A&Q about Lotus
Q:
I went out for my final drive of the season this afternoon before parking up my Lotus for the winter. I went to the curvy road up Bear Mountain to Perkins Memorial drive. As I ascended the mountain I was stopped by a State Police car. The cop came bounding out of his car breathlessly stating that he had followed me around several curves at top speed.He was red faced and had obviously been on a high speed chase unbeknownst to me.
The fact was that I was taking it very easy not going fast at all- just having a leisurely drive around some curvy roads. If I had been driving hard the cop would never had caught me.
So a Driving at Unsafe Speed citation for me. Thanks NY State Police! Although I have to say the cop was pretty nice despite the ticket
A:
Did you wreck? No. Did anyone else wreck? No. Then how was it unsafe?
What if we don't want to live on Planet Nerf and don't always feel the need to be safe?
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that cop is just trying to meet his month quota
does the tix say your travelling speed and the speed limit?
Driving at Unsafe Speed can also means you drive too fast. If the tix states both your travelling speed and speed limit, you should take it to the court.
A:
I was explaining how it works to a friend the other day:
You know how you see a hot chick walk by and think "I wanna hit that!"
Cope see the Elise drive past and think the exact same thing.
I get the wimpiest tickets. Once I got pulled out from between 2 SUVs towing trailers at 80mph. Which vehicle was unsafe? The one that appeared to have pre-meditated the speeding. Not the ones 2x as long and 3x as heavy.
Thankfully, no cops yet have spotted me while I was "On the cam"...that would be some sort of felony, I'm sure. (victimless felony, of course.)
A:
If he can barely catch up to you running top speed, how could you possibly go too slow? Too slow for the Elise or too slow for most cars? I would imagine that ticket is reasonable if you were holding up traffic or risk being rear-ended, but that isn't the case.
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Originally Posted by GetBoost
If he can barely catch up to you running top speed, how could you possibly go too slow? Too slow for the Elise or too slow for most cars? I would imagine that ticket is reasonable if you were holding up traffic or risk being rear-ended, but that isn't the case.
I think you missed the point - if I was going a little faster I would have lost him in the curves.I was going maybe 60 in a 40. I usually take that road at 80.
He was grinning like a kid when he came up to the car- I think he dug it. A nice guy- shame he gave me a ticket though
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I don't know about where you are, but in VA unsafe speed is actually a better ticket to get than speeding.
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the cop said he would reduce it in court to a non-points violation but it sur screwed up my afternoon drive
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I got pull over once for "unsafe" speed. I was taking a hard left turn at a green light with no trafic. But appearantly he didn't like the fact that I make the turn without slowing down. Hell, I was just trying to see how hard I can push the Elise. Anyhow, no ticket just a warning.
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That's three people on this board that all got popped near Bear Mountain.
You should have taken 218 off 9W, past West Point into Cornwall. Now that's a fun road.
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Originally Posted by Spudboy
That's three people on this board that all got popped near Bear Mountain.
You should have taken 218 off 9W, past West Point into Cornwall. Now that's a fun road.
When it's open....
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I know I am slow but it sounds like you were doing over the speed limit? I don't get it.
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I am sorry you got that ticket. Reading about other peoples tickets and some of the @rap they have to go through on a daily basis reminds me of why I stay in New Mexico. We don't have a lot going for us in this state; we usually hit the top of the bad lists (DUI for example, terrible place to raise children too), and the bottom of the good lists (can't think of one off hand, but whatever it is, we are sure to be on the bottom or close to it), but the one thing that keeps me here is the law enforcement, or lack thereof in the traffic enforcement department. I always try and keep it safe and drive safe for conditions (traffic and weather), but what I get away with here on a daily basis..........I will keep it to myself. I LOVE IT.
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was there actually a posted speed limit? There's some roads north of highway 80 on the way into downiville that have no posted limit so a vehicle navi thinks you can do 55 (the default) so you end up arriving much later becuase it's a windy hilly road.. at least when you drive a heavy vehicle.
(as a joke) Maybe you should go through there again at top speed and record the time difference and speed difference and when you get to court you can say look judge, i went back and drove top speed and did it all at 80mph so clearly at 60mph i was driving at a safe speed... not.
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"Unsafe speed" should be dependent upon road conditions and the presence or absence of other traffic, but to a larger degree vehicle type, vehicle condition, and vehicle operator's observed driving ability.
Surely someone (and likely a less skilled someone too) in an automatic-transmissioned top heavy SUV traveling at the same speeds on that road was much more "unsafe" than you were in an actual sportscar
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Does anyone feel the same as me on safe speeds through curves - that they are the same as they were in the 50's, when cars weighed 3 tons and the only tires were bias ply? Today's cars (excepting certain mega-ton SUV's), even the worst, can easily stay within the lane, brake in half the distance as the average 50's early 60's vintage cars at twice the speed?
I frequently drive US 250 between western VA and WVA. The road is really twisty, but with a perfect surface and deep banked turns. Through the twisty's the posted speed limit is often 15 to 35 mph. Even my Subura Outback is perfectly safe at 45 to 60 mph.
Speed limits should reflect the technology of today not 1955!
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I'm thinking fines should be based upon a formula that includes vehicle type/weight instead of purely "mph over the limit".
Cops clearly love to get us for as big a number as possible, so if the law worked against large vehicles more than high speeds, we might see some more SUV's pulled over. Ever seen one? Not me.
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The funny thing was I was just toodling along in my Lotus around the curves much slower then I could have been going while the cop felt he was on some kind of high speed chase. I never saw him because of the bends in the road.
I would say in terms of safety I was being really conservative. I think the cop realised this and I think thats why he says he will get me a no points violation. Which is infact fair as I was driving at an safe speed, for a Lotus that is For his POS cruiser it was probably very unsafe.
He could n't really give me a actual speeding ticket because he never got close enough to clock me.
A:
Originally Posted by cshama
The funny thing was I was just toodling along in my Lotus around the curves much slower then I could have been going while the cop felt he was on some kind of high speed chase. I never saw him because of the bends in the road.
I would say in terms of safety I was being really conservative. I think the cop realised this and I think thats why he says he will get me a no points violation. Which is infact fair as I was driving at an safe speed, for a Lotus that is For his POS cruiser it was probably very unsafe.
He could n't really give me a actual speeding ticket because he never got close enough to clock me.
I'd fight it. Say that the speed was perfectly safe and you weren't pushing it at all. Mention that all cars are different and a Lotus Elise handles a lot better than a crown vic
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This post makes me angry! The cop didn't have an objective means to tell you were speeding, so why should you get a ticket? It was his subjective opinion that you were driving unsafely, just because he couldn't keep up with you in the curves??? I live in an area that is very curvy, and I have lost cops behind me while I drove much lesser cars than my Elise...but do I deserve a ticket if I wasn't breaking the law?