Police getting tougher on speed tolerance

[OddDuck]

When people are fined, does that stop them speeding again? I mean really, the disincentive was always there - don't speed or you may get a fine. When they get a fine, do they suddenly realise "hey this actually happens, I better drive safer from now on." or do they continue, maybe using apps that report speed cameras or radar detectors so they can still speed but avoid further fines.

TLDR; Does a fine stop re-offending.

Good question. I know for myself, it was an abstract thing until I did get pulled over and ticketed, and yes it did slow me down afterwards. I've gotten a lot better at finding ways to make riding fun at legal-ish speeds. That might be unusual. I've met any number of bikers who (at least outwardly) seemed to regard demerits as some sort of a game, and also a few who've had licenses suspended for 140+ fun. They haven't stopped, they've just got smarter about where they do it.

One young man in particular stood out: he had a problem with hooning and he knew it... 17 yo, 95 demerits, last done for wheelies up The Terrace... reckoned he just couldn't stop himself. Hugely engaging character and I really hope he's still with us and still riding. I only had the chance to chat with him the once.

I've got a radar detector on the 900SS and all it tells me is that country patrol cops are well aware of radar detectors... the radar's off until they've got you.

[rastuscat]

The greatest deterrence lies in getting caught. The fine is incidental, and acts as a reinforcement.

They lost a bit of it with the move to electronic ticketing. Having an officer acting on behalf of the state handing you a ticket was quite a deterrent. Now they just post tickets out, so that opportunity is lost.

For most, law abiding citizens, being accused by a cop is quite mind focussing. Some folk couldnt care less, of course.

The points also mean a lot for those who get caught too often.

[sidecar bob]

The greatest deterrence lies in getting caught. The fine is incidental, and acts as a reinforcement.

They lost a bit of it with the move to electronic ticketing. Having an officer acting on behalf of the state handing you a ticket was quite a deterrent. Now they just post tickets out, so that opportunity is lost.

For most, law abiding citizens, being accused by a cop is quite mind focussing. Some folk couldnt care less, of course.

The points also mean a lot for those who get caught too often.

Yep.
Getting a proper good telling off for doing 112kmh by an adrenaline fuelled cop thats fresh off the back of doing 170kmh in heavy traffic to catch you was always a great source of deterrent for me.
You would think they would get used to it, but they were always pumped as fuck by the time they got the offender stopped.
I never liked how it sometimes got a bit personal & vindictive.
I was test riding a bike to buy a few years back & got pulled.
After carrying on like he was on meth, The cop handed me a decent ticket & turned to my wife & said "well he won't be buying it now will he"? She casually replied, "yeah, he seems to like it, so i think he will"
I prefer my tickets in the mail, its not nice dealing with people that clearly hate their jobs, regardless of what that job is.

[Vinz0r]

I've only ever dealt with traffic cos who were kind and respectful, so maybe it's an attitude problem that's causing you to have issues when being pulled over. Or maybe you're just unlucky and each time you've been pulled over the cop had been having a bad day.

[sidecar bob]

I've only ever dealt with traffic cos who were kind and respectful, so maybe it's an attitude problem that's causing you to have issues when being pulled over. Or maybe you're just unlucky and each time you've been pulled over the cop had been having a bad day.

I've got the most chilled out " hey, you got me good" attitude if I get pulled up. Several of my mates are cops, so I barely notice the uniform.
Maybe it's my offhand casual attitude that winds them up, or maybe the adrenaline of the chase, but, no, I've never been rude or shitty about it.
I remarked to one cop with a laugh, as smoke poured from his front brakes, geez mate, those brakes have had a bit of a work out. He had pulled the thing up from at least 140k into a side road & stopped. I found it quite entertaining.

[SaferRides]

I've only ever dealt with traffic cos who were kind and respectful, so maybe it's an attitude problem that's causing you to have issues when being pulled over. Or maybe you're just unlucky and each time you've been pulled over the cop had been having a bad day.

How did you manage that? Or maybe I've been unlucky, because I seem to get the idiots.

Most interesting is not once has there been any discussion about road safety.

[Swoop]

Yep. Getting a proper good telling off for doing 112kmh by an adrenaline fuelled cop thats fresh off the back of doing 170kmh in heavy traffic to catch you was always a great source of deterrent for me.
You would think they would get used to it, but they were always pumped as fuck by the time they got the offender stopped.

A mate (plod) openly admitted to the hypocrisy of giving a ticket to people who liked doing exactly what they enjoyed doing (driving cars at speed).
So much so that there was the "slowly count to ten" rule, where a pursuit was not started until there was a decent opportunity to chase (at speed) another car.

[pritch]

There was a thread here years ago where IIRC a King Country cop thought a young guy on a bike was speeding so, when he could, he did one of their trade mark U turns and gave chase. He had reached some completely illegal speed before he caught the kid so he gave him a ticket for that speed. I told the kid get a lawyer, he did, he got off.

Some cops are just fucking idiots. Probably about the same proportion as the rest of the population?

[Temporary-Kiwi]

I've had a few unauthorised races with the boys in blue over the years, on one occasion, I was caught later in the day after the event by police , I was taken to the station for an interview, while there, the copper who I had lost during the chase, stormed in, grabbed me by the throat
started cussing me out , then Said why didn't I stop!
I just ignored him, but he then went into another room to talk to another cop, I heard him saying he was chasing me at 130+kph in my dust cloud ( I was on a xr500, on gravel road) he would have been struggling just to stay on the road as the dust was excessive, and had I suddenly decided to stop , he most likely would have smashed straight into me, it only served to reinforce my already jaded opinion of the police, definitively convinced me that stopping during a chase was not an option in my best interests, I've had a good experience with a cop in regards to speeding offences, but that's 1 out of a dozen or so negative ones

[Jeff Sichoe]

NZ is a big place, why not just speed when there are no cops around?

We don't have mandatory GPS trackers... yet

I suspect within the next 5 years (if CoL win again) it will be illegal to register a bike without a GPS alert device, which can be polled for infractions at any point by any cop. Registered owner of bike will get the ticket and convictions.

[russd7]

200 metre straight black line and a bike through a fence, even at the speed claimed, if the rider had of hauled on the front anchor they would have scrubbed off enough speed to make it round that bend easily.
not a joke, but that rider was a very good example of someone who should have done a Ride forever course.

[roogazza]

NZ is a big place, why not just speed when there are no cops around?

We don't have mandatory GPS trackers... yet

I suspect within the next 5 years (if CoL win again) it will be illegal to register a bike without a GPS alert device, which can be polled for infractions at any point by any cop. Registered owner of bike will get the ticket and convictions.

Thank christ my riding days are nearing the end.....Weren't the seventies wonderful ,if we had only known how lucky we were ?

[Ocean1]

.....Weren't the seventies wonderful ?

They still are...

[Yokomama]

Long hair, flares, thin lizzy... I was born in the wrong era.

[rastuscat]

Thank christ my riding days are nearing the end.....Weren't the seventies wonderful ,if we had only known how lucky we were ?

Yeah, wonderful. That's why we killed 843 people in 1973 on the roads.

When the population was 3 million, each family had 1 car, and motorbikes were plentiful.