cops NEVER ever stop me on my Valk!

[hubcapsc]

When I first got my Valkyrie, I lit off from the turn onto 185 at
Grits and Groceries one Saturday... I guess the policeman was
just leaving there?

Anyhow... when he got me stopped 3 miles later and he told
me where he started out after me, I asked him if he thought I
was trying to run from him. He said no, I was stopping at all
the stop signs...

-Mike "badaboom..."

[Tfrank59]

He was laughing because even though he's a cop and has heard 'em all that's probably the first time for that one

[art]

Only ran from a cop once in 1966. I was riding my 66 Norton Atlas and was about 10 over and picking up speed. A CHP on a Harley was coming out of ( you guessed it) a donut shop when I went by. Iseen him run to his bike and I gunned it. Got up to about 60-70 an turned a few corners parked the bike an went for a walk. Never seen the cop even get started. Only other time I thought about it  was in Hollywood on Sunset strip. I was racing another Norton Dunstall light to light. He beat me and a CHP in a patrol car ordered me to pull over. I looked at the other rider and he wanted to go but I shook my head no and we got a exibition of speed ticket and went to driving school to get out of a big fine.

[Jess from VA]

I've been thinking about this thread, and have an observation.  It may be obvious, or not.

Over the 25 years I have lived where I do, I have done more day riding than any real distance riding (I am guessing that is similar to many).  About an hour out of NoVA through decreasing traffic (going quickest route, or various back routes), I have 30-40 variations on a theme for nice rides all through VA horse and farm country, through the woods, up Skyline Drive, over to WVA, Harper's Ferry, etc.  These can be 3-4 hours, or 6-8 hours.  I only go West (and North/South), but never East to MD.  

Over 25 years, you get to know the roads pretty well and, especially the hour out of town through traffic, you get to know many (even most) of the popular places police will sit with radar, and there are places where they always seem to be more prevalent (like the State Troopers in Rappahannock County on the best and popular roads).  I tend to ride with my head on a swivel anyway, and especially if I decide to do any speeding (which is often, though rarely extreme; for long).  I don't even think about it that much, but I am always slowing, or flowing in behind other cars, and checking for cops in all those spots I've socked away in my memory over the years, and there's really quite a few of them. (Not that a new hidey hole isn't always possible, but really not that likely)

There's plenty of riding where I rarely ever see cops, and that is where I let the hooligan loose.  This is how I go about not getting performance awards.

Now when I do ride out into areas I am not familiar with or longer distances, I am generally more careful about my speed than around my own long day-ride radiuses.  And there's always the old trick of pacing a cage running 15 over, a quarter mile behind him.  And if you decide to smell the roses, then you don't even have to keep a look out.

I guess maybe this is pretty obvious, but this strategy has served me well over the years.  









Busted.   Bummer man.


US211, up and over Skyline Drive.






  

[DirtyDan]

Pulled over on a Valkyrie.......

Virginia, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Mexico, Alaska

On a Valkyrie

Dan

[GiG]

Pulled over on a Valkyrie.......

Virginia, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Mexico, Alaska

On a Valkyrie

Dan

Nice hand, Dan!
You got me beat on AK, but I raise you a Missouri, West Virginia & an Iowa.  

Outran the cops on RT66 in ALBQ.
Ditchedem in a laundromat parking lot and threw my clothes in a machine. Saw them fly by with the lights on while I was searching for a quarter...  

~GiG~     -    On a Valkyrie (Standard) with over 250,000 miles  

[RP#62]

Got two warnings in Illinois about a week a part.  Took the hint, haven't been back to Illinois since.
-RP

[wiggydotcom]

Bet SmokinJoe wishes he could say that,
I think he jus' keeps a lawyer on retainer now

Sorry, I misread that. I thought it read "he just keeps a lawyer on his recliner now!

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Bet SmokinJoe wishes he could say that,
I think he jus' keeps a lawyer on retainer now

Sorry, I misread that. I thought it read "he just keeps a lawyer on his recliner now!

No doubt... CDL driver my last three speeding tickets all on my bikes over the last 3 / 4 years have cost me right at $4,000.00 to make them go away. Always get the best attorney from the area you get the ticket in is my best advice to keep points off ( or slow your ass down ) <----Hard to do when you live in God's Country with all our outstanding roads that make you want to let the fat girl eat .

[MAD6Gun]

 I have had so many tickets since I was 17 that I lost count.  My first was reckless driving for doing a burnout in a school parking lot. That cost my $140 and 6 points plus driving school and that was in 82. Another, years later was in my 70 Bonneville after I installed a posi diff.  Had a buddy with me when I did burnout around two separate corners sideways. (Had to make sure it was working correctly) it was. Cop told my if I had only done one he would have let me go. Two was too much. That was in my hometown of New Haven. My dad was a city councilman at the time. I never ask him to fix my ticket. I deserved it so...

 My only  ticket on the Valk was a few years before dad stopped riding. It was a nice spring  April day so myself,my brother Chris and my dad decided to go for a ride. Dad wanted to ride alone so Chris and i went off on our way. Made a turn onto Maysville Rd. Sped up and look to the right and low and behold a cop sitting on a side street. Look down speedo said 46. OK I'm good limit is 45. WRONG. City of Fort Wayne changed speed limit from 45 to 35 that year. I never noticed the 35 signs. He pulls out and pulls us both over. Gave us a little break. Got a ticket for 5 over. Chris got seven, he was going faster to catch me. Last thing cop said to us is " I hope this didn't ruin your day". I said it sure as hell didn't help. At that time we just rode home. Talked to dad later. Told him about the tickets. He went hmm. Then told us he was doing over a hundred on a country road on his ride.  Damn it. In all these years my father has never gotten a ticket.

[Rams]

Never had a ticket on my Valkyrie (knocking on wood).   Had plenty of them back in the day on that KZ1000 I rode though.   

[Jess from VA]

I was completely amazed that neither of my parents ever had a single moving violation in their lifetimes.

I mean, how is that even statistically possible?

Of course, it had been many years (like since before I was 16) that I had actually ridden with either of them.

So one day a few years back, I figured it out.  I was sitting in mom's passenger seat, and we were being passed by bicycles. 

Okay, now I get it.   

[The emperor has no clothes]

I was completely amazed that neither of my parents ever had a single moving violation in their lifetimes.

I mean, how is that even statistically possible?

Of course, it had been many years (like since before I was 16) that I had actually ridden with either of them.

So one day a few years back, I figured it out.  I was sitting in mom's passenger seat, and we were being passed by bicycles. 

Okay, now I get it.   

My wife has never gotten a ticket. But she has nearly been hauled off in cuffs. A month or so after we moved here from AK she got stopped after dropping my son off for school. He stopped her because the AstroVan had AK plates. After leaving the school he flips his lights on her on the main drag. She goes slowly up to the side street and turns and pulls over. This is how we were taught in AK (so that cops wouldn’t get hit on icy roads). This cop was so pissed that she didn’t immediately pull over on the Main Street that he comes out with his gun pulled.  Threatened to arrest her. All for an out of state tag.  ???

[GiG]

I was completely amazed that neither of my parents ever had a single moving violation in their lifetimes.

I mean, how is that even statistically possible?

Of course, it had been many years (like since before I was 16) that I had actually ridden with either of them.

So one day a few years back, I figured it out.  I was sitting in mom's passenger seat, and we were being passed by bicycles. 

Okay, now I get it.   

Jess, back then, Grosse Ile in the 60’s, it was “Protect and Serve”, but now it is revenue enhancement.
Meter Maids with a gun.  Small towns everywhere have huge police forces and have WAY too much very expensive gear writing as many tickets they can to justify their existence. 
I have family members and friends that are cops...
VA has taken the whole revenue enhancement thing to a new level...

[Jess from VA]

My wife has never gotten a ticket.

You know Rob, I've had that happen to me twice (not pulling right over on the spot.  Not out of state tags.)

I will not pull over on a busy street/HWY IF there is a safer place to do so, like a business or mini-mall, or just a side street.  Both times, I slowed way down, did not go very far, signaled (I may have even rolled down the window and stuck my arm out and pointed where I was going).

Both times the guy was pissed and started by yelling at me about my duty to pull right over.  Both times I calmly and politely said that I was clearly not fleeing and eluding (at 20mph), that I was finding a safe(r) place for him to be standing outside on the road (and for me from getting hit too), that I did not go very far, and on one occasion in the dark, I had pulled into a Micky D's bright as hell parking lot, so there was plenty of light.

Both times, they calmed down and didn't mention it again.  

The last time I was pulled over (speeding in my car, 3 years ago), the cop got all hot and bothered, and I calmly said I did not know his (deep undercover VW Golf) was a cop car, and it was gaining on me so fast weaving through traffic, I thought he was going to hit me, so I nailed it to get off to the side to let him go past me.  When I nailed it, he thought it was going to be a chase (no lights on at all, until after I nailed it).

He thought about that for a few minutes, and said he believed me, and since I was the first person to tell him the truth in a month, he was going to give me a break (still got a ticky, just not a full ticky).

Politeness, demeanor, and respect always seems to help. It NEVER hurts.  

If the first thing out of your mouth is that you don't have any doughnuts on board so what's the big deal, do not expect a happy encounter.

[Jess from VA]

I was completely amazed that neither of my parents ever had a single moving violation in their lifetimes.

I mean, how is that even statistically possible?

Of course, it had been many years (like since before I was 16) that I had actually ridden with either of them.

So one day a few years back, I figured it out.  I was sitting in mom's passenger seat, and we were being passed by bicycles.  

Okay, now I get it.  

Jess, back then, Grosse Ile in the 60’s, it was “Protect and Serve”, but now it is revenue enhancement.
Meter Maids with a gun.  Small towns everywhere have huge police forces and have WAY too much very expensive gear writing as many tickets they can to justify their existence.  
I have family members and friends that are cops...
VA has taken the whole revenue enhancement thing to a new level...

Yeah, I get it.  My mom and brother are out south of Ypsi/Ann Arbor on Oakville-Waltz, with a Belleville mailing address.  When visiting, I have ridden out to Grosse Ile a few times over the years to look at the old house I grew up in, but I don't recognize the Island anymore.

Interestingly, with budget cuts or whatever, my local Fairfax PD has really scaled back traffic enforcement quite a bit over the last 18 months.  Not that you don't have to keep your head on a swivel, but things have gotten much better locally than years past.  Go figure.  

The problem with VA is the traffic laws more than the cops;  they have so many legal shortcuts to enhance simple things into bad things automatically that it's good to be a lawyer to even understand them all.  20 over automatic reckless, 80 anywhere (even in a 70 zone) automatic reckless, and a new one this year.... motorcycle riders may no longer stand on the pegs to blow the heat out of their clothes for five seconds (I used to do it out in horse country for 5 minutes at a time, putting along at 35 smelling the roses).  

[Hook#3287]

Politeness, demeanor, and respect always seems to help. It NEVER hurts.

I've been stopped 8 - 9 times on a Valk.

Always used the above and only 1 certificate.

In Florida.

Had to take a online safety course and pay an extra fee and Florida didn't rat me out to Massachusetts.