County cops, protecting the streets from...

Mad · Post by **Mad** » 2003-09-28 11:56pm

... people with no front license plate displayed.

Well, if I'm gonna get a first ticket, I might as well make it something different (not speeding) and something that's not entirely my own fault, right? And something that, apparently, won't go on my record. Got it while driving up to Richmond, VA in one of the towns since a friend suggested a "faster" route. (At least I didn't take her 70 MPH suggestion.)

So I can't afford to get a front license plate mount and fix the starter when I'm too busy replacing ignition wires, tires, alternators, and a door handle (all of which are expensive of the Z34 I drive; and, yes, I've had to replace the alternator twice). And now I'm supposed to afford a ticket? Way to ensure that I'll be able to fix the oh-so-dangerous problem, sir... (He likely didn't even care if I was able to fix it; just wanted to give out a ticket 'cause he could instead of strongly suggesting I get it fixed.)

What's most annoying is that the money is going to a town whose cops apparently have nothing better to do than find trivial things instead of going somewhere where the police could probably use the money, such as the Tidewater area where I live where cops have more important things to worry about.

I doubt there's any way I could fight it, either... Might've worked out better if my mom hadn't moved the front plate from beside the front seat to the trunk. Bleh, and that was just the start of the chain of annoying things to happen on what was supposed to be a great day...

The Cleric · Post by **The Cleric** » 2003-09-29 12:02am

Tickets. Bah.

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2003-09-29 12:07am

In my hometown of fayetteville, Tennessee, I got a ticket for doing (True story, I swear to god) 49 MPH in a 45 MPH zone. I was aghast. I went to court and before the judge, (HE was as serious as a heart attack) "You are charged with going 49 MPH in a 45 MPH zone. How do you plead?"
"Guilty." I said.
"Are you in school?" He inquired.
"Not at the moment, sir." (This comment, in retrospect probably pissed him off, but what I meant was, I had not signed up for classes, yet.)
long story short. No fine. But I had to pay 69 dollars in court costs.
My friend John, while in high school, got no less than 5 tickets, all for speeding at LEAST 10 MPH over the posted limit, and every single one of his tickets were thrown out.
Your tax dollars at work.

Post by **Dalton** » 2003-09-29 02:01am

Getting a ticket for no front plates is fucking stupid.

Getting tickets for speeding is attempting to nip a stupid, dangerous practice in the butt.

Hyperion · Post by **Hyperion** » 2003-09-29 02:08am

I've been pulled over 3 times now.

The list: (in order)

1) 67 in a 60 on the highway, got whacked for $76 for doing "70 in a 60". (stater)
2) 38 in a 25 on a back road, got let go since it was 1:30AM and the sheriff knew I wasn't BS'ing about missing the speed zone (let me go when I was finally able to produce proof of insurance, which had slid into the instruction manual of my car in the glove box. Grr..), would have been $110. (sheriff/county)
3) 72 in a 60 on the highway (same stretch as the first one), got whacked for $76 for doing "70 in a 60". (stater)

I consider the last one BS because the cops were camping on the overpass with a radar gun, with their friends in the bushes around the curve.

I am still waiting to get pulled over for my stereo and headlights, especially since I deliberately bait the city cops in stopped traffic by cranking up the stereo. So far I have got nothing but glares and stares for my taste in music from my "neighbors", and nothing from the fuzz.

Not to mention one of my more favorite stunts of shooting past the sheriffs on the highway, the staters hate them so they can't call ahead and get me whacked that way, and they can't touch me since it's not their jurisdiction. And trust me, if looks could kill, I would have had a nuke go off under my car when I passed that sheriff at 84 (in a 60) going uphill on the right lane and dropping in in front of him (safe distance though).

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-09-29 02:11am

hyperion, what kind of music are you playing at the intersections? hopefully not rap..

EmperorMing · Post by **EmperorMing** » 2003-09-29 02:23am

Dalton wrote:Getting a ticket for no front plates is fucking stupid.

....

It is also known as fill the city/town coffers and justifying their job.

"Sir, we wrote 200 tickets this week..."

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-09-29 02:25am

I love the way Hyperion once E-mailed me to complain that I was unfairly stereotyping "riceboyz" in their jacked-up Hondas with their blaring music, aggressive driving, and generally obnoxious behaviour, yet he proudly and repeatedly proclaims that he fits every aspect of this stereotype.

Post by **Dalton** » 2003-09-29 02:26am

EmperorMing wrote:It is also known as fill the city/town coffers and justifying their job.

"Sir, we wrote 200 tickets this week..."

I'm sure the crack-dealers are quite happy that the local PD is vigilantly stopping the plague of evil people with no front plates.

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2003-09-29 02:32am

If front license plates are required in your county, I think they are required in the entire state of CA, put on one. If you cant afford one, then you honestly cant afford a car. Sorry, no tears here.

Hyperion · Post by **Hyperion** » 2003-09-29 02:50am

Darth Wong wrote:I love the way Hyperion once E-mailed me to complain that I was unfairly stereotyping "riceboyz" in their jacked-up Hondas with their blaring music, aggressive driving, and generally obnoxious behaviour, yet he proudly and repeatedly proclaims that he fits every aspect of this stereotype.

I don't recall e-mailing you. However I probably bitched at you in a thread.

Reply to koji: like hell would I be playing (c)rap, I loathe that shit. However, I will fire up techno and some of the heavier dance music. For the most part that stuff is even better at getting people riled (especially the traditional ricer types, and the blacks (I have already been yelled at with the idiot waving his fist at me and pointing to the side of the road. I love how they get so violent.) since it usually goes against their style of music.

Most of the time now I drive with the windows up and listening to quieter music. I will still fire up the other sometimes though. usually just to drown out the stereo of the guy next to me at the light. Unlike most of the normal ricer types, I don't play the stereo loud to be noticed, I do it to insite road-rage because I find their reactions humorous.

I will freely admit that I am asking to get shot at.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-09-29 05:36am

I've only been pulled over once and it was for speeding (in Texas). I actually pulled over before the Trooper got up to me so he never got off the median. It was pretty obvious he was after me since everyone else had been going slower than I was. That and my Navy uniform in the back probably saved me from a night in jail since the trooper likely knocked a few MPH off of my speed so I wouldn't have to appear before a judge. (The trooper thanked me for my courtesy before leaving). Since it was Sunday afternoon I would have had to see the judge on Monday.

Still the ticket cost me $75. If I'd wanted to I could have gone to traffic school instead but driving to the middle of Texas from Arizona to save $75 just didn't seem worth it.

Incidently, Arizona doesn't require plates on the front of your car. I used to have a plate that was just the Arizona flag on the front, now I have a plate that represents the University of Arizona.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-09-29 01:01pm

Hyperion wrote:3) 72 in a 60 on the highway (same stretch as the first one), got whacked for $76 for doing "70 in a 60". (stater)

I consider the last one BS because the cops were camping on the overpass with a radar gun, with their friends in the bushes around the curve.

Boo hoo. You sped, you got caught.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-09-29 01:06pm

Chardok wrote:In my hometown of fayetteville, Tennessee, I got a ticket for doing (True story, I swear to god) 49 MPH in a 45 MPH zone. I was aghast. I went to court and before the judge, (HE was as serious as a heart attack) "You are charged with going 49 MPH in a 45 MPH zone. How do you plead?"
"Guilty." I said.
"Are you in school?" He inquired.
"Not at the moment, sir." (This comment, in retrospect probably pissed him off, but what I meant was, I had not signed up for classes, yet.)
long story short. No fine. But I had to pay 69 dollars in court costs.
My friend John, while in high school, got no less than 5 tickets, all for speeding at LEAST 10 MPH over the posted limit, and every single one of his tickets were thrown out.
Your tax dollars at work.

Remind me not to speed in Fayetville. In my home town, you can be doing 65 in a 55 and the odds are that the deputies will just give a friendly wave.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2003-09-29 01:48pm

If you're ever traveling north to PA through WV, and you're on US19, Slow the Hell Down!

It might be 4-lane, and parts of it marked for 60mph, but the city-kitties catch you for just one mile over.

We've had some local cops put on probation for writing too many speeding tickets along that road.

Robert Treder · Post by **Robert Treder** » 2003-09-29 07:14pm

TrailerParkJawa wrote:If front license plates are required in your county, I think they are required in the entire state of CA, put on one. If you cant afford one, then you honestly cant afford a car. Sorry, no tears here.

I was under the impression that they were optional, or at least that the cops never cared one way or the other. Anyways, I've got one, so I'm not worried.

But in AZ, the only cars you see with front plates are out-of-state, handicapped, or trucks/suvs. Everything else is without a front plate. It's very strange.

Mad · Post by **Mad** » 2003-09-29 08:02pm

It varies from state to state. They're technically required in Virginia, but not in North Carolina, which is where the last owner of the car lived. However, the cops in the area of Virginia I live in don't really seem to care. They've had ample opportunity to say something but never have so much as made a peep about it. (Likely due to having real troublemakers to worry about and being used to seeing cars from NC without them.)

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2003-09-29 08:27pm

If one state does not require front liscense plates, I do not see how another state can require front liscense plates AND punish drivers from other states.

Andrew J. · Post by **Andrew J.** » 2003-09-29 08:33pm

I remember when I was very young, when my family moved from Florida to New York, and I thought it was the biggest deal in the world that we had to have two license plates on our cars.

Mad · Post by **Mad** » 2003-09-29 09:51pm

Alyeska wrote:If one state does not require front liscense plates, I do not see how another state can require front liscense plates AND punish drivers from other states.

They can't. I have Virginia tags, and so, as I said, I don't think there's any way I can get out paying the fine for the "equipment violation." The cop wasn't interested in ensuring that the car can meet the standards in the future; if he did, he could've just given me a warning. He simply wanted to write a ticket and found a way to do so.

Enigma · Post by **Enigma** » 2003-09-29 10:06pm

I too was pulled over because my front plates weren't in there proper place (actually I placed the front plates behind the windshield but still got busted. Fortunately, I had 72 hours to get a plate holder and prove to the police that I had the front plates mounted on the bumper. Otherwise it would've been a $110CAD fine.

My suggestion if you do not want to buy a plate holder is too simply screw the plate directly into the bumper or use clothe hangers.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-09-29 10:11pm

How much can a plate hanger possibly cost?

Hyperion · Post by **Hyperion** » 2003-09-29 10:17pm

Mad wrote:
Alyeska wrote:If one state does not require front liscense plates, I do not see how another state can require front liscense plates AND punish drivers from other states.
They can't. I have Virginia tags, and so, as I said, I don't think there's any way I can get out paying the fine for the "equipment violation." The cop wasn't interested in ensuring that the car can meet the standards in the future; if he did, he could've just given me a warning. He simply wanted to write a ticket and found a way to do so.

That is an awful lot like the city cops out here. I had a friend who got a nasty fixit ticket for a "smashed tail light". However, we had both been working on his car just a few hours earlier, so we both knew it was there and intact. We still have no idea why he got pulled over, all we both know is that he heard a crunch when the cop paused by the passenger side taillight while walking up to the window. And yes, the tail light was very much broken after this point since I had to replace it the next day after we got another one at the wreckers.

At the time my friend and I were rather convinced the cop smashed it. Afterall these are the same cops that gave another friend of mine a "negligent driving 2nd degree" charge for what amounted to the cop speeding and having to swerve around my friend's car. And they told him it would be "minor and wouldn't affect his insurance any", right, a class D felony is not minor, and he got dropped from his insurance, and how we all know it was bullshit: a felony driving charge *always* results in the person being charged getting a ride to the station. My friend was allowed to continue on his way.

As for why I am torked over that recent ticket: 1) the cops need to work for their money, that means no camping on the fucking overpass with a radar gun radioing ahead. I can put up with "ghost cars" because that takes some skill and some work, but camping with a radar gun doesn't. (nevermind that the "ghost cars" involve some skill to spot and evade them.)

Mind you, I do have a lot of respect for the state patrol and county sheriffs, I have no respect for the city cops in this area, they are corrupt and it is well known that they are. (the revenue from the cops is what keeps the dying city of Bremerton still running because the corrupt corporate entity that owns it refuses to let businesses buy the land. In fact the only reason the Navy actually owns most of the dock area of the city is because the gov pulled imminent domain on the Bremer Trust.) I could rant on this for literally hours just based on proven dirt I have dug up.

Also, I have a problem with getting whacked for 67 in a 60 when on average just 2 miles down the road everyone, and yes, I literally mean everyone, on the road are going at least 75-80, and they hold that speed for the next 31 miles, or until the traffic stacks up at one of the 3 bridge on-ramps. The cops don't even patrol that area, though I have seen ghost cars already.

Damaramu · Post by **Damaramu** » 2003-09-29 10:19pm

Here in Houston, starting in October, license plates cannot be obscured in the slightest by license plate frames. Even if a part of the "TEXAS" printed on the top of the place is covered, blammo: Fines up to $200.

This might be for all of Harris County.....hmmm...

Enigma · Post by **Enigma** » 2003-09-30 12:03am

HemlockGrey wrote:How much can a plate hanger possibly cost?

For me it was $40CAD.