chicago350z

Like a scene out of Goodfellas, I was being followed by a helicopter while traveling at a high rate of speed on I-35. I saw it, thought nothing of it, and continued at my hustled pace. As I approach my exit (225), I check the rearview to see 3 Austin squads with lights and sirens blazing, hauling *** behind me. I quick take the exit from the far left lane. I pull over, sweat starts pouring from face. I'm trying to think of some clever **** when three officers start slowly creeping toward the 350 with guns drawn. I'm thinking "oh ****." When they realized I wasn't Saddam Hussein, they put their guns away and told me about the heli that was "pacing me." I'm like "I'm new here. I'm kinda lost. I realized a little late that this was my exit so I had to speed up to pass the other cars." The cop says, "I don't care. You were clocked at 87 in a 60mph and it's a construction zone." I am silent. Then he says, "You were trying to run from us weren't you? You know we had that helicopter following you." To which I spout "No! I'm just new here and by the way, I have never gotten pulled over before (fingers crossed)." He was not moved.

So he gives me the citation. It has a court date on it. He also mentions I am not eligible for defensive driving school because of it being 25mph over the limit. He also threatens me with a $121 fine if I don't change my Illinois license to a Texas one in 30 days. So I'm guessing the hee haw judge will throw the book at me. Lesson learned: Don't speed on I35.

MaximumPwr

HAHAHAHA, Thank you for making me laug. That was the funniest thing I have read all day. They had a helicoptor chasing you and 3 freaking units on your *** and they clocked you at only 87 mph. And they all had there guns drawn. HAHAHAHAHAHA Okay I am in Houston and to be honest, most people down here are doing 80+ on any given freeway at any given time of the day or night. Hell on my way to work and back home I am following people doing 80+mph on a daily basis. If someone is doing 70mph everyone gets pissed and flys around them cussing. I am sorry, but that story just cracks me up. I have the most respect for the police, but that is just rediculous, no I take that back, that is just stupid. It is not like you were doing 160mph like the car is designed for. Did they think you stole the car, or did they think you just robbed a bank and were "making a break for it"? HAHAHAHAHA

mytalon

I once got pulled over by 2 cars, for having a tail light out. Then half way through the process a third unit shows up. What a waste of man power

MaximumPwr

Mytalon, you must of....... "looked suspecious" or you were driving a "suspecious vehicle". Cops love those terms. They can get away with those terms in court. By law they cannot pull you over without probable cause. Such as speeding or wreckless driving or no tags, ect ect. They have to witness you doing something illegal. At least that is the law here in Texas. So if they pull you over and you feel you were not speeding and you ask the officer why he pulled you over, if he says something along the lines of "you looked suspecious", chances are you didn't do anything wrong and he just wants to run your license for warrants. But if you end up going to court for whatever ticket or tickets he gives you, more than likely the judge will throw the case out because a cop cannot just pull you over. There is a law against it, it is called, intrapment. Most likely the officer will not even show up to court because he knows he did wrong and the case will get thrown out anyways. But man I hear that "suspecious" excuse more and more.

chicago350z

there was a slight chance i was in triple digits when the heli was in front of me. by the time the squads were behind, i was down to 87. i think because i took the exit so fast, and from the far left lane, they thought i was making a run for it. but yes, it was a waste of manpower. the funniest part of it was when they were tip-toeing their way to the car. their backs were to my car and they were bent over all close to it, as if ten guys were going to bust out of it and throw down with them! yeah that pretty much frosted my cookies for the day.

MaximumPwr

HAHAHA, Just keep your hands on the steering wheel.

chicago350z

trust me, they were!
but yeah, in all seriousness, in chicago you can get away with 15-20mph over. you really have to being doing something stupid or drive a real P.O.S. to get pulled over. I'm going to take it easy until I switch my tags to Texas ones.

Alev

Texas. They always have to do things differently. Your story cracked me up! I lived in Houston for 18 years, so aside from watching out for Smokey, the best advice I can give you is make sure your A/C works. I sure don't miss the humidity, I can tell you that much. "Guns drawn"... that's ridiculous...

TereP

LOL... good story! I see the key to the massive response! You had those "damn Yankee" plates! Get Tejas plates and they'll leave ya alone! When I lived the Georgia, just off I-75, you could go 100mph with impunity as long as you had GA plates, but woe be unto you if you tried to do 5 over with NY plates!

It's even better if you learn to speak with the good ol' drawl...

guerojo

That's greatness. Here in dallas on the north part of the tollway everyone drives 80+++. I actually think a cop will pull you over for not driving with the flow of the traffic. Most of the time I'm hitting 90 as my usual drive pace. Dont feel bad, in little towns in Texas, when one cop pulls you over all the rest of the cops in that town come over to "BACK HIM UP". over aspeeding ticket. GOOSSHHHHH DARRRRNNN im still laughing.

mf01

When I moved down here I got pulled over for 63 on I35 and cars where passing me. It was out by Round Rock on the way into Austin. I had an Illinois license plate at the time and he probably thought I was suspicious. He said I was in a construction zone that was 55. He ran my stuff through and let me go. Cops here are suspicious of out of state plates I guess.

toykilla

iTrader: (1)

I got clocked doing 101 in a 60 zone. Cop was laughing about it when he showed me the radar and I quote him: "Looks like you're the winner today buddy ! "

Wrote me a ticket and sent me on my way.

BTW, that ticket was two years ago and never appeared on my record ??? Beats me!


Just depends on the attitude of the cop. Some are cool and some or biotches

mytalon

I was helping my friend move from California to Florida. I was driving through texas and got clocked going 65 in a 65. The cop pulled me over about 15 minutes down the road from when I saw him and said that He got me doing 65 in a 55 that at dusk the limit drops to 55. I told him that when he clocked me 15 minutes before that it was not dusk, that he had waited to pull me over until it was dusk. He then made me go sit in his car asked me questions about all the stuff in the car (cloths, lights, silverware ect ect). Then he asked to search the car. I said sure. So Officer Stoner search the car for drugs, and weapons. Then let us go with a verbal warning. I swear he only pulledd us because the car had california plates. Because it was not dusk yet and I was not speeding.

I did find it funny that Officer Stoner search our car for drugs.

z_brit

You definitely can't get away with driving as fast in Austin as in Houston or Dallas.

From my past experience it seems as though the magic number for them is anything over 75 on a 65 zone on roads like 183 or MoPac.

On I35 they'll pull you over for anything over 80 in a 70 zone, and over 70 on the 55 zones.

I have some experience in these matters having been pulled over for speeding on my second day in this country on I35 in San Antonio.

Luckily, I've been let off with a warning more than half the times I've been pulled over, which I suppose has something to do with being incredibly polite and "English" to the cop pulling me over.

Going back to possible reasons why a IL plate would be pulled over on I35. Remember that I35 is the primary route for drugs coming up from Mexico to the north of the country. Cops are always looking for suspicious cars on I35 for drug busts.

ScottC

The cops are reading this right now

ScottC

Before you ask...NO I'm not a cop.

chicago350z

...and your point? i'm still going to pay out the *** and get spanked!

z_brit

Were there workers present in the contruction zone? If not then they should not have ticketed you for that. Good one to know especially if you wanted to challenge it in court.

ScottC

No point, just reading your post and thinking that it would be amusing if one of those cops were reading it.

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I've been there, it sucks!

Relax-this is Austin, fools drive slow here

Trackbite

z_brit, I must be damn lucky. I've lived in the North Austin area for 3 years and never gotten a speeding ticket (knock on wood). I'm usually cruising the fast lane at 85 MPH. My fastest run was on I-35 going North from Airport. 155 MPH. Same stretch of road I hit 161 MPH on my Yamaha R6. I'm sure I just jinx'd myself.