Gates County NC speed trap and Racket

[TritonGlenn]

Coming back home from Chowan River the other day (Shoups Landing), I had a bit of a problem. Let me start by saying I was upset at first, accepting of my responsibility a few seconds later, humored an hour later, suspicious a short time after that, angry again by nightfall, and pretty dang furious today. Here is my story.



I finished up at the ramp, and started driving home. I made a right onto Hwy 13, and started proceeding towards home. I came across a vehicle a short time afterwards, headed the same direction. This jack*** was driving his car 55mph, then slowing down to 45, then speeding up, then slowing down, constantly looking around, oblivious to the cars behind him. So, I turn on my blinker, speed up to pass him, and as I do, I note that he caught sight of me and had a "I don't think so" attitude - speeding up also.



Now, I know, deep down in my heart, that I am wrong here - I should have just faded back behind him, and (hoped) he maintained the 55mph speed limit afterwards. However, it's a bit hard to determine who is behind you, or has slipped up into the lane you were previously in when you are towing a boat, so I did something else. I floored the truck, and passed him. When I merged back into the lane, I realized I had speed up quite a bit to get past this jack***, so I started slowing down again. Right at that time, there just so happens to be a State Highway Patrol car coming the opposite direction. He turns around, hits his lights and pulls me over. Within seconds of pulling over, another unmarked car (white Dodge Charger) pulls in behind us.



I explain that I had just passed another vehicle that was speeding up / slowing down, and that he had speed up to keep me from passing, etc... and the officer looked like he could care less. He had this look on his face like everything I was saying, he already knew. All he said was "That doesn't give you an excuse to speed. You still need to maintain the speed limit". OK. I understand. I'm not happy about it, but if I'm wrong, I'm wrong, and I'll just accept it. But then he comes back to my truck and gives me the computer printed out ticket. Here is where it gets very interesting.



The "Fine / Penalty" for 69 in a 55mph zone is - get this - $30. However, the COURT COSTS is $120!!! Then he tells me this - "If you want to come to court, I will work with you on the speed". I then ask him "So, I'll still have to pay the court costs of $120, but you will work with me on the $30 fine if I spend $60 in gas and part of my day to come to court??? Without missing a beat, he recommends that I "hire an attorney" to come to my case. Again, I repeat, "for a $30 fine that I will still have to pay the $120 court costs for???" Again - it's like I'm talking to a brick wall.



So, I leave, not too happy, but more accepting of everything. My very first "Good Driving Certificate" in over 8 years. As I speak to my wife about it, she mentions that it's probably the "only way the little town makes money". Hmmm... ok, now I'm starting to get annoyed again. My wife put a thought in my mind that it was "convenient" that the guy in the car doing 45-55-45 speed up to cause me to accellerate, just as I was approaching the officer. Naw. Couldn't be, could it? Not a speed trap with an entraping third party - that's illegal and immoral, right? Although I didn't want to believe that, it stuck in my mind, and I was pretty upset for the rest of the night.



THEN - today got me piping mad. Check THIS out.... It hasn't even been 3 working days since I got my ticket, and I receive a buttload of mail today at my home address, where my wife is right now - in TX. The mail is from several NC attorney's, wanting to "represent me in Gates County NC due to my recent 69 in a 55 speeding ticket"!!!! What kind of bull**** is this???!!! Gates County is running a racket here - not only do I seriously think they have a speed trap going on Hwy 13 in Gates County to raise

 

[Larry Gregan]

I am truly sorry to read what happened to you but "stuff" like that goes on probably too often. I just retired after twenty six years as a state trooper and I can asure you that what you experienced is not the norm. During my years in the military I experienced "injustice" from police officers a couple of times. Maybe because I had out of state plates, maybe because I was in the military (in the 70's when it wasn't too popular), maybe that officer was having a lousy day, who knows. The vast majority of law enforcement people I have met in my career are good and just people. I have seen the questionable ones though and they do exist. I don't think I would go as far to say that you were "set up" by a decoy car but they do play by a different set of rules in the south. If there are no "points" involved I would let it go because I get the feeling if you go to court you might get even more upset.

 

[Brian Ingersoll]

I don't understand why you would have to pay court costs if you're mailing in the fine and not going to court? The last ticket I got here in Memphis, you paid the fine if you mailed it, and only had to pay court costs if you went to court to fight it.

 

[Bill McElroy]

There's a certain cop in Troy, MI. that goes by the name "Smitty",.........it's been rumored that he'll let you go with a warning for speeding, if you slip him a bag of power baits and a list of Mini's way-points! (Even GOOD cops have a price!)

 

[Tim King]

The bad thing about court costs is usually very little actually goes to the municipality that is collecting the fine. When I was an LEO, the municipal court got like $10-$15 of the whole thing. I asked our court clerk about it one day and she said that the state actually gets most of it! She said it sucked, because there was a lot of paperwork she had to do to file the ticket,fine and then send it all away. She said that all the prosecuting attorney could wave is the actual fine and the judge could wave the city's part of the court cost and then they would actually be doing it for free, but they still had to send the state their part. So I saved her lot of work and mostly handed out warnings!! Good thing you weren't in Kansas Glenn, 69 in a 55 would have cost you around $250-$300!!



Tim

 

[Aroldo Hernandez]

Well Glenn I have some more good new's for Zapata ppl know that you will be moving to Texas. On ur route from Laredo too Zapata which is a 45 minute drive of 70 then half way it drop's to 65 then you get all this up and down little hills that you can't see who is coming agains't you. My compadre went to Zapata yesterday and saw 5 dps and some local sheriff's working the wighway. I also saw about 8 dps all stopping south traffic to Zapata. Unless they were looking for someone. ........ Welcome too Texas....keep ur eye's open there is alot of law crusing this small route and the only route to get too Falcon.

 

[Mini]

No wonder there arent any fish left on those spots! Thats ok, for smitty...its all good.



If you are serious about never going back, dont pay it. And NEVER go back.



Or try the old "overpay" system to keep it off your record.



I wouldnt doubt that attorney's have interns that scan any and all public information for possible clients.

 

[Texas Transplant]

I got one in the town that I live in, last fall. Deferred adjudication, but still had to pay court costs of around $100.00. Regardless.



Tex

 

[Edward Lea.]

Got it for 65 in a 55 a few weeks back. 20.00 fine, 50.00 court costs(that really sucks) then there was a 9.00 felony fee whatever the hell that was.

 

[Aroldo Hernandez]

If ur going to be speeding to it like I do. Go too Old Mexico and hall A$$. If you get stopped just have a $20 bill on ur ash tray. The officer will get inside ur car for a small chat and just tell him to see what's inside ur ash tray? you will put a smaile on his face. Even if you get a ticket over there ur insurance won't go up or ur driving credit get messed up.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

I'm not saying it happened to you but I can just about guaranteeee you it happened to me. We had not lived in Warrenton long, my daughter was not even born yet, and my wife and I went into town to get some ice cream one evening. Coming back home there is a stretch of road about 1 mile long where 2 lanes merge into 1 and then merge into a hiway.

Normally, I just stay in the through lane so I don't have to merge but this night there was a car in front of me doing 35 in a 45....so, I pull around to pass and... you got it, he speeds up, so I slow down, I figure if he wants to be an @ss, so be it. Well, he slows down so I can't merge back in, so I speed up again (not to the floor mind you) and he does the same. This happens 3 or 4 times and, like you, enough is enough and I downshift and blow by him just in time to get lasered as I hit the merge. The 21 year old newbie-town cop denied seeing what happened. The "enticer" car was a white Pontiac Grand Am. You'll never guess what I saw about 3 days later.....A white Grand Am sitting in the median talking to a town cop. Go figure!! Good ol' Southern Justice!!



TOXIC

 

[TritonGlenn]

Tox,

I've been "enticed" by an actual officer - in an unmarked car (plain to see it was a cop car though - dark blue Impala with limo tint on the windows and you could see the outlines of the lights on the rear deck). He was doing 45 in a 55 on I64, coming over the high rise bridge in Chesapeake VA - I'll remember his name for the rest of my life.



There was a little old lady riding side by side with him in a white car, and she kept looking over at him, like she was scared to pass him because she knew it was a cop, even though she was now doing 45 in a 55 also. I got behind the cop car, and flashed my lights once. He HIT HIS BRAKES, causing me to almost rear-end him. So now I'm inches from him with a beer truck bearing down behind me, and he is still applying his brakes, so I hit the horn. He whips in front of the old lady, barely missing her front bumper (he didn't signal either). I speed up (to 55 ONLY - I wanted to make SURE I didn't speed). He whips in behind me, again, not using his blinkers, and almost clips the front end of the beer truck behind me. So I pass the lady doing 45, put on my blinker, and merge back into the right lane in front of her - again - doing 55. He whips back into the right lane AGAIN - not using his blinker, and almost hitting the old lady for a second time. We get to the bottom of the bridge and he turns on his lights and pulls me over.



He gets out of his car, all in a huff, looking like the Chicken Hawk from Foghorn Leghorn. He comes to my window PISSED. He is doing an extremely poor job of controlling his emotions as he starts in on me. He claims I was "driving recklessly". I reply that I was doing the speed limit, and he was not. He said I was "tailgating". I said "No I wasn't. It was not until you hit your brakes that I was on your bumper. Before then, I had plenty of room between us". He is furious by this time, and his only arguement is "I say you were too close". So I told him to go ahead and write his ticket, making sure to note my speed as per his radar, and that I would see him in court. He gave me the reckless driving ticket, but the speed was 55 in a 55.



I got a lawyer - friend of mine. We went to court. The judge does like they always do and asks the officer to explain what happened. He begins by saying this, "Well your honor, after careful reconsideration of the facts, I may have acted in haste. I would like to reduce this infraction from reckless driving to "improper" driving". The judge looks at me and says "Well son?". I reply that I wasn't at fault, and... (the judge cuts me off here saying "Son, if you don't take the improper driving reduction, which doesn't even count against points on your licence, we will enter a plea of guilty for the reckless driving and try you for that, which could hold up to a 6 month jail sentence. My friend then whispers to me "Take it. The cop talked to the judge ahead of time because he knows he screwed up, and this is their way of making it go away without losing face". So, I took it - paid the fine, and went on.



About a month later, guess what I see doing 45 in a 55 over the high rise bridge with a line of traffic behind it???



... yep. Dang Dark Blue Impala.



All the best,

Glenn

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Ya know, there just has to be a better way to generate revenue. It's not like there aren't enough real obvious infractions to ticket. In my case, I truly believe they were training the young pup. I totally respect the men and women in Law Enforcement (if I didn't, Greg Meyer would kick my @ss...I've seen him mad!!). I respect the job they do, the scum they take off my streets and the chances they take on a regular basis. I also don't let a few bad apples taint my viewpoint. I've got friends that are LEO's and I almost (notice I say almost) went into law enforcement at one time. It has to be a calling because at that time they were not paying enough for me to get shot at!! It just makes me so mad when some ruin the reputation of the good ones. I was never so upset as when my wife got mugged in a grocery store parking lot with my then 5 yr old. She put my daughter in her car seat, loaded the groceries in the back of the explorer and was walking the cart back to the cart return. When she was coming back to the car, some lowlife body checked her and took off with her purse. He had a buddy waiting at the bottom of the parking lot with the motor running. She ran after him screaming her head off and actually a guy that was leaving followed the car, got a partial on the plate and the make model. They....The town police, never caught the guy and claimed they could not get a hit on the plate.....bull!! Wife was reading the local paper 6 months later and saw where a purse snatcher got nabbed and she swore it was the same guy but he probably jacked a few more people before he got caught!! My money is that they id'd the guy and put him under surveiliance till they could catch him in the act. This is in small town Virginia also.



TOXIC

 

[TritonGlenn]

No doubt about it - police, firefighters, EMT's, etc... have a tough job. They have my respect. I don't want it taken out of context that I think ALL police officers are like this - I know they are not. However, there are some out there that give the occupation a few blemishes by their actions, and it truly boils my blood to see them do that. My own coworkers in the Navy are no different. There are plenty that give the uniform a bad view. It's unfortunate that the news media points them out immediately too - by occupation. When is the last time you heard "An Autozone employee today was convicted of..." You don't. But let a policeman, servicemember, etc... get in trouble, and it become "A (Navy Sailor, Police Officer, etc...) today was convicted of..."

All the best,

Glenn