[mattbatt]

Within a few hours no less! My attitude probably should not of been 'holier than thou' as I thought to myself, "these people get what they deserve!"
I'm in my 20's, driven over 200k miles, never had a speeding ticket (that stuck) and have had my 2011 ss for a few months. I've been pulled over for various fix it tickets before (never in my SS) and am always respectful.

One speeding ticket last year occurred at night, similar place, I was clocked in my acura for 85 in a 65, but someone passed me and the CHP was in opposite lane of freeway 1,000 feet up on a hill, crossed divider pulled me over. My speedometer said 72. I fought it, petitioned for radar calibrations, CHP officer never showed up . People make mistakes, I was mad at that one, but everything worked out.

In both cases, I've never had an officer reduce the speed or even tell me why he pulled me over. They just say "sign here." That is fine, I don't ask for any leniency.

I will fight this one in court however.

On to the event:
10PM I was going down an on ramp, pretty steep like a roller coaster, that hits the freeway with a left hand merge. At the point of merge, you hit a hill.

While going down, I hit my brights just to see everything in front, knowing there are speed traps in them thar hills! haha.

Sure enough, I see a reflecting glimmer ahead of me at the end of the on ramp.

Two CHP's are down there, facing opposite ends of each other -they must be talking to one another - but they are almost in the road. My entire shoulder is taken up.

At this point, I'm at 60 mph and looking at them, half way down the on-ramp.

Now there is a hill traffic is coming down (flowing with the downward slope of the on-ramp), I look over my shoulder while merging left and see an oil tanker right in my lane. I speed up. 65, 70, he is at least going 72 off that downhill and I'm boxed in.

There are two headlights behind him.

I have two options: slam on brakes now, wait for both to pass or accelerate to get in front but also create enough distance so as the big rig does not brake or swerve, potentially causing harm to the vehicle behind him.

Remember, I have no shoulder because two CHP's are there.

This is directly from the DMV driver's handbook:

• Do not stop before merging into freeway traffic unless absolutely necessary.
• Don’t try to squeeze into a gap that’s too small. Leave yourself some room for safety.

I decide to accelerate, not jam the gas or downshift, but get safely in front.

I do, and when I look at HUD I see 75 MHP. We start climbing the hill and I'm already at 62MPH, getting ready to pull over.

Sure enough I do, I figure 10 over is not too bad, they both saw my predicament, they probably just want to check everything out, make a typical stop.

Well, he tells me: 1. 87mph (after I ask). That is hard to believe because I saw them while at 60mph, saw my HUD once I was on the freeway. Why would I speed in front of CHP's? Not happy. 2. No front license plate.

So again, I'll contest. I'm going to take pics of the scene, serve the CHP for radar calibrations and go to court.

For the fix it ticket, anyone have some advice for a front plate that won't make my car too ugly? Shameful CA laws.

Finally, what would you of done? I'm not thrilled at all with CA - smog, gun laws, traffic laws and no dialog or understanding with CHP officers. Glad he didn't ask to see my CAI!

[steeleshark2]

I would have done the same. Another thing to think about is that radar picks up the largest object generally. Having an 18 wheeler next to you can make a radar gun inaccurate. Do your research, you will find that this is true. Also, make sure you put emphasis on both police car locations and the hazard that existed with them. The judge may tear into them because of causing an unnecessary hazard.

[cab2g]

that stinks about the tickets. I got a front plate ticket and I wasn't even speeding or driving recklessly. I'd get the Altec retractable plate. It hides pretty well and as long as you're not afraid of drilling 2 5/16" holes in your bumper, you should be fine.

http://www.rpidesigns.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1672

They also have a remote controlled version...

http://www.rpidesigns.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1716

[bn1651]

You can always zip tie the plate to your lower grill, head to a police department and get it signed off. then just cut the zip ties and have no more front plate. Definitely not legal but Its a minimal fine, like $25 so its not really a big deal if you get pulled over once a year and have to do this nonsense. CA front plate laws are very annoying and this is coming from a reserve officer.

[Sir Nuke]

I personally don't care for the RPI designs one, I think the plate looks a lot cleaner CENTERED. here is a nice one......

http://jacfab.com/camprod.html

and this one is all metal, not plastic.

[skipinminn]

Here in MN if your over 100 mph you lose your DL for 6mts plus fine and a careless driving charge. :( just not worth it. << Also why I got the v6 and not the v8. I also like this little gaget you can set your speed alarm to go off when you reach the set speed. I have mine set at 70 keps me out of any kind of trouble :0 bing bing you have reached your set speed LOL Yehaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[Caspers2SSRS]

Originally Posted by skipinminn

Here in MN if your over 100 mph you lose your DL for 6mts plus fine and a careless driving charge. :( just not worth it. << Also why I got the v6 and not the v8. I also like this little gaget you can set your speed alarm to go off when you reach the set speed. I have mine set at 70 keps me out of any kind of trouble :0 bing bing you have reached your set speed LOL Yehaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Oh! The SS's will do 100 too really quickly..............teheehee

[SSE 4 2SS]

OP, I'm sorry for your frustration, but I will point out to everyone posting in ths thread, we do not tolerate bashing of Police Officers on this site.

The situation by the OP can be discussed without it or this one will be closed.

[cam9011]

this worked great for me:
http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showth...76#post4049476

it's nice and solid and no holes to drill.

[BilJ]

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73549

This works very well and is easy to do.

[MattyDaddy]

in the hopes of keeping this politically correct.. I commend your efforts to dispute the ticket and bid you good luck. However, I'm surprised that under the outlined situation you would even get pulled over(for the speeding part). Finally having the HUD I would be hard pressed to say that you didn't know you were more than 10mph faster than you thought.. there is obviously something not totally accurate here. (again, NOT taking sides). but I would really like to see if the officers are able to recollect the events more accurately than you described when you go to court.

I lived in NORcal for around 15 years and had plenty of these types of incidents. as for the front plate law.. that is one that I never quite got used to! haha... I just couldn't bear to drill into my bumpers...

[Jonny]

I don't see you getting out of this one, as much as it sucks. "I was only going 10 over" isn't going to help you. Best-case with that argument is that they reduce the ticket to 10 over and accept your guilty plea. "I shouldn't have had to stop on the acceleration ramp" isn't going to help either, because you wouldn't have had to stop; you would have just had to have slowed down (a lot). "I couldn't drive on the shoulder" isn't going to help because you're not supposed to drive on the shoulder anyway.

If you get out of this ticket, it will be for the same reason you got out of the first ticket: 'cause the cop doesn't show up in court. And, that actually seems to happen quite a bit, so maybe you'll get lucky.

All simply IMHO. YMMV. Member FDIC.

[mattbatt]

Thanks everyone for the plate advice. I am looking into it and will see what I can get.

I hope I did not come across as 'bashing' the police like the admin pointed out, however as a tax paying, law abiding American citizen with 200,000 miles under my belt, I will contest and I will let you know what happens in the next few months.

From what I have found out already, safety driving schools and the DMV handbook both point out that accelerating to keep up with traffic while merging and creating a gap as you pull into traffic is BETTER than slamming on your brakes or stopping on the on ramp.

After the ticket, the officer told me, "now accelerate aggressively and use the side of the road to get to speed as not to pull into traffic and impede others."

I chuckled because that is what I was doing in regards to the oil tanker.

And for the record, I will do this the next time it happens and the next. I for one do not feel like exploding into a fireball.

Finally, let me remind everyone that officers are here to SERVE and PROTECT, when an oil tanker is doing 70-72 MPH and impeding oncoming traffic at night while CHP is blocking the shoulder, protection is not being served.

Again, thank you for the front license plate advice, this community is wonderful.

[steveo9043]

I agree with the OP. I had a situation like this a few weeks ago. There were two cops sitting at the end of a on ramp talking to each other, made the situation extremely dangerous. I had to hit my brakes because of traffic. People behind me were not happy and I even yelled out at the officers as I drove past.

Officers are not above the law, Sitting side by side by an on ramp is dumb and reckless endangering every motorist who passes them. If anyone else were to stop in that spot cops would have a field day with them.

I am not "bashing" police officers but I am defending the law biding citizen who did what he had to to avoid a terrible situation the police officers caused.