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@hennible I did want to mention..that yes, even though we all like eating Muscovy the best, we find the killing of Muscovy the hardest. They are just way too cute, especially their wagging tails. We do it as fast as possible, toss the head away, and then we are all fine.
 
I am a good driver and have never had a ticket except a fix it ticket. But I have come close a time or two. I have had nothing but good experiences with cops.

One night I was coming home from a lecture all excited to tell my folks about it.... Doing 90 miles per hour in a 45 zone at 1:00 am in the morning.... I knew there was a light coming up so down shifted.... several times without using the breaks.... I came to a smooth stop at the light no squeels and behind the limit line. In some cases that woudl be do not pas go right to jail or a bizillian dollars speeding ticket.

Light turned green and the car behind me lit up... OH Dang... not my words exactly.... I pulled over. the cop came up to my door and asked me if I knew why he had pulled me over. I said "Probably for speeding?" He paused and said "I had you spot on for 80 when I saw you... But DAng when I went to lock down the radar on the dash it fell off..." "Where were you going?" I told him to my folks around the corner... He looked at my liscense... and stepped back to look at me... same address. I SWEARTOGOD he looked just like Harpo Marx. I suppressed a giggle... then he asks me... "Did you go to Santana?" OMG... Yep we knew many of the same people...

He gave me a warning... whew.

Then fast forward to about ten years ago when I was trying to commute from my house to town to work.... 60 miles one direction. I was in my Dodge Cummins one ton.... Heading for home and tired. Now Dodge isnt my favorite Automaker.... but I needed the engine... How a company can put a 500 thousand mile engine in a 70 thousand mile body escapes me... But the bed on the truck is kind of loosy goosy and I had a very difficult time keeping tail lights on it.... They would literally blow off on the free way.... I tried string I tried duct tape I tried wiring them on.... what ever I did would eventually fail..... this was one of those times.


I was heading past Sunrise highway under pass and the down grade is about three miles... its easy to get going too fast there so I had cruise control set at 70. I was flying down the hill passin up other vehicles when I passed a CHP... I knew the tail light was gone when I left town so I was afraid to put on the breaks because he might see it was missing.... wrong choice. He pulled me over.

Of course the question.... do you know why I pulled you over.... I said "my Tail light?" LOL he hadnt even noticed that. He had to step back and look at the back of the truck. I got out too. and showed him how the bed was broken and explained why the lights wouldnt stay on... "Actually I pulled you over for doing 80" I said.... "Oh Mannn that means my odometer is wrong... I need to get that fixed. I had the cruise control set to seventy." He looked at the tires and nodded then gave me a fixit ticket for the tail light.

Whew.... when I took the truck in the shop he said the tires on the truck were oversized thats why the Odometer was wrong. He changed the gears on it for me so that I will always be under by a mile an hour or two.

deb
 
Wisher, exactly why I wanted your point of view. It's easy to bash something when there's no one to defend it. A lot better to get an educated viewpoint as well.

I've gotten two speeding tickets during my life (and one from a camera), I think the cops were very surprised when I was so supportive of them punishing me for my wrongdoings. But I believe you should always try to take advantage of situations, but when you do get caught red handed, you should also admit it. No point in arguing that I was speeding, they were only doing their jobs.
 
Everyone says women get fewer tickets for cuteness.
I've had good experiences with cops. Probably fewer tickets than I deserved. Of course, I am white.
The nicest highway patrolman I've met was in Mississippi. I was definitely speeding at about 11 PM on a straight 2 lane blacktop in the middle of nowhere with no other cars in sight.. I had a radar detector, saw a car top the far hill approaching me and I wondered, "could that be a cop?" When he was about 100 feet in front of me, my radar detector went ballistic. He waited till the last second to turn his radar on. I pulled over and up to the car walked the tallest black man I've ever seen in my life. He asked where I was going in such a hurry, told me they didn't drive like that down there, asked if I had been drinking or if I was doing anything I shouldn't be doing. I laid all the yes sirs and no sirs on him the whole way and he let me go.
 
There were a couple of times that being a woman got me out of a ticket, but other times I think it had more to do with the fact that I sped by the radar, knew I was caught, pulled over before they even moved, got off bike and took helmet off... even had a couple ask why I didn't run.

-Kathy
 
..., but when you do get caught red handed, you should also admit it. No point in arguing that I was speeding, they were only doing their jobs.
I agree. If I ever got a ticket, I figured I was at fault and didn't fight it. About 20 years ago we moved to an area in the midst of several of these little one horse towns that get the bulk of revenue from tickets - all contiguous with one another. I hadn't had a ticket in over 20 years. As soon as we moved, I started getting tickets and was on the brink of losing my license. I worked from 5PM to 4AM. I always got the tickets going to and from work. I had an old junk car. I would let it pick up speed going down hill so I knew I could make it to the top of the next hill. That was part of the problem. Returning from work one night I was following a coworker that had lived in the town for 30 years. He lived about 3 blocks from me. I couldn't keep up with him. He ran red lights, stop signs and sped the whole way. I made a left turn on my street through a yellow light at 4:30 AM. The lady cop that gave me the ticket and I were the only cars on the road. I asked my friend how many tickets he had gotten since he lived there and he said, "none". I don't get it.
I told my nephew about the recent spate of tickets and that if I got one more I'd lose my license. He said, "I get tickets all the time but I don't have any points on my license."
I was so naïve and appalled because I thought if you did the crime you should have to face the music. He said he always gets his tickets fixed. Something I hadn't considered previously. I got an attorney. The attorney asked where I got the ticket and I said, "Charlack". He said, "No problem, their prosecutor was a partner in our law firm."

Did I say the system isn't fair?
 
I am with wisher on tickets. You get one you deserve it.

You need to experience driving on our island. Many people, including cops fudged their driving tests with undercounter "fees". Take Bernie for example. He cannot read. The driving test is also in English and most people can't read English week enough to pass a test. He has a professional drivers license!!!

The roads are a mess. Nobody enforces rules and most people don't know them anyway. Add to that no mirrors on most motorcycles, people driving without lights at night, and the habit of not looking for traffic until you are 30% through a turn or out onto the road as a pedestrian and you have to be 100% alert 100% of the time.

The only tickets given are by the LTO who have checkpoints for registration and licenses. They are normally on Friday and Saturday to fund the enforcers weekends in bribes.

I have been stopped for an illegal turn in Manila. The cop was waiting for a bribe. I told him it's a felony to bribe a cop so give me a ticket or leave. He left.
 

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