Stupid Me... I was in the left lane behind 3 cars going pretty slow. I looked and saw one of the cars was a official cruiser, apparently an unmarked car. We have so many government vehicles and so out of it today it didn't trigger me to not do something stupid. So I passed them on the right, and then got back into the left lane... WHEE WHOO WHEE WHOO... ****ing A... blue lights... took me a while to pull over because the cop was so close on my *** I didn't think he was going to let me pull off to the right. So I pull over turn off the bike, and start to take my gloves off and everything, and he blares GET OFF THE BIKE NOW! Guy was just livid... So at this point I'm a bit miffed, Didn't think I really did much wrong, wasn't going that fast as I passed them, so I asked what I had done. And he asked the obvious question "do you know how fast you were going?" And I was like, not really, 60-65? (it's a 55 road), everybody does 80. I stupidly asked if he had clocked me... so he takes my license and registration, looks the bike over and I asked him if he was looking for anything, and he was like NO, I'm done... 5-10 minutes later, he comes back with a reckless ticket, and I'm like WTF, (not really, didn't say anything). Tried to get a little sympathy because there are almost 3 or 4 accidents as we waited by the side of the road, and how dangerous it is to be on a bike. But he's a hater, and I just tried to get him talking yada yada about whatever, repercussions, and anything to at least make a connection, but the guy is a complete dick, "those kinds of bikes" and "Wind it up" were his favorite terms... God damn stupid high and mighty off duty county sheriff, no empathy... I've seen some really stupid riding, and done some, but this was like WTF are you complaining about, you were going slow in the left lane so I passed you on the right... I'm just coming home from work, people are going 80 all around me... I'm not saying what I did is right, but I think people should be ticketed for going slow in the left lane which make people do stupid things.

/Rant Off...

Haven't had a ticket in more than 2 years in a car, and never on a bike (riding ~6 months), going to plead no contest unless somebody thinks the judge is going to throw the book at me.

Be Kind, I don't need anyone else telling me I'm stupid, I know enough myself it was stupid, I just wanted to get that off my chest...

 

Not much you can do if the cop shows in court. Good luck.

MDFF

 

i say goto court tell the judge guilty with explanation.. go talk to the DA explain the situation, the circumstances and hope fo rthe best. usually a da will plead down the charges just to make it go away. if you feel like th eda doesnt give you a fair deal you can always go back in tell the judge not guilty and that you request a court date which is usually up to 1 month later. when that happesn the officer has to show up if they dont then the case is dismissed. if they do sho wup however then you must prove why what you did wasnt wrong . good luck. im curious though what did you mean "passed him on the right"?

 

THanks for the advice, it is appreciated.

There were 3 cars backed up in the left hand lane going the speed limit, 55. Most people go 80 on this road the whole way, and it's dark and dangerous. I came up to these people on the left, and passed on the right, got out in front and then got back in the left lane. The cop said I was going 93mph, which is insane, no way I went from 55 to 93 in the time it took to pass 3 cars... maybe HE had to go 93 to catch up to me, but I didn't break 70. I am pretty sure he was just pissed that I didn't respect him and passed him when 2 other cars were going really slow because of him. It was my mistake to not take an unmarked cruiser with lights seriously.

I think I will try and plead not guilty, and basically plead that I was trying to NOT get caught with other people slamming on their brakes and then passing me on the right. I tried to explain my theory of defensive driving is to stay as far away from other cars as possible within reason of course. But that didn't go very far, he took me for a speed demon. And I won't pretend I don't like to go fast, but I would say 90% of the time I am driving just like I would drive my car, which is pretty benign.

Now the cop said he had his video camera turned on, and was going to use his "calibrated spedometer" and points on the road to calculate the speed I was going. I just don't see how an unmarked police car, with a off duty (no uniform or anything) officer had his video camera running, nor is he going to be able to find points to estimate the speed... I think he's bluffing, because when he pulled me over he was like 10 feet from me and it took me a good minute to pull over because I wasn't sure he wasn't going to hit me he was that close!

 

sorry for asking this but.. so you were in the left lane 3 car in front of you pulled back out onto normal traffic passed the 3 cars got in front of them and he pulled you over ? or when you mean passed on the right you rode in the shoulder or something like that ? im curious because from the way it sounds to me you didnt do anything wrong ... what state are you in anyways ?

 

Oh no, it was totally legit, like only thing he could have really given me was a ticket for 10-15 over... Imagine the most normal seeming thing ever to anyone stuck behind slow cars in the left lane, and that was it.

4 lane divided highway, (2 each way), 3 cars in the left lane, nobody in the right lane for a long while, plenty of open space ahead in both lanes. The last car of the 3 in the left lane was the cop. I pulled into the right lane, sped up to pass, and got in front of the 3 of them. I got way out in front of them, and the cop got pissed apparently and went around them also like I did and pulled me over after he caught up.

I'm in Virginia, it was on I-66 around 6pm this evening, coming out of DC if that means anything to anyone.

I've been riding the bike to work everyday for the last 3 months, never had any problems, never seen a cop except once sort of...

 

take it to court for sure and tell that exact story. if you passed legally on an inside lane then he should have only been able to give you a ticket for speeding. And then ask for proof of video of the reckless driving. Good luck man

 

damn bro now that you told me that you should deffinetly go into court and say NOT GUILTY ! you didnt do **** wrong especially reckless . unless ofc circumstances would dictate otherwise (rain, high traffic, fog.. etc) then your speeding could be deemed reckless but from the way you tell it you should deffinmetly be able to get it dismissed or atleast knocked down to a simple speeding ticket ! damn that cop was probably just having a messed up day and wanted to be a dick to you. i didnt think a off duty cop could issue a citation i thought they could hold you and wait for a on duty unit.

 

Yeah I was reading elsewhere that it appears they can give a ticket, whenever they feel, but it probably varies by jurisdiction. I'm not going to challenge that he was able to give me a ticket, but can I request a copy of the video before the court date? Or just ask for it on the court date?

Yeah, I don't get the reckless part, but I already called him out that he couldn't give a speeding ticket, so all he could do is give a reckless and I think that pissed him off even more. Yeah, it wasn't "nice" but it wasn't reckless either... But the cop is going to say 93 mph, but I'm going to say 65, and the judge is going to wonder why there is such a discrepency... oh well, guess that's all I can do is wait and hope

 

What a ********. Doesn't sound like you did anything wrong, except speeding to get by, but it's not that big of a deal. Sounds like he's pissed at you because the other cars were following him and you disrespected his authority by passing. You probably would've got pulled over for even crawling past him slightly faster.