/video record and we base everything on the actual truth, but cops being human (and subject to human pettiness) sometimes having that record just makes them want to show you everything they can do to you without you being able to effectively fight back - including dragging your ass in to court for no reason whatsoever, they don’t even bother to show - or maybe they do and they lie when they get there and they know (and in some towns are related to) the judge… If they know they have nothing of substance to present in court (like that radar detector cop) they just don’t show up.
A radar detector is very different from a dash cam, including in law depending on your area.
I think you’re just doing mental gymnastics to make a reason for not getting one. Just be honest with yourself and say “I don’t feel like it.”
It reminds me of the people who point out that seat-belts trap people in cars so they won’t wear a seat-belt. They don’t think rationally about the very remote odds of that, they just latch on to it as an excuse to do what they were already going to do.
Is that really why they ask where you’re going? Like coincidentally they think they are also going to solve some massive crime? Like “I’m in a rush to get to my drug deal! Oops.”
The thing is, smarter people think better than to speed while carrying a body or a kilo of cocaine in the trunk, but smarter people tend not to commit crime as often, on average.
So as much as it makes no sense to you, it does when you factor in common criminals. Supervisors monitoring your KPIs don’t care if the arrest was made on a dumb person or a smart person.
- Ex-cop
I’ve had luck with “I really really need to go to the bathroom!”
If it were me, I’d respond: “Okay, I’ll follow you to the nearest public bathroom, but you’re still getting the citation.”
Someone pulled that on me once, but I saw them pass a few public bathrooms as they cut around a line of cars in traffic to get to the turn lane a bit faster by going down the wrong way of the roadway, so they were obviously lying.
You might have more luck with your lie among lazier/less discerning/dumber cops, it’s true.
- Ex-cop
Oh, I wasn’t lying.
Fair enough, it looked like you were implying it was a trick you’re passing on to others.
Obviously it doesn’t matter either way and I can’t prove or disprove what you’re claiming now.
Yeah I’m suggesting they say that if needed, but lie convincingly.
Right, and I’m suggesting it’s one of the older tricks in the book that only dumb/lazy cops would fall for.
Before I was old enough to drive, I once was riding with a friend who’d recently gotten food poisoning and who really needed a restroom. He was speeding to get there and, when he got pulled over, told the officer so.
I don’t remember the exact words, but after issuing the ticket, the policeman basically said “just pull over and shit on the side of the road if you need to.”
Hey it was worth a shot. I’d ignore that advice because the next cop will brand you a sex offender for it.
As far as I’m aware that depends on the state; few states have the “peeing in public = sex offender” laws. Mine certainly doesn’t.
Not aware of a “pooping in public = sex offender” law, but they might be covered under the same statute in the states that take issue with it.
Well, I think the first clue is when they put their lights on and tell you to pull over, if you don’t then they have reason to call in the cavalry and “maintain order and justice in the land” by forcing you to stop, comply, lie face down while they cuff you first and ask questions later.
If you play nice (darn) then they ask the questions politely first and look for “tells” - you know: blood dripping from the trunk, piles of loose cash in the floorboards, a dark complexion (driving while black) - all the “usual suspects’” signs - probable cause. A remarkable percentage of actual criminals are not stone cold liars who are able to cooly answer the questions and act like nothing unusual is going on.