Modern Vespa

So a month or so ago I was pulled over and ticketed in a residential neighborhood at the BOTTOM of a steep hill for...

DOING 40MPH IN A 35MPH ZONE!!!!

I found out that here in Suckville(also known as Knoxville TN), you apparently have to pay court costs/fees EVEN if you mail your payment in/drop it off. My fine was 10$, THE COURT FEE IS 96$!!! It gets worse...

So I decide to go the court and beg for leniency. I'm told by the court clerk to just tell the judge about my clean record and metion that I don't want any points and I should be "fine". The judge dismisses my $10 fine(He's not allowed to dismiss the court fee!), and says I won't get any points on my record BUT...

PUTS ME ON 30 DAYS PROBATION!!!

For 5mph?!!! What a joke! This means I won't be "risking" any rides to rallies and the Dragon for sure....pigland over there...

I am actually riding from TX to TN for Tail of the Dragon the week after 9/11. Are the TN cops pretty strict, in general, about speeding? Also, are they known to pull motorists with out-of-state plates over (for no reasons)?
In TX, on the back of the ticket, it clearly "implies" that you're safe if you don't go over 10% of the posted speed limit.
Appreciate your timely feedback, thanks!

Calibrate your speedo and stay within posted limits if less than National Speed Limit.

I have to say, here we are normally ignored if only over by 10% plus 2mph. So 35 in a 30 OK, 36 bad.

Is that from your empirical data, or is that a considered common fact in UK?

Considered common fact. Not law though...

I hate to tell you this, but the real reason you were pulled over was because the policeman wanted to see your K.I.T.T. 500! 8)

If you had brought it into the courtroom, the Judge would have upped the probation.

Soooo sorry! That really sucks!

I've been all over the country and each state has their good and DUMBASS rules and laws. Some are hysterical. When I lived in Florida in 84 one county next to where I was was dry. The very next county you could legally drink & drive with one open container per person.
I'll take a 40 to go.

Probably. The really dumb thing was that after I got the ticket the cop said, "I'm actually glad you were speeding...I wanted to check out your bike." I really thought about bringing this up in court, but it seemed like a very cop friendly environment that wouldn't have liked what I was implying. Plus I woulda had to reveal my true identity as Luthor Knight!

Yeah, he probably thought you were the Hoff and was fishing for an autograph. When he found out that you were just you, he got ticked and give you a ticket.

-nub

That sounds like the asshole cops here in Mt. Pleasant SC. I was pulled over for turning to fast on to the street i live on. All i got was a warning but still who pulls people over for turning at 15MPH. They are just fucking retarded!!!

I would have gone to court and fought that one. As long as you were doing under 25 MPH and maintaining control you are not breaking the law. That Cop was an Ass Wipe.

Wayne B

Yes he was, an asswhipe and the peice of shit that comes with it...lol

Luthorhuss - was the probation actually "probation before judgement"? In many states this is the only way the judge can get a guilty plea or minor judgement removed from your record. PBJ simply states that the incident is removed from your record without any effect if you have no further citations during the probation period.

I had an expired tag in MD last year. I got PBJ and when I moved to FL recently and told the underwriter about it they said it was not on my record.

It use to be, as long as you pay the fine on time, Md. would not forward info to other states or the insurance company's, if you are from out of state. Their way of getting you to pay the fine. Not sure if this is still true.

Wayne B

Dude, chill on the cop bashing.

I don't think he meant he was an asswipe because he was a cop. I think he meant he was an asswipe because he was an asswipe.

Sorry, in my book, giving a ticket for 5 MPH over speed limit is being an ASS, who can diny this? I do not like the Pig comment that was made, but this guy in general, cop or not is an ASSWIPE!!! If you don't have better things to do than write tickets for 5 MPH over the speed limit, the town can reduce it 's force by a few and save money

Wayne B

I'll say this just to be ornery, I've seen Luthorhuss and how he likes to ride KITT. How do you know that he wasn't going faster and the cop did him a favor by writing the ticket down? Ahhhh, we who are so quick to judge.

There, did I start a fight?

oooOOOOOOooooooooo....that's true.
Luthorhuss never did say if he was going up or down the hill.

He was probably doing like 70 until he started his way up at the base of the hill and it slowed him down....

Shame on you Luthorhuss...
Bad boy.

Luthorhuss, I think you already nearly eliminated your probability of getting stopped. Before your KITT conversion you rode a red MP3 and everyone knows that red vehicles are more likely to be stopped. Just ask my wife. She insists she did not drive her red Nissan convertible faster but the cops just focused on red more giving her the tickets.

True, this did happen when my bike was red. Now I won't be pulled over in the stealth mode of KITT ....at least not until I light up the road with my flashing red illegal front light scanner !

Instead of busting you for 5 mph over, it would be better to go out to the faster roads around here where doing 80 in a 55 is the norm, so its your choice to chance a ticket or just be run over when you ride there.
I think it is mostly about revenues anyway.
My wife got a 5 mile over ticket and we figured with the insurance increases that caused, we spent close to $1000 bucks over the next few years--OUCH!
From that I learned you should hire the sleaze lawyers in the phone book who do nothing but get you off from tickets for a couple hundred bucks.
Way, way cheaper.

Maybe we should take our scooters to the racetracks, ... if we just wanna go faster.

Next time claim you have dyslexia and you thought the speed limit was 53.

(Old Steven Wright joke)

Luckily insurance companies here take no notice of a single speeding conviction when assessing premiums - but it does have to be declared.

Not had one in over thirty years though - bugger that's torn it...