Worst Traffic Warnings You've Received

[jakeroot]

Worst ticket (and only ticket): I was 18, a senior in HS, and went home for lunch. I left a little late to drive back to school. There is another school zone on my way to my high school. The normal speed limit on the road is 40, and the school speed limit drops to 15 for the school. The cop clocked me at 43 in the 15. I was extremely mad. It was 11am (yes on a school day) on a normal hours day, and the fact that the speed limit drops more than 50% for a school zone is ridiculous. Also, every student that attends that school receives transportation, so there is no excuse that the speed limit "is for the walkers".
I went to go fight the ticket, and as per usual, they were not willing to budge. Even with an attorney, nothing. $450 ticket, $500 attorney, $300 Driver Responsibility Assessment, and 6 points on my license.

Did you not see the school zone at all? 43 in a 15 zone is brave as hell.

I most definitely saw it, ironically it was the elementary school that I went to, so I really had no excuse  It was just annoying that it drops THAT much. Nobody actually goes 15 to be honest.

Maybe nobody goes 15, but I doubt most people are also going faster than the non-school limit. Not even attempting to acknowledge the school limit is asking for trouble.

[hbelkins]

Driving east on US 166 in Kansas in a rental car with Missouri plates, the rental having become necessary when I broke a serpentine belt in my vehicle in Missouri on my way to the Wichita meet that year and the repair shop didn't have one in stock. I got behind a SUV doing the speed limit and passed it. There were no markings on the back, but it was a deputy sheriff's vehicle with a very low-profile light bar on top. As soon as I pulled back in front of him, he hit the lights. He ran my information, and come to find out he was a native of Winchester, Ky., where I'd lived for seven years, and was familiar with my home area. He told me that the insurance information I'd given him, provided by the rental company, was expired. He called the company and read them the riot act, telling them that he could have taken their customer to jail for not having the proper documentation, but he wasn't going to do that. I fully expected (and deserved) a ticket, but he didn't give me one. He was very friendly and cordial, especially when I explained the circumstances on why I was driving a rental vehicle.

I don't know if he was running radar or not. I'd left my radar detector in my vehicle back in Springfield because I didn't have anything to use to mount it to the windshield or visor. (I'd bought a mount that permanently attaches to the rear-view mirror and it doesn't come off the mirror easily.) If he's been running radar, my V1 would have picked up on it when I got behind him and I wouldn't have passed -- and I certainly wouldn't have if the vehicle had any markings on the back to denote it was a police car. It did have markings on the side, and I knew as soon as I was passing him and saw the decals that I'd be pulled over, even if I braked and pulled back in behind him.

[jmacswimmer]

The only warning I've ever received was for rolling thru a stop sign. I was approaching a 4-way stop at night, and saw a car in the distance approaching from my right. The car was still well away from the intersection itself, so I slowly rolled thru the intersection proceeding straight. Said car turned out to be a cop and immediately turned his lights on. I honestly think he thought I was drunk, because as soon as he walked up to me and I spoke coherently to him and handed over my paperwork, he immediately relaxed and just told me to be careful.

I also got extremely lucky with a close call on the morning of my wedding, of all days - I was driving on a country road with a speed limit of 40, and at one point a pick-up truck pulled out in front of me from a side road. We were both going about 45-50, when suddenly the speed limit dropped from 40 to 25 entering a town. We were both simply easing off the gas after we passed the speed limit drop, but lo & behold a cop was waiting not long past the speed limit drop. Said cop pulled out behind me and put his lights on, but as I pulled over he blew past me and nailed the pick-up truck instead. Two of my groomsmen were in the car with me, one immediately said "well, that's one way to get the blood pumping!" and then we spent the rest of the drive joking that had I been the one pulled over, I would have attempted to pull the "I'm getting married!" card.

[DandyDan]

When I lived in the Omaha area, I had to go to the Papillion library once. I got out, only to have a Papillion cop tell me I was going 40 in a 25. But since I was in the library lot at the time and I had books to return in hand, all I got was a warning.

[CovalenceSTU]

Haven't gotten one myself, although I have seen my fair share of egregious tickets as a passenger:
First one was 46 in a 35, following someone into one of those tiny WA towns where the limit drops 20mph on a corner. The cop was sitting in pitch black directly opposite the sign and never turned a light on (except the red and blues) the whole time, and I heard later that the judge refused to budge on the ticket.
Second one was for "running a stop sign" at an intersection where the sign was 10ft or so before the line. That one was quickly thrown out after showing pictures of the intersection, including that the cop could not have seen the line from behind a semi like he claimed.

Although on the opposite end, I did see a speed trap where the cop was sitting behind a "your speed" radar

[US 89]

Maybe nobody goes 15, but I doubt most people are also going faster than the non-school limit. Not even attempting to acknowledge the school limit is asking for trouble.

Yeah, I never speed in school zones. I think many of them are dumb and go on longer than they need to, but that's the one place I will always actually follow what's on the sign for 3 reasons:

1) given that children are likely to be present who might be dumb and wander into the road, probably a good idea
2) police are often more present at school zones than other places, and some jurisdictions that don't otherwise allow speed cameras have them there
3) fines are almost always higher

[CovalenceSTU]

Oh NY highways are flooded with those things. It's almost pure comedy. Like I was passing one once on I-87 and it said 63 mph and a nice capitalized message with an exclamation point appeared below saying "SLOW DOWN!" Like STFU I am on an expressway idiot.

There's even one in Clatskanie, OR that is set to 25mph when the limit is actually 30. So it will be flashing and telling you to slow down even when you're not breaking the law

[jakeroot]

Maybe nobody goes 15, but I doubt most people are also going faster than the non-school limit. Not even attempting to acknowledge the school limit is asking for trouble.

Yeah, I never speed in school zones. I think many of them are dumb and go on longer than they need to, but that's the one place I will always actually follow what's on the sign for 3 reasons:

1) given that children are likely to be present who might be dumb and wander into the road, probably a good idea
2) police are often more present at school zones than other places, and some jurisdictions that don't otherwise allow speed cameras have them there
3) fines are almost always higher

I'm with you there, 100%, for every reason you listed. Plus, in Washington, you cannot "mitigate" tickets that occur in school zones, so if you get one, it's gonna be massive, and you can't really do anything to fight it.

In all, speeding in school zones is so, so unwise. Speed literally anywhere else, but not school zones.

[jeffandnicole]

Maybe nobody goes 15, but I doubt most people are also going faster than the non-school limit. Not even attempting to acknowledge the school limit is asking for trouble.

Yeah, I never speed in school zones. I think many of them are dumb and go on longer than they need to, but that's the one place I will always actually follow what's on the sign for 3 reasons:

1) given that children are likely to be present who might be dumb and wander into the road, probably a good idea
2) police are often more present at school zones than other places, and some jurisdictions that don't otherwise allow speed cameras have them there
3) fines are almost always higher

I see varying reactions to school zone limits.

In NJ, most reduced limits are 10 or 15 below the actual limit, with the minimum often being 25 mph.  The majority of school zone limits are between 25 & 40 mph.  People sometimes slow down close to the reduced limit, but rarely are they at the reduced limit.

In PA, the reduced limit is almost always 15 mph.  People almost always slow down to that limit.

In DE, the reduced limit is almost always 20 mph.  People often, but not always, slow down near that limit.

[pderocco]

Years ago, I was stopped on I-5, driving from Seattle to Portland in the middle of the night, for going 80. No ticket. No big deal. Exactly one week later, I repeated the trip, and got stopped again for the same thing by the same cop. Still no ticket. I almost blurted out "See you next week," but something restrained me.

Did the cop recognize you or you only recognized him?

We recognized each other.

[MultiMillionMiler]

So he knew he already gave you a warning, pulled you over for the exact same offense, and still gave you a warning despite recognizing you? I'm not saying 80 mph deserves a ticket, it's just weird that if he pulled you over in the first place for that, that he wouldn't give you a ticket for the 2nd time. Why bother at all?

[pderocco]

I'm surprised by a lot of these stories. I've gotten around 50 speeding tickets in my long driving career (mostly when I was young), and I've never, ever, ever, ever gotten one for less than ten over the limit.

Since the pandemic, in SoCal it seems like the de facto speed limit is 15 over. Lots of people drive 80 in a 65 zone, and breeze right by the cops.

[pderocco]

So he knew he already gave you a warning, pulled you over for the exact same offense, and still gave you a warning despite recognizing you? I'm not saying 80 mph deserves a ticket, it's just weird that if he pulled you over in the first place for that, that he wouldn't give you a ticket for the 2nd time. Why bother at all?

He seemed good-natured, and he saw the humor in the situation.

[Scott5114]

According to the actual law, in most instances, you can get stopped for 1 over. But this is prone to getting tickets taken to court; the accused can contest whether the speed gun was properly calibrated, which leads to a lot of paperwork the cops don't want to deal with. So that's why there's a tolerance. How big it is most likely depends both on department policy (if they have one, officially) and simply how much the officer feels like pulling someone over at the moment. (If they're behind on their quota–yes, they claim there's no quota, but there's a quota–they are going to be stricter. Thus, it's wise to watch your speed toward the end of the month.)

As for state reckless driving laws, it depends on the precise wording of the law.

[MultiMillionMiler]

And if the cop agrees with the speed limits. If I were a Long Island cop I wouldn't pull anyone over unless they were like going over 95 mph, and would probably only write the ticket for 20 over max regardless of the speed.

[Rothman]

I'm surprised by a lot of these stories. I've gotten around 50 speeding tickets in my long driving career (mostly when I was young), and I've never, ever, ever, ever gotten one for less than ten over the limit.

Since the pandemic, in SoCal it seems like the de facto speed limit is 15 over. Lots of people drive 80 in a 65 zone, and breeze right by the cops.

50?  How do you even have insurance at this point?

Friend of mine was blacklisted in NY for one ticket for going 100 mph in a 65 mph.  Had to go on that special tier of insurance for reckless drivers -- where you pay 3x the price for the same required insurance.

[MultiMillionMiler]

Usually in NYS you can plead down to a lesser charge as long as you go to court in person. That's not even enough for a license suspension, needs to be 41+ over for that? Did he hire a lawyer?

[Rothman]

I believe his ticket was issued in TN and it was reported to his NY insurance company.

[MultiMillionMiler]

I believe his ticket was issued in TN and it was reported to his NY insurance company.

Oh, that's unusual since NYS doesn't count points from other states.

[JoePCool14]

Going back to school speed limits, I find this an interesting topic. In Chicagoland, 99.9% of all school speed limit signs are always posted at 20 mph. It doesn't matter what road they're posted on. The normal speed limit could be anything from 20 (yes, really) to 40. And they are almost always posted as "On School Days When Children are Present", which can be open to interpretation.

The point is, no one follows them around here. I think they would get more respect if the limits were more appropriate to the road they were on, and concrete times were provided or flashing beacons were used.

[Rothman]

I believe his ticket was issued in TN and it was reported to his NY insurance company.

Oh, that's unusual since NYS doesn't count points from other states.

Well, he's a good friend of mine and I'm just relaying to the forum what he told me.  I even was around when he was calling his insurance company about his new, quite high rate.

Have to say that because of that experience that he reined in his driving -- he's still a bad driver to a degree, though.  I sold him a car I wanted to get rid of once.  Three years later and he's smacked all the corners of the bumpers on it.

[pderocco]

I'm surprised by a lot of these stories. I've gotten around 50 speeding tickets in my long driving career (mostly when I was young), and I've never, ever, ever, ever gotten one for less than ten over the limit.

Since the pandemic, in SoCal it seems like the de facto speed limit is 15 over. Lots of people drive 80 in a 65 zone, and breeze right by the cops.

50?  How do you even have insurance at this point?

Because they were spread out over 50 years. And many were out of state, before there was any real national database.

[JKRhodes]

Worst, as in my most egregious offence for which I was warned: about 5 years ago, I was gong 70+ in a posted 45 zone. I pulled over right away as the trooper turned on me, and owned up to my speed. He kicked me out with a verbal warning. In fairness, it was a clear day with no other traffic a few hundred feet shy of a higher speed zone where people routinely go way over the limit.

Worst, as in, the most bogus reason, when I was 17 I got pulled over for having a slightly faded month tab on my license plate. Trooper invited me out of the car and asked 20 questions about where I had been and where I was going. He was polite, but was definitely on a fishing expedition and used the tab as a pretext. He probably ran my tag and saw that I was by myself in an area 100 miles from my home, in a known drug corridor, and thought perhaps I was up to something nefarious, when in reality I was just headed to my mom's house for her birthday.

[Takumi]

Only ticket I've received was when I took off very quickly from a signal, not realizing a police car was right next to me. I deserved it for that reason alone.

I did get a warning once for only having my parking lights on at night. Somehow that was my only one. (There have been some instances where I've done some wild stuff in front of cops and nothing happened.)

[MultiMillionMiler]

Only ticket I've received was when I took off very quickly from a signal, not realizing a police car was right next to me. I deserved it for that reason alone.

I did get a warning once for only having my parking lights on at night. Somehow that was my only one. (There have been some instances where I've done some wild stuff in front of cops and nothing happened.)

I've always wondered what the law is for rapid acceleration, if you floor it until you hit the speed limit if you can get a ticket, on the entrance ramp to a highway for example.