Never miss an opportunity to keep your mouth shut

This last weekend the wife & I drove 50 miles north of here and looked at a mobile home park that's for sale. It is three trailers on an acre & a half of land. Our nephew is perhaps looking for this sort of thing. Live in one, rent the other two. And, it was just a good Sunday drive. We had no more than left headed back when I drove into a radar trap. He got me doing 55 in a 40. Ouch! I thought it was a 45. Shoulda been. Anyway, the officer asked what we were doing up in the area. I told him & he asked "What real estate agent?" I said "Dewitt". Dewitt is the one and only agent in the area. He went to his car with my license & came back with a big ol' yellow ticket .... a written warning! *phew!* He said "Seeing as you're not familiar with the area I'm going to give you a break, but if you move into the area, watch your speed". Now is when I chose to not mention that for 30 years we have spent time at a summer cottage 9 miles north of there, nor did I mention that my wife was born & raised 8 miles south of there! I politely thanked him for his generosity & wished him a good day. The words danced in my head... "Never miss an opportunity to keep your mouth shut."

So it's true, some of us do get wiser as we get older

A lesson I learned in the military. Just answer the question.

Or ask the question, like hello officer why did you pull me over..

http://flexyourrights.org/

....or as any lawyer will tell yah: I don't ask any questions I don't already know the answers to! Yes, no, I don't recall........

I had a bad day at work once, sick of housepainting, sick of the low paying boss, fell off a ladder when I put my foot on a rotten tree stump. Came home on a road that I had ALWAYS been careful on; got pulled over. I told the cop to SHOOT ME IN THE HEAD. Looked right at the kid. He let me go.

Got a ticket in my Fiat 124 once, for non-inspection, I had been dying to drive it after so much restoration. I did not say a word to the cop. Not a word. Coming home that night, I got pulled over again. I freaked out and was flailing my arms all around the red convertible. I said to the cop, " How many ***king tickets are you gonna give me today!!!!" He calmed me down and ended up interested in the car and we chatted for a while.

I was in the GMC on the way to work in the morning when I got cut off in front of a huge car dealership by a yuppie test driving a new mini-van. He ran me off the road and my bumper put a tiny ding in the fender of his new minivan. I was dressed in rags for housepainting, he was in a suit. A yardman that saw it all refused to get involved. The yuppie called the cops. They pulled into the lot, immediately took the side of the well dressed guy. I told the cop the guy just ran me off the road.
The cop got mean and said, "Watch your attitude!" I got right up in his face and said, "I'm not the one with the attitude, you're the one with the attitude!!"
No tickets were issued.

I was going down RT22, was supposed to see Roger Waters do Dark Side of the Moon at MSG that night. Got railroaded at a roadblock "Mobile NJ State Inspection".
I had a cracked windshield and an overdue inspection. I mouthed off the the cops and they were all urban tough guys. They impounded my Jimmy! Cost me over a couple hundred bucks that day! Missed the concert.

I better repeat the title of Freddy's post over and over tonight until it sinks in.....

We have a common ancestor Dan.

Kevin

In my young 20's , I had one of the jap rice burning motorcycles, and a friend had a crotch rocket. He was pulled over by a state cop doing over 55 in a 35 and left him go. The officer told him most guys on that type of bike would of ran, and most would out run him so he just received a warning. He didn't tell the officer it was only a 250 cc engine and him being over 250 lbs. , he would of never been able to out run him.

When my daughter was learning to ride on two wheels, she fell and bonked her head pretty good. Then she started acting a little strange and scared the hell out of me. I put her in my truck, put the 4 ways on and headed straight for the hospital. When I eased through a red light, I noticed the cop about 100 yards ahead saw me and jumped in his car. I figured he would have to chase me the next 1.5 miles to the ER, then he could write all the tickets he wanted. Instead, he put his lights on and got in front of me and we flew through town the rest of the way to the hospital. Once there, he even parked my truck, came in and made sure were were okay. He told me later that it was obvious where I was going and no amount of sirens and lights would stop someone in that situation so he just figured he would make it safer and easier for everyone involved. I know a lot of cops and most will tell you that unless you do something REALLY stupid, getting a ticket is up to you and your attitude.

My daughter was fine, a mild concussion. I think it scared me more than her.

Sounds like that common sense concept to me saragnac Our guys are pretty good around here also.

saragnac wrote:..... I know a lot of cops and most will tell you that unless you do something REALLY stupid, getting a ticket is up to you and your attitude. .....

You obviously have never been to Massachusetts.

I got nailed on 80 driving home from Harry's-U-Pull-It in Pa. I was running an open exhaust on the Neon and was doing around 90 in a 65. I saw the cop in the median as I blew by. It had been snowing for a good twenty minutes and wanted to beat it home. I figured I was nailed so about a mile down the road I pulled over put my flashers on and got my stuff ready. He pulled up behind me and walked up to the window and the first thing he said to me was, 'I heard you coming from a mile away. I had take a double look because I swore you were a truck.'

'No, sir. Just a Neon.'

'If you had just tapped your brakes and showed me that you saw me I would've let you go.'

'Well sir, I was speeding trying to beat the snow home and figured you had me regardless. Could you write my ticket so I could go home before the snow gets bad?'

He wrote me the ticket, told me to slow down and have a nice day. I'm retry sure if I hadn't asked for the ticket he would've still let me go. He was still a pretty cool cop though, we discussed the weather and what-not.

Not like the other time I got nailed on 80 is Harrisburg and the cop was screaming, 'I AM NOT YOU *censored* PACE CAR!' As he was walking up to my window. To which I replied, 'You're just pissed my car can keep up with your cruiser.'

I'm On Fire wrote:I was running an open exhaust on the Neon and was doing around 90 in a 65. I saw the cop in the median as I blew by. It had been snowing for a good twenty minutes and wanted to beat it home.

I'm On Fire wrote:'If you had just tapped your brakes and showed me that you saw me I would've let you go.'

At the risk of sounding like a grouch, I must say that if the cop would have sat back and let you go by he wasn't doing his job. Driving 90 in a snowstorm sounds pretty stupid to me, and is a great way to put innocent people on the road at risk.

The other thing that struck me as odd is why would you want to drive a Neon with no exhaust? I have seen them in action in the "bumble bee" class at the demolition derby...I think the kazoo-like noise would give me a headache in less than a mile.

Rob R. wrote:

I'm On Fire wrote:I was running an open exhaust on the Neon and was doing around 90 in a 65. I saw the cop in the median as I blew by. It had been snowing for a good twenty minutes and wanted to beat it home.

I'm On Fire wrote:'If you had just tapped your brakes and showed me that you saw me I would've let you go.'

At the risk of sounding like a grouch, I must say that if the cop would have sat back and let you go by he wasn't doing his job. Driving 90 in a snowstorm sounds pretty stupid to me, and is a great way to put innocent people on the road at risk.

The other thing that struck me as odd is why would you want to drive a Neon with no exhaust? I have seen them in action in the "bumble bee" class at the demolition derby...I think the kazoo-like noise would give me a headache in less than a mile.

There was no snow on the road yet, just in the grassy areas. Plus I was in my early 20's so I was still in my 'I'm invincible' stage.

Did you know that when you strap a Turbo to a car it's tone changes? It didn't sound like a "bumble bee" it had a deeper tone. It didn't sound like a v8 by any stretch but it didn't sound "tin canned".

Rob R. wrote: I have seen them in action in the "bumble bee" class at the demolition derby...I think the kazoo-like noise would give me a headache in less than a mile.

I think the sould is more like a weed eater going up the highway I have to snicker a little when I see a bunch of kids hanging out at night at a gas station with their hoods open, I often felt like asking where they wind up the rubber band ? Not like when I was young with the chevelles, novas and such. Put a new muffler on the little buzz bombs and they'll add 200hp. Mufflers that are bigger then their engine