Cop Story

[toby19]

Here's what happened to me on Sunday afternoon at the M4 in Sydney:

Was doing 140 on a 100 zone. I got pulled out by a plain clothes officer in an unmarked Commodore. He said that he was following me at 140 for some time but remarked that he was certain "I was doing much more than that prior to my passing him". He then took my licence and sat in his car for about 10 minutes (obviously checking my history).

He then came back out and said "I have the option of either calling in a tow truck and tow your car away (I lose my licence for 12 months), issue a summons and send you to court (I lose my licence for 12 months) or send an infringement to your address (I lose six points). He then asked me how much I've got left in my licence. I said "Officer, I've had a clean slate for the last ten years. I have not been cautioned/cited for anything". He then asked me, "do you need to drive to work?" I said yes. He then said, "then quit doing that (speeding) and left me.

Now, from the above, do any of you guys think I had been let off with just a warning or should I expect a notice in the mail?

I have a gold licence and like what I told the officer, I have a clean record.

Thanks guys.

[chopobo]

sounds like you pulled it lucky

[Nismodified]

sounds like you were let off,

but its going to be a nervous wait.

[Merli]

140km/h is a bit quick to keep up for a sustained period of time on the M4... You're bound to grab a police officer's attention... I usually find that in my skyline, anything over the posted speed limit draws glances from police cars, but in my parent's mercs, I can go upto 10-15km/h over for sustained periods without even a sidways glance from any passing police cars.

What do you reckon? Harassment?

Anyway, yeah... sounds like you were lucky and were let off... 40km/h over is a serious offence these days...

[XCUZME]

what would he call a tow truck for? unless you were losing traction doing 140kmh

[toby19]

He said he can take away my licence right there and then which would mean that my car would have to be impounded. A licenced driver would have to take it from the police depot.

Almost everyone that I've sought advice from (including a couple of cops) reckon I was let off. It made me wonder why he didn't let me have a breath test. Also, he never inspected the car to determine whether it could be defected.

He did not have a radar in the car because he said he was relying on his speedo reading.

We'll wait and see.

[Brody]

Why didn't u run it?

[toby19]

I knew he had my rego because he followed me for a good half a minute before he switched his lights and siren on. I would have been in deeper shit if I took off.

I thought about that scenario though and contemplated on what would have been

[Brody]

lol nah not a good idea if hes already flicked the lights behind u. However, if hes done a u'ie, u know its time to downshift and up the boost...

Then again the m4 wouldn't be a great place to run cops...backstreets are good if youve got a handling setup...their nugget 1800kg trucks can't keep.

All in all u played ure cards right, congrats

[toby19]

Damn that Sunday arvo V8 Supercars show. It made my adrenaline start pumping.

:uh-huh: By the way, would anyone be interested in some sort of an organised Skyline "Drive Day" at the Eastern Creek one day?

[Roy]

There are a bunch of Syd guys going to EC on the 3rd April. See NSW- Events

Oh and not all cops are bad, they cant say cool, you were really flying there, just slow down for us. I know someone that tried that approach and got transferred out of highway after only two weeks (that was his intention).

At the end of the day he gave you a stern talking and a bit of a rev up, and you got away with only mins of your wasted time.

Keep your cool and its surprising what they let slide.

[benm]

Damn, I have a habit of sitting on 120km/h on the M4 its just perfect for my car.

Now and then i'll give it a squirt but I generally check out the cars nearby me.

I've been on my way home quite afew times when I have seen a cop car just getting positioned or just going the opposite way, lucky

[Guest Boxhead]

yeh youve been let off, even if you get the infrindgement, however since your clean record, you could prolly write into infrindgement joint, and explain either you were in a hurry or somethin, and say it was your first time every speeding, and you have a clean record, they might let you off..

when my mum got booked her first time she did it and they let her off, the cop told her to right in and explain everythin, but she had a clean record for 20yrs.

[Ash]

Just as a point about merc drivers, i was driving my merc and got pulled over, the cop let me off with a warning and told me that if my dad knew i was hooning in his car he wouldn't have to give me a fine my dad would kill me.

[T0nyGTSt]

Tell me about the Mercs. You can do helis and figa eights in a Merc and the cops don't care.

You got lucky that time. 40 over is cancel time.

If you wanna speed, get a Merc e320 or better. You never get pulled...

T.

[Ash]

E 500 :chop:

[XCUZME]

same thing happens with me, but with my work car.

i race everyone from the lights in my rodeo ute, chirp the wheels from lights, snap seconds etc and they dont even bat any eye lid.

but as soon as i step into the 200, i become public enemy number one hahah

[MrR33]

...just a thought, and chances r, im wrong - but maybe the cop was full of it. i have a mate who's a cop, a d, and he has a very low opinion of highway to say the least. but he's also told me that most cops-not highway-if pulling u over, dont really no the rules etc.

to illustrate this point, i was told that creeping 4ward at lights (on the green) to turn right, would result ina $100 fine and 4 points by highway, and told my fine was in the mail. another time, a police officer, on foot, ran up to me when i was parking my car and told me it was a 3 point $227 dollar fine for having 'one of those damned blow off valves' - this was on a stock 33 with recirc bov.

as such, they general employ, for lack of a better term, scare tactics - sure, in this case, he had a legitimate cause for pulling you over, but in many cases this is not so. I was further told by my friend (the cop) that some guys, plain clothes general duties, are trying to get into highway, and see pulling as many ppl as possible over as their ticket in. The officer will pull u over, make up some bogus charge, fine, loss of points,, etc, and then say ' the fine is in the mail' - ie to make u nervous - it appears to have worked. i have been told to expect, in my sub 3 years on the road, in the region of 10 'fines in the mail' - still waiting for the first one to arrive...

the moral to this story/rant/waste of bandwidth is that if ever u recieve any fine/warning as described aboce, exercise due diligence on your own part - take down all details, and cover your own @ss, and, make sure you yourself are informed about rules etc.

....or just dont get caught speeding

[toby19]

Nice one MrR33...thanks

[toby19]

Benm...is your care the yellow R33 I often see on the M4?