I wish I'd done a runner

[timorang]

Dont get too obsessed with cops and speed enforcement - they are doing a job that needs to be done in a driver culture of "me first, I am better than everyone else so why ticket me"..... if you ever saw the list of infringements given out you would find a huge number are also issued for red and amber light runners and a large number of other behaviour offences I can't be bothered listing or I would be here all morning.... and it does make a lot of money - none of which goes to police.

I was informed by a senior police officer (a friend) that while they do not directly recieve the revenue generated by traffic fines, their annual budget has a sizeable component that is determined by the revenue generated by fines. More fines = more budget. semantics - I think it is called "profit share". nuf said.

[_Gina_]

No, the question is, "Should I have made a run for it?"
But since you're so curious, I was riding home, minding my own business.
The cop shoulda minded his.

Just for shits n giggles I will share this with you Viffer.

I had the same thought run through my mind recently and chose the other other white meat.

Suffice to say that later once I realised it was an ambulance not a cop, I couldn't stop laughing and it ruined the rest of my ride.

So maybe you shoulda run, you'll never know how successful or embarrassed you might have been should you have.

[discotex]

That is a matter for the Auckland city cops. It is a bit beyond a joke to enforce it there now.... and also difficult and dangerous to do in a busy city intersection... hence use of red light cameras etc. Don't forget the rest of the country that doesn't have the density of traffic, making pursuit of red and amber light runners a little safer for the patrols without getting t-boned.

Yeah totally agree on the cameras. I heard a trial was starting up sometime soon so fingers crossed! Even a junior cop standing at the intersection videoing and posting tickets would be good start though.

[vifferman]

Speaking of "junior cops", the guy who gave me a ticket looked so young! (Like the same age as my son! )
And he got out of the car with a huge grin on his face, which really pissed me off! He was probably just a friendly, smiley sort of bloke, or maybe he was nervous, but it didn't help. The last two cops were serious, but friendly and matter-of-fact, and that was good.

The thing that really pisses me off is cops that take it personally and get all lecturey and school-marmish.

Or my 'favourite': about seven years ago, I had a bike cop pull up along side me (after doing the same thing to another guy lane-splitting just in front of me. This guy just went off: red-faced, frothing at the mouth, etc. I couldn't understand what he was yammering on about, or what his problem was, but some of what he said was, "If you rode like a proper motorcyclist instead of a dickhead, you wouldn't give the rest of us a bad name!"

:spudwhat:


I've replayed this dozens of times in my non-proper motorcyclist head, and I've still no phargin idea what he was on about.

[Toaster]

Speaking of "junior cops", the guy who gave me a ticket looked so young!

Yeah mate, they are recruiting very very young and inexperienced people into the police - that is not all bad in itself but it doesn't make it easy for the newbies. Shame really... if they spent more on retention and keeping good experienced mature cops then people like me would have loved to stay in the job. Living in Auckland on a cops wage is not easy.

[I_R_SQUID]

Theres a good idea , run & lead them back to where you live

IF you ever intend on doing a runner in this kind of situation NEVER run straight home.

Depends on the situation. If you are a smart bugger and make sure you have 'changed your fairings' at some stage (hypothetically speaking) then your bike would HAVE to be unfortunately registered as a different colour to what you might be riding.
Then when they ask comms about local 'blue bikes' that may or may not have fucked off down a sidestreet they find the nearest registered one is 5k away....


Best situation (and damn it's a fun one suprisingly) is when you're going at some slightly stupid speed on a nice modern bike past a piggy. Whoops. Well.. at ***+ he ain't catching crap unless you slow down for at least 10 seconds, keep going and bugger off outta the area.

Time and a place for everything mate... In that situation knowing local roads properly I would have gone for it if I were you - local territory, superior vehicle and a cool set of nerves and you'd have been very sweet. You would have had to change helmet/gear, ditch the bike or streetfighter it for a few weeks though.

At this rate you will probably have to do it one day - keep ya nerves around you, ride at 70-80% (you will smoke them easy) pretend its a video game or whatever works for you to take your mind off it (lol). Bugger off outta the area/hide up real quick then slow down and keep off the road as much as possible. Parks, footbridges, footpaths and narrow paths are your friend if things get tough or you make a mistake. It's not too hard on a 250 to do if you have the skill, let alone a big bike. People have done runners on scooters in the CBD many a time. Mainly couriers

Squid it up... you can out accel them and corner with similar speed or more depending on bike, abilities and conditions. You can make gaps you'd walk through... etc.

Pre-preparation...
Bend your plate or obscure it with a bike chain/reg etc to make it harder to see. Use brake light as your plate light (get a tail tidy thingy or DIY). You can't really read bike plates from more than about 40-50m i find, and much less when 'tampered'. Try to keep it kosher so if a cop if behind you in traffic he won't pull you for it. Usually you want to avoid it being all visible side on around 30 degrees, similar angle to a speed camera.... Use your imagination...

In Auckland you'll usually have a minimum of 5 mins till the chopper gets there if it's up and somewhere else. If on the ground you're sweet. That is unless it's already in the area in which case you should have not run and you are probably screwed. Tip... if you're riding over the speed limit for a decent period of time (aka high chance of someone wanting to chat to you) check for choppers...

Obey the road rules if it's raining (I ride like a nana in the wet)... taking a chance with a oil splotch or missing a braking point is a lot harder to save in the wet if you do a runner.

I haven't been pulled in 2 years now, 'cus I'm an angel... one day I may get owned though. Who knows.

To the PC group: 'Darwin' - Get the fuck over it. If I fuck myself up or fuck someone else up, run a kid over/whatever - that's just how the cookie crumbled, crying afterwards, bleating and making threads doesn't change jack diddly squat. Just the usual story when police pursuits turn bad - often they go for longer than they should, with both police and runner putting people in danger. Check some of the police chases on youtube.. some dangerous stuff from both parties, even from the POLICE THAT I WOULDN'T DO.
Obviously when doing a runner you will try to minimise risks to yourself and others whilst doing so - but if it goes pear shape, you have to live with it if you're still alive.

In short: do it if you know right away that you can make it. If you are unsure, don't bother. Don't make your mind up for 5 seconds while he's doing a u-turn - you'll probably panic and screw something up big time.

Good on ya for bringing the issue up though. Go hard next time if the gods permit!

[jrandom]

Usual non-PC runner advice...

[GIXser]

Don't think. Go!

right on, ya have a split second to make a choice and calculate various scenarios,
i usually start thinking about the scenarios over a beer later....

in saying all that , if ya were taking it too far (which obviously you were not given the small fine) but there are some instances were a ticket is deserved , ie endangering others lives and shit or just being a complete idiot....

[vifferman]

Bad luck? Bad timing? Dramatic irony? Just the way life is?

Almost exactly 24 hours after getting pinged for cruising at 72 km/h. some WANKER is doing laps of the block in a hotted-up black Porsche, absolutely caning it, and no cops around.

He'd easily be doing licence-losing velocities...

[Max Preload]

Dont get too obsessed with cops and speed enforcement - they are doing a job that needs to be done in a driver culture of "me first, I am better than everyone else so why ticket me"...

But ticketing speeding is still only a poor substitute for simply not refusing to give common idiot incompetent fucktards licenses, valid for well over half a century without any retesting, in the first place.

[The Tazman]

What is irrational about having one rule for all and having a speed limit?

It's not, if it was used in the right way. As in what they say it's for (road safety) rather than easy money and easy figures!!!!! As I said before, if they want to do what they say they are doing, teach people to drive and be visible in areas that are a problem rather than hiding to get the extra money and figures!!!!

Would you prefer your own open slather on the roads and allow the cops to decide individually what speed level to start giving tickets out at?

No but would like them to be more human and be able to rationalise the situation. Take Murder. It doesn't matter how you look at it the person is DEAD. No argument there right? but due to different ways of looking at it some people get life (all though that is no longer a definite!!!!) and some people get less than someone that did a minor crime!!!!!

I hear what you are getting at and I do sympathise, but quite simply, the speed limits are there to protect us from unreasonably dangerous speeders and have to be set at a level to apply to all - even you shock horror!

Oh p l e a s e It is illegal to murder/steal etc does that stop the really bad people doing it???????? No. So the real f**king morons on the road ain't going to change because of the way the police are now doing things. It's like saying the anti smacking law is going to stop the scum f**k beating his kid, it just ain't going to happen. That is the way they are and that won't change even a bit unless we start making the punishment fit the crime and even that won't stop this kind of person. All these things do is effect the good people that may make tiny mistakes!!! oh but shock horror that being human!!!!

I would like to see some limits higher in places and more police discretion too, but then that just blurs the line beyond 'fairness' to all and would likely create more complaints than the current no discretion rule above 10+ km/h and 5+ around schools or towing trailers.

Not at all, look at the way people look and treat the police now to the way they did years ago. Listen to the way Good people (including people I know that work for them) talk about them. F**k me most of my family are or have been in the police, including quite a few friends and I wanted to be (eyesight stopped that) and look at the way I'm carrying on as do many other good people. The scum f**ks are laughing as they are the only ones it's not effecting!!!!!!!!

I agree that driver training in NZ is very poor. All they do is teach you how to pass a basic test, not how to drive with thought and skill.

Couldn't agree more

Dont get too obsessed with cops and speed enforcement - they are doing a job that needs to be done in a driver culture of "me first, I am better than everyone else so why ticket me"..... if you ever saw the list of infringements given out you would find a huge number are also issued for red and amber light runners and a large number of other behaviour offences I can't be bothered listing or I would be here all morning.... and it does make a lot of money - none of which goes to police.

It's a job that needs to be done but not in the way they are doing it. Unfortunately it all comes down to money again. To solve the problem they would need to spend money!!!! Instead they use the easy option which involves making them (the government) loads of money and goes no where to solving the problem. If they actually used all the money to make things better you may have a bit more of an argument.

[vifferman]

The "solution to the road toll" is supposedly the three Es: Education, Enforcement and Engineering. But the Gummint - while taxing us to the hilt for road usage - is not interested in spending anything on sensible road engineering. The obviously most effective solution is education, yet they've done nothing about this, apart from trying to brainwash us into thinking that the problem is almost entirely exceeding motorists exceeding the speed limit (so they can justify putting all their resources into policing that).

[scumdog]

trying to brainwash us into thinking that the problem is almost entirely exceeding motorists exceeding the speed limit (so they can justify putting all their resources into policing that).

AND drink-driving and not wearing seat-belts and....but YOU only got caught speeding....

[I_R_SQUID]

Harold today: Short news piece about a cop overcooking a corner into some parked cars and a taxi.

'Driver training means we can speed and you can't.'

:

OMG WHAT IF THERE WERE CHILDRENS AND NUNS IN THE CARS!!!1!1!!?!?!?!?

[scumdog]

Harold today: Short news piece about a cop overcooking a corner into some parked cars and a taxi.

'Driver training means we can speed and you can't.'

:

OMG WHAT IF THERE WERE CHILDRENS AND NUNS IN THE CARS!!!1!1!!?!?!?!?

So what is your REAL KB name Mr I R SQUID??