Re: A Present for my critics !! Xmas Speeding Tic (archive)

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If your speedo is in fact off by 9.3%, then you were actually driving at 153 mph on the open stretch on 5.
Sasan

Yup, as Gary Cooper would say, I bit the dust to 'night radar! The story follows, to make all of you without an Xmas ticket feel wonderful....my Xmas present to you all.

I left San Diego in the CalypsoRed Chariot for Sacramento about 6pm last night, Sat. I prefer driving at night on long trips that aren't interesting to begin with. Interstate 5 is a dull and monotonous drive to say the least, especially when one has become a veteran of the trek. I drove up 15 to 91 south to 71 west (great shortcut)
to the 210 thru San Fernando to the 5 up over the grapevine and on out across the great california plain to Sacramento. Also at night there doesn't seem to be as many speed monitors in uniforms out as compared to the daytime and I can usually make very good time with a much less chance of getting hit with Radar (Yeah Right). In fact I have never even heard of a radar experience at night so usually you can be fairly safe if you use good judgment and pick your spots etc. At least this has worked for me for many years with great success.

So, since we all have so many holiday chores etc. and little time for such drival, I will fast forward through the trip which had great weather and very little traffic, in some places no traffic for miles, especially from 11pm to 1:30pm. During the trip I was able to crack 140 a couple of times and lesser extra 100 mph speeds especially during those stretches where there were no towns, no businesses, no traffic and no 'on or off' ramps etc.

So, I had a great trip, I felt great, great music through the special Alpine sound system, clear night, great roads and a magnificent car that was running perfectly. Lord what a car. So smooth, so fast, so sure, so comfortable, so damn unbelievable. So, anyway, I finally get to Sacramento at about 1:AM, a good fast trip that was very enjoyable and......So, I'm driving now in Sacramento on the 50 freeway with the traffic, I swear, well, the faster traffic :-) but truly inbetween two others cars going just slightly slower than I am going, according to my speedo which is 75 mph, which I think is the speed limit and if not then I wouldn't be more than 5 to 10 mph over which they usually don't bother you with etc.

Then I swear to the good lord above, not more than one offramp from the one I take to go to my parents house, 520 some miles and 7 hrs later was a car sitting on the side of the freeway and as I went by him I noticed he was a black and white and I immediately looked to see that my speedo was 75 so I felt safe and didn't even hit the brake ..... and then he pulled out and came directly behind me and hit the light and pulled me over. I was truly suprised, as I was going what I thought was the speed limit, after going prohibitive speeds just during the previous hours, now actually trying to be safe and proper and he pulls me over. Go figure the odds, Must be Murphey's Law!

So, anyway he walks up on the passenger side and is a nice young guy and says he is stopping me for going 82 with his radar gun!!!!! At night no less! Wow, I am amazed. Then I tried to tell him that I had recently (10 months ago) purchased the car, which had a changed aftermarket differential and that I had changed my tire size as well which I showed him and he agreed that it is probably now out of calibration........and he gave me a ticket. He told me to go get it checked by AAA and if it turned out to be wrong to get it repaired or re-calibrated, which is not very easy with this car I don't believe. So, he smiled and wished me a merry xmas (I think he really enjoyed that part of our meeting)
:-)

So, gentleman, I got what I deserved for what I did earlier, but I definitely didn't deserve the ticket I got, unless you would like to take the position that it was my responsibility to fix the calibration immediately after I bought the car. Hmmmmmm, so guilty on two counts, but still not guilty of the actual accused crime. So, I of course am going to get the calibration done and see if it is off the amount I was speeding, which may just get off in court, I'm not sure. Also I have a perfect driving record, which is ludicrous to begin with, must be pure luck, and I would like to keep it that way, so of course I can always take the traffic school option which of course can be done by computer over the e-mail or through a choice of traffic schools run on the web. Then it won't appear on my record, which will then as a result still be perfect.

But, I would still like to keep the traffic school option open for next time, like the trip to Vegas, or across the USA to New York one of these days so I will have a ticket to burn so to speak. So I am hopeful of beating the ticket on the calibration issue or on the issue of night radar attempting to pick out a car among several others all going the same direction at the same time next to each other. Hmmmmmm, interesting stuff, I may even try to get one of these specialists attorneys who can legally and properly beat these things by due process etc. Of course, now that I have admitted to the whole world that I broke the law many times on my trip home (although in a very safe manner where no one could get hurt) I may be liable by confession over the Web or Net or E-mail or.....whatever this internet access is, Lord what a big mouth!

So, Just thought I would cheer all of you up who have not gotten a ticket today and in addition give you all a fair warning that the boys in blue will be out and watching very carefully from this point on out throughout the holidays until about January 3rd or 4th I would imagine. Thank God I don't drink and drive!!!!

Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays to all you gentleman and please be careful out there!
Kurt

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