I just got a reminder on why you should never ride on the last day of the month at the low price of $120.50

In Northern Montgomery County PA up by 29 and 63

Wanted to get a ride in during the perfect time after the heat dies down and before the sun sets.

Apparently I was going 53 in a 35. One of those zones where the limit drops from 45 to 35 and back to 45 all in less than 1/8 mile.

Thankfully, I think the officer just made up a number because when I saw him and braked as I entered the speed trap my speedo said 68, which was after some pretty hard braking.

Guy was nice enough, said something about "operation street safety" (aka fine the shit out of as many people as possible) to protect drivers and check seat belts, then said he would drop me down to 5mph over = No points and a nice $120.50 fine. I was happy with this, 18mph over is FOUR POINTS in PA and would have royally raped me in fines and insurance.

He then said "I ride motorcycles also" so he could understand why I was speeding...

After giving me the ticket he said "You have a Ducati and I know it likes to go fast, just keep it to 14 over and we'll be ok.

....Pretty expensive hour-long ride.

Remember, never ride on the last day of the month!

Good to know 14 over's cool 

Super nice officer! Hope you were polite, minded your manners and said thank you. He kinda gave you a gift. Got the magical "warning ticket" (only one I have ever gotten!) in LeFlore County Oklahoma hauling ass on my Busa on the Talimena Scenic Drive from a very understanding County Sheriff. Just a great guy. We leaned on the hood of his Crown Vic and shot the shit for a good 15-20 minutes about all the crazy bike riders he has chased down on the Drive. Funny stories for sure! He seemed really glad I pulled right over and he didn't have to run me down. That Crown Vic looked pretty bad. Wouldn't want to chase a sport bike on the Drive in that heap!!

 

Quote from: fastwin on May 31, 2011, 07:07:36 PM
Super nice officer! Hope you were polite, minded your manners and said thank you. He kinda gave you a gift. Got the magical "warning ticket" (only one I have ever gotten!) in LeFlore County Oklahoma hauling ass on my Busa on the Talimena Scenic Drive from a very understanding County Sheriff. Just a great guy. We leaned on the hood of his Crown Vic and shot the shit for a good 15-20 minutes about all the crazy bike riders he has chased down on the Drive. Funny stories for sure! He seemed really glad I pulled right over and he didn't have to run me down. That Crown Vic looked pretty bad. Wouldn't want to chase a sport bike on the Drive in that heap!!

He was definitely cool about it and I was definitely a nice guy about it.

He caught me red handed, how could I possible be mad at him.

I'm mad at the jackasses who made the speed limit 35-45 on a 3 mile stretch of perfectly straight road on the middle of bumblemake the beast with two backs where there's a mile between houses!

Shit, that road doesn't even need a speed limit!! Not much I can do about that though.

Quote from: swampduc on May 31, 2011, 06:52:12 PM
Good to know 14 over's cool 

Yea, he was really cool about it, but lets be honest, who is going to go 59 in a 45... 45 = 75+, at least out here in the boondocks anyway.


He definitely noticed my CCP and NRA card while I was giving him my ID, I was hoping he would. Up here most of the officers are hunters, so I was automagically on his good side for loving guns and killing deer. 

Nothing wrong with guns and bikes! How could they not go together?? Years ago I got stopped outside Cimarron, NM going to our family cabin for vacation by a NM State Police officer. Yeah, he had me dead to rights going 70+ on a 55mph two lane. But he saw my USPSA sticker on my car window and I had on an IPSC t-shirt and we got into a nice talk about a recent regional USPSA match at the nearby NRA Whittington Center outside of Raton. But his rookie trainee got suspicious and exited the squad car to see what was taking so long. At that point out came the officer's ticket book and I got written up. I know damn good and well he would have let me off if he'd been by himself. He had to write me up in front of the trainee. Later that year at a Thunder Ranch class attended by the NM State Police SWAT team I mentioned the incident to them and they rightly guessed the officer's name and his trainee and agreed that he would have let me go. Oh well... I too deserved it.

I was running late to work and taking the usual back roads here on the Palouse in Idaho and Washington.
You never see a LEO on, never.
I was buzzing down a straight at about 95, yeah I was really late.
Right at the end of the straight around the bend comes the WA State Police cruiser.
I mashed the brakes and went past him and noticed his brake lights as he went around the corner.
I pulled right over and was off the bike and he came screaming around the corner and his eyes went wide
as he realize I was right there and he didn't have to chase me down.
He came over and said he noticed I was in a hurry. I said yeah it's just one of those mornings.
He replied he clocked me at 95 and I went by him at 72. He checked my info and came back and
said because I didn't make him chase me he would write me up for 5 over. Then we BS'd about chasing bikes
on the west side of the state (Seattle area). He told me to hang on and ran back to his squad car
and wrote something down, turns out it was a state web site that you pay the ticket fee on and if you don't get another
ticket in a year it falls off your record. All around nice guy that obviously had me dead to rights. Sure
could have been a spendy ticket.

first off. was it a local or a trooper?

secondly, how are yout that close to me and I didn't realize it? (have i really forgotten that much?)

i got popped by a local at the end of last summer on 202N right at chesterbrook.
same sort of thing. he rode, was glad that i was wearign gear, we chatted about bikes for a while.

it seems like when you are polite and don't fight them they are cool. never had that kind of luck with the troopers.

either way, congrats on not getting the points, court time, and driving school.

Quote from: KnightofNi on June 01, 2011, 11:58:52 AM
first off. was it a local or a trooper?

secondly, how are yout that close to me and I didn't realize it? (have i really forgotten that much?)

i got popped by a local at the end of last summer on 202N right at chesterbrook.
same sort of thing. he rode, was glad that i was wearign gear, we chatted about bikes for a while.

it seems like when you are polite and don't fight them they are cool. never had that kind of luck with the troopers.

either way, congrats on not getting the points, court time, and driving school.

It was a local guy, if it was a trooper I probably would have been screwed. I was on 29 headed towards 63 near the Northside.

I've been through the whole court, points, and driving school. I had to attend a driving school for senior citizens at the age of 18, the judge thought it would "put things in perspective." That was up in the Red Hill/Perkiomenville area.

Yea man, I work in Harleysville and live in Green Lane. Been in the area my entire life. I just figured you were too cool for school and didn't want to ride with me.  

nah, i just don't ride with anyone anymore. i'm too busy complainign about things to go on rides these days.

I once had a Chippie (California Highway Patrol on Motorcycle) come out of nowhere as I was accelerating from 65mph to 85mph at a freeway merge section. He was fast and furious on his BMW K-something and zoomed up to my right hand side and then looked at me, while pacing me @85mph. I eased up on the throttle and was under 70 in 3 seconds flat...he then took off and I thought that was the nicest warning any CHP has given me . All other times resulted in an installment to the state's general fund .

Quote from: KnightofNi on June 01, 2011, 01:29:27 PM
nah, i just don't ride with anyone anymore. i'm too busy complainign about things to go on rides these days.

Haha, well I'm an unemployed guy with a piece of paper that says I know stuff. So I have plenty of time to ride between searching for a job. At least until I completely run out of funds to pay for gas/insurance/food. At which point my options are either 1. Eat a bullet, or 2. Join the military.

So quit complaining and lets ride sometime.  (or get shitfaced)

Quote from: northerncalguy on June 01, 2011, 01:35:40 PM
I once had a Chippie (California Highway Patrol on Motorcycle) come out of nowhere as I was accelerating from 65mph to 85mph at a freeway merge section. He was fast and furious on his BMW K-something and zoomed up to my right hand side and then looked at me, while pacing me @85mph. I eased up on the throttle and was under 70 in 3 seconds flat...he then took off and I thought that was the nicest warning any CHP has given me . All other times resulted in an installment to the state's general fund .

I figured you west coasters, specifically in California, would be arrested, tortured, labeled a tree murderer, and tried for treason for any infraction of the law.

Our news is always covering ridiculous shit that happens in California so I may have a warped perspective.  

My best "Nice guy LEO" story dates back to the 70's.
At the time I was riding a modded RD 350 (ported, expansion chambers,.....), which was a little tempermental (prone to fouling plugs when starting cold). One morning I fouled one of the plugs, given I was almost late rather than stop and switch plugs, I decide to burn the offending plug clean. When I went past the parked LEO the front wheel was 8" off the ground and I was well north (at least double) of the posted limit.
Off the thottle and on the brakes hard, by the time the LEO pulled in behind me I already had all the paper work in hand. I left the bike running. LEO "What were you doing?!? Me in sheepish voice " fouled plug, trying to burn it clean", meanwhile the bike is ring ding ring ding BLAT ring ding, every time it went BLAT a fire ball came out of one pipe and hit the patrol cars front bumper. After running the papers over the radio I was told in a very stern voice to take out in the country the next time. No ticket.

You may have lost 75% of this crowd when you mentioned expansion chambers and fouled plugs. I loved my RDs! Had a couple of 350s and a 400 years ago. Not all at the same time. Wanted a RZ350 in Roberts/Yamaha bumble bee yellow/black so bad it wasn't funny. Hell, I still want one! I was a fan of DG chambers and K&N pod filters. Always the first mods I did along with a re-jet.

OK... back to cop stories and not riding on the last day of the month.

I was running late to meet someone in Columbus to buy my brother an awesome hockey jersey. I missed my exit and ended up REALLY off schedule. I was trying to make up lost time as I crested a hill. As soon as I hit the summit, I noticed  parked in a very clever spot. I immediately pulled over and geared down. I had my helmet and gloves off when he pulled up. I explained that I was lost, behind schedule and was trying to meet someone in Columbus at 3pm. He assumed I meant for an OSU football game, and I sure didn't correct him with something that might not play into a person's biases. He told me he appreciated that I pulled over and didn't try to run, and that I had my endorsement, insurance and then gave me directions to where I was headed. I honestly don't know what I was clocked at (he was nice enough to not tell me), but I know it was well greater than anything I should have reasonably been doing.


But my wife (who is a great driver) got a ticket from a camera in a box for 28 in a 20. make the beast with two backs the machines!

Quote from: redxblack on June 01, 2011, 07:14:07 PM
But my wife (who is a great driver) got a ticket from a camera in a box for 28 in a 20. make the beast with two backs the machines!

Being a nice guy and honest goes a long way in most stops.

I'm thankful that not a single light within an hour of my home has an automated camera on lights or anywhere else.

Just good old meat in the seat taking stopwatch readings and shooting radar/laser. (which means I always have the option to run (which usually works))