Destructive Incorporated

First of all, great informative page. Should be required reading after taking your license test. A few comments i had:

1. Getting away from a cop is hard unless you are luckily close to and exit or turn off. Sometimes ive found that when i see a cop turning around to come get me, that to just pull over and wait to see if he comes up behind you will get you out of a ticket a lot of times. Even if he does pull behind you with the lights on i guess they appreciate you recognizing that you did something wrong. But if you know the area and are close to a turn off speed like hell and try to get away! You are speeding already anyway! (unless of course they are behind you with the lights on.)

2. Learning to spot police car headlight and taillights at night is priceless. They love to come creeping up. Look at every car in the other lane and the ones approaching to stay aware of your surroundings. Its a great habit. Police drive alot of cars. Ive seen them rollin in crown vics, impalas, mustangs, chargers, taurus, blazers, Evos, eclipses, camaros, even old school impalas and some other pimped out rides. (no joke, im talkin camo paint with dark tint, chrome rims, and the silhouette of a cage visible through the back window with a govt service tag for a plate. Always check the plates but dont rely on it. Ive seen constables pull people over with standard plates on the car.

3. If driving down the highway and you see a trooper on the other side of the median slow down on your side. if you see 2 seriously do the speed limit. I traverse the I-40 to nashville in TN alot and troopers will sit in the middle of the highway in groups of about 4 or 5 cruisers and take turns pulling people over. They love it. I swear they do it every day.

4. Watch out at the bottom of big hills. its easy money for cops because no-one is going to do 55 down a mile of 30 degree grade.

Ive heard things, cant you get pulled over for flashing your lights at oncoming motorists? also, having your bright lights on where other traffic is present IS illegal in my state. we have to lower them here. Is that true everywhere?

If the speed limit is 55mph, you can do a maximum of 64mph. Never go over 70mph is a 55mph zone. If the speed limit is 65mph, you can do a maximum of 75. Never go over 80 in a 65mph zone. If the speed limit is 70, you can go a maximum of 80mph. Never go over 80 - EVER!... This works for me, even when the trooper are sitting on the side of the highway. KNOW YOUR SPEED ZONES!

I had a couple friends with me and we were following another friend. Needless to say we were speeding a bit and my friend decided to stick his head out the window to wave at our friends in front. A cop pulls out, without lights. We turn off, and go hide in a parking lot. Later I drive my friends back to where their car is, and i see that the cop has my friend that was in front of me pulled over. I turn off again, the cop takes the wrong way, then turns around to follow me. No lights. I speed off and get home, safely. I then talk to my friend who said that the cop told him to tell his friend that next time he sees me, he'll pull me over, and like my friend in front of me, give me a warning. I was stupid to run from the cops in the first place, but can i now get a ticket since it already happened and they didn't catch me? They didn't get my license plate, but they know what kind of car I drive...I'm very worried because my father would kill me...Also, I have no background records or anything. I've never had a ticket, or done anything illegal...

www.speedtrap.org is an excellent resource for speeders.

From their site:
"You see them everyday, Speed Traps. The police may be out in the open, hiding behind bridge abutments, or passing overhead in an airplane. As is obvious from the traffic flow, the speed limit is grossly under-posted and universally ignored.

Traffic is moving safely and expeditiously, but not legally according to the posted speed limit. As fast as the pen can be applied to paper, driver after driver is issued a speeding ticket that results in exorbitant fines, points on their driver's licenses and insurance surcharges.

Fortunately, you know about the speed traps on your regularly traveled routes, but what about those times you are on unfamiliar streets and highways? If only there was a way you could share your knowledge of speed traps, in exchange for the speed trap knowledge of others.

Now you can!"

If all your excuses fail and you get a speeding ticket, make a court case out of it whenever possible. It get's the cop off the street and you get a second chance to argue your case in traffic court- occasionally you win one. Sometimes the cop doesn't show up so you should get it dismissed. Taking it to traffic court takes most of the profit out of the ticket for the gov't. Court time is expensive, so even if you have to pay up they barely break even on it. How to beat a speeding ticket?
See: http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=how+to+beat+speeding+ticket

Another tip for when you see a cop is to lightly brake until you are about to pass the cop. This does two things:

-Since the cop can't see your brake lights, he doesn't see that you are slowing down
-It skews his radar results

Just adding my 2 cents

Most of these tips are generic they will help but avoid a ticket. The getting off the road one around where i live will get your ass in jail if they bust you. no matter what unless your smart about it. Quick duck off the highway on a sideroad go down about a 1/4 mile then just stop if the officer wants you enough he'll give chase and if he stops you and asks why you ran just tell him you were pulling over to a safer spot than on the side of the highway because you've heard of alot of accidents in the area involving vehicles on the side of the road. That has gotten me a few warnings and nothing more because usually the officers respect the fact you considered not only your own safety but thiers as well. Also around where i live an officer has to be able to prove how fast you were going so if hes insistant on giving you a ticket ask to see the radar readout most cops just stop there as they often are just going by thier own speed to judge yours but with some of the new incar radar systems thats not always true, occasionally it'll be a gullable rookie tho and ask when was the last time the gun was calibrated i know here where i live they have to be calibrated once a week or so and then say you believe the radar gun is incorrect. Most rookies will just appologize and let you go. I've had a few do that it's pretty funny acctually.

My father was a police officer back the early days of radar. I asked him if 5 or 6 cars are running together and speeding, how do you decide who gets the ticket?

He said, throw on the lights and come up behind the pack, the first one that pulls over gets the ticket. Sad but true.

1. The suggestion to be alert is very important. One thing to look for is when the drivers ahead of you suddenly slow down, especially when they're on a curve or the top of a hill. Also, watch the oncoming traffic to see if they are driving slower than normal.

2. Remember the universal signal of "Cops Ahead" is three flashes of the headlights.

3. Get to know where the cops like to set up radar traps in your area. In general there are limited places where they can set up and be reasonably hidden. When you know where these are, just drive slower in those places. Look for patterns, such as where they set up at the beginning of the month and end of the month.

4. If you're on a highway and the cop driving near you gets off at an exit: LOOK OUT! One of their regular tricks is to get off and fool you into thinking the danger is gone. They re-enter the highway within the next minute and come up behind you.

5. When pulled over, the cops always ask you if you know how fast you were going. This is a trap. If you tell them your speed, then they can say in court that you admitted to speeding. If you say you don't know how fast you were going, then they accuse you of not watching your speedometer. Either tell them you were going the speed limit or say "I was going a safe and reasonable speed." This may bring up a discussion of how much you are lying, but at least you haven't admitted to any wrongdoing, and thereby earning an automatic ticket. (The same rules apply here as they do in any negotiation: He who specifies a number first, LOSES.)

6. If the cop starts asking lots of questions, you can politely refuse to answer and then ask "Am I free to go?" Most people think they can't leave until the cop dismisses them. This is partially true. You don't have to take question after question, you can ask to be dismissed. Unless he has a reasonable suspicion that there is another crime being committed besides speeding, he can't hold you if you ask to be dismissed, he has to say "Yes you can go." As long as you don't provide any probable cause, he has no lawful reason to keep you and must dismiss you when you ask.

When pulled over for speeding recite the following:

"I'm so sorry officer, I know I was speeding, but could you escort me to a restroom before writing me a ticket. If I don't get to a restroom quickly I'm gonna embarass both of us."

They'll either let you go immediately, or follow you to a restroom. If they follow you to the restroom just stay in there for a very long time. They probably won't be there when you come out anyway. They understand that sometimes "$hit happens".

If they let you go, whatever you do, DO NOT PASS A BATHROOM WITHOUT STOPPING!!

Great post. Just as a service to everyone, here are cars to look out for:

Usually trouble (marked or undercover)
Ford Crown Victoria
Dodge Charger
Dodge Intrepid
Chevy Impala
Dodge Durango
Chevy Tahoe

Sometimes trouble (these are usually undercover)
Mercury Grand Marquis
Chevy Suburban
Ford Explorer
Pontiac Grand Prix
Buick LaCrosse
Buick LeSabre
Ford Taurus

Just look for cars that are too *plain*. Not enough trim, black plastic mirrors, etc.

WTF is a brake Petal. It's not a flower it's PEDAL.

"drafting" other speeders at about 1/4th a mile works great alot of the times. Unless theres on cop sitting on an overpass tagging you, and 4 shooting down the on-ramp to get people in packs.

Ducking tricks only work if you can do it casually. If your on a highway, and you pass a cop parked on the side of the road, and as you pass him, he starts the car rolling. CASUALLY move over and get off at the next exit. This only works if you can get there with a bit of space between oyu and him, and theres enough traffic for him to lose you for a brief moment.

Oh, and my favorite trick for peopole with realitivly clean records, and just got pulled over. Dont be suspicious, dont be rude. First casually ease of the gas, dont slam on the breaks. Blatent admission of guilt. Second, look for a spot where you and the cop can comfortably park, and he can walk up to your car without having to stick his neck on the highway. If you have a radar detector, take it down and quietly stick it somewhere he wont see it. If you polite to the officer, and just the right mixture of clueles without being stupid, and sorry for the mistake, he might just give you a warning.

Someone on digg posted this video that pertains so well to this post.

HILARIOUS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9my6KPZRIo

Yeah, tried that. That has to be one of the STUPIDIST things i've ever done. Just don't do it! All it does is slap a class A misdominer charge of Disobaying a Police Officer. Looks great on a resume...

If you plan to try the "hide in a driveway" tip, you should get out of the car and start walking away if the cop is not in sight yet. Getting caught ducking in the car looks suspicous no matter what, but if you're just strolling down the sidewalk whistlin' dixie then you look much less suspicous and can deny even driving a car that day if asked.

Funny thing that helps/works sometimes is if the cop is doing a U-turn to get to you, do a U-turn too as quick as you can, then duck into some other road and hual ass. The cop will be delayed again as they have to do a 2nd U-turn (possibly waiting for traffic to clear) to catch up. This can buy you precious seconds to hide.

And always, if you SEE the flashing lights, game over, pull to the side of the road and take your punishment. Trying to evade the cops when the lights are flashing can end up getting you some charges much more serious than a ticket. If you try to get away before the lights come on, then you're technically not evading the police (you were just in a hurry to get somewhere, but when you saw lights you pulled over like a good law obiding citizen).

I heard that if you are going the same speed as another car, that is it illegal for a cop to single you out between the two. They either must pull you both over, or get you for something else. True?

Two other great speeding tips (not that I advocate speeding) usually apply at night. Watch the traffic as far ahead on the highway as possible. If you notice alot of break lights being depressed in a particular area there may be a cop ahead. People usually brake momentarily, even if they aren't speeding, when a cop is discovered. Look for the lights towards the middle and fast lanes. Avoid relying on right lane break lights as an early warning. Those lights will usually be cars exiting the highway. Also keep your left peripheral vision attentive to cars on the opposite side of the highway flashing their highbeams. This is usually a clear indication that a cop may be ahead for drivers on the other side. Flashing highbeams does NOT mean that your lights need to be turned on. Drivers wouldn't be able to tell from behind you if it were for drivers on that side of the highway. That usually applies to 2 lane streets.

First of all, great list. I already do most of them by habit, but that's only after receiving my fair share of tickets. You did leave out what I consider to be the most essential tip for speeding on the highway, and that is ALWAYS DRIVE WITH THE FLOW OF TRAFFIC. ALWAYS. The minute you stand out, the trooper/highway patrol will notice you. If everybody in the fast lane is going 85, go 85. If they're going 75, go 75. The key to getting away with speeding on the highway is not to stand out at all. That means in addition to going with the flow, you should not make any unsafe or quick lane changes or make yourself noticeable in any way. Cops are trained to notice erratic driving of any sort and generally make a beeline for it. That's my $0.02, and I haven't gotten pulled over since I started doing this.

Sorry for the slow page loads. This has brought more traffic that I had invisioned. We have been diligently tuning our server to handle some of these hits, and we much appriciate duggmirror's service for allowing people to read the article this whole time!

The geeks reading this will get a good laugh... this was about 5-10 minutes after reaching digg.com's front page:

> uptime
5:52PM up 84 days, 9:10, 3 users, load averages: 43.20, 20.33, 12.70

Ouch.

We've done a lot though and the server is serving most of the page requests... albeit sometimes taking 20-30 seconds. Anywho, we're going to start using another machine we have colocated for other tasks to remove some of the load from this server... That wont happen till tomorrow though.

"See if you can catch the news in the morning before you go speeding to work"

Or, use the time to leave a bit earlier, and not have to speed, thereby having a safer and less stressful drive, and saving fuel. Sheesh...There's no point speeding for speed's sake.

One thing that has saved me countless times is my CB radio. Nothing like having a mile or two of warning to avoid those radar traps set up on the other side of a blind hill or curve. Well worth the 300 or so a good setup will cost.

Ok, i figured I'd clear up the last tip since a whole lot of talk on the places I posted this story (digg and fark namely) think I am saying to just flat ass run from the cops.

That is simply not the case. I am just saying that if you pass a cop and think he is going to turn around, get off the road your on! If you're really worried, yea park... empty driveways can work well. I know a lot of people who have "gotten away" with this one. I obviously have, but it was narrowly and I'm sure I have a police officer out there now who wants my nuts. However, there are times where if you were to get pulled over for speeding excessively you might lose your licence and/or car. It could be worth the risk.

I'm not telling you to break the law. I'm telling you to bend it and that you'd damn better well get away with it or you're going to be worse off.

One of the favorite sayings my step father used all too often: "It's not illegal unless you get caught."