Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Radar Detectors

[Fellippe Galletta (fellippe.galletta]

On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 10:24 PM, Scott Saidel <ferrarisimo [at] comcast.net> wrote:

V1 - period.

Not so much for the highway - I depend more on letting some "rabbit" run a 1/2 mile ahead of me and watch for unexplained taillights.  Also have a couple of legal tricks - remembering the last three digits of the "rabbits" plates - and reporting them as a possibly drunk, aggressive driver if I get stopped.  Buy the book "A Speeder's Guide to Avoiding Speeding Tickets - or feel free to email me off list (unless anyone else cares) for more details on how to behave when you see the flashing lights.

I'll do that and I wouldn't mind hearing about some tips....I cannot avoid death, taxes, and speeding tickets!!
 

I find the detector more handy in town - where it is pretty easy to inadvertently exceed the posted limit.  As soon as it beeps and flashes, I have an opportunity to review and - if necessary - adjust my speed.

Yeah, I agree....it's more common to get popped on slower roads. I do pretty well on highways unless I'm careless, which happens probably once a year.
 

I would recommend the V1 for that car and that trip.  I took many trips between Florida and New Jersey when we had the LWB light turbo Brooklands and the car had a tendency to "creep up" on you.  There is very little sense of speed in that car, especially once you have been behind the wheel for a few hours - and you can easily slip into "ticketable" speeds.

Exactly what I try to tell people!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank You!!

Man it's so frustrating to deal with people (coworkers mostly) who do not have these cars who think that I'm constantly doing burnouts and WOT in every gear like some 18 year old kid.....

I tell them that it's a real burden having a car that can go from 75 to 90+ in 6th gear without noticing, and they just laugh because they think I'm joking. Naturally because for a regular car you kinda have to put some effort to hit 90 mph. :)

South Carolina is a real problem compared to New York....here's why:

1) Cops may be a thousand times more polite down here but so far it's a 100% ticket policy...no breaks. They will write down every single ticket to 10 over, but 10 over is still points!!

An NY cop never writes anything down but there's better than a 0% chance you get a warning or a hook up for an insurance ticket, broken light, etc.

2) Thanks to a relatively small population, first court dates come up quick -- a few weeks compared to NY where you're looking at 2-3 months (because you can plead not guilty and then be assigned a court date as opposed to just being given a court date 5 weeks after your traffic stop!). Sometimes you get nice automatic postponements too...a good 6 months before you ever have to show up. 

3) In SC, when you show up to court they never ask if you want an attorney. In NY that's standard practice, and postponing can buy you a few more months (and then at the point, you give to attorney and you cross your fingers). If you show up in SC, you either plead guilty or argue your case (and most likely lose).

4) In NY, traffic attorney is a very real profession not a hobby. The winning percentage of someone good is probably 70-80%, and if you count reductions as winning, then maybe 90%. You pay about $200-250 a pop but your insurance doesn't go up (and you don't pay the fine). In SC, traffic attorney isn't a real profession apparently, and from what I've seen in court never saw anything good come out of it.

In summary, in SC you get pulled over and there's a 99% chance you are getting points in a few weeks. In NY, you get pulled over and if you know how to play the game there won't be a decision on your case for 1 to 2 YEARS, and a very good chance you are getting off or reduced.

In SC's defense they seem to be more forgiving of points after a year or so, but in the short term it's tough!

Sorry for the rant, I have to send in a guilty ticket for doing 10 over at 6 AM a few weeks back. :)

FG