Robonaut

No, this is not another "I was driving around with limousine-class tint on my front window and got pulled over" thread, nor is it a "I was street racing and some stupid cop gave me a ticket" thread. No, what happened to me is much more irritating.

So, this morning, I'm doing my usual commute to work down one of the main surface streets in my town, when a cop pulls up behind me and puts his lights on. I instantly look down at my speedometer and see 43 mph. It's a 40 mph zone. So I'm like "he couldn't possibly be pulling me over for speeding, could he?" In fact, he wasn't.

When the cop comes to my window, he asks the inevitable "Do you know what I pulled you over for?" question. And I'm seriously, like, "Uh, I have absolutey no idea".

What the cop tells me is that I didn't come to a full stop at a stop sign. Which was probably true--I doubt that I had my car fully down to zero mph. But, still, I was totally shocked that he pulled me over for this, considering that:

(1) The roads were icy as hell this morning--you would think that he would have better things to do.

(2) Even if I didn't come to a full stop, I doubt that I was going more than, like, 5 mph when I went through the stop sign. It's not like I blew through it, or something.

(3) There was absolutely nobody coming down the road I was crossing. I wasn't doing anything remotely dangerous to myself or anybody else by not coming to a perfect full stop.


What really ticked me off is that he gave me a ticket despite the fact that I have had an absolutely perfect driving record for ten years. I take great efforts to drive responsibly (I never speed or anything) and so getting slapped with something like this just feels like a massive insult.

So, now I need to go to court and plead my case. No doubt I'll end up paying the fine but won't get any points. Which makes me feel even more that this is all about generating revenue for the city and not about making the streets safer.

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

Your driving a sports car. Your going to get those tickets. If you were driving a mini van you could get away with close to murder.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

I am not trying to be a dick or flame you or anything, but I am curious, why didn't you come to a full stop at the stop sign?

Red Lights / Stop signs is a pet peeve of mine since I nearly get hit from people not stopping at either every single day. It is possible the cop has the same perspective as I do.

The only real tangible reason I can think of for why most people don't come to a complete stop, is they dislike the physical sensation of that last 1-to-0 suspension shift, and it "feels smoother" if they don't actually stop their roll.

God, and everyone else, knows I am not a model driver, and I don't pretend to claim that you should either. I am just curious as to the reasons why people do what they do

Machiavelli

Same here. Nothing aggravates me more than people who roll up to a stop sign from a side street at 5 or 10 mph, take a quick look, decide that they can "make it" and then continue on and pull out in front of you. I'm not implying that that's what the OP did; in fact he made a point of saying that there was no one else around. But from the cop's perspective it's probably reasonable to assume that many people who roll through stop signs do it on a habitual basis. I imagine it's hard for a cop to draw the line.

Robonaut

Well, for one thing, as I said, it's pretty icy this morning. This is the first time I'm driving a RWD car in the winter, and I'm still getting used to it.

I find that if I'm starting from a full stop, I tend to get more fishtailing on the rearend then if I'm moving a little bit already. That's probably the main reason I didn't come to a full stop.

TragicallyHip

This is going to sound like a douchebag/hypocritical thing for me to say, as i'm guilty as old hell of the exact same thing, but Stop signs are there for a reason.

Yesterday on my way to work I was running along doing the speed-limit on a slippery road. (the speed-limit on this road suits it quite accurately for winter driving, but it RIDICULOUSLY slow for summer driving.) But they use it as a speed-trap all summer long, which again gets into the whole "generating revenue" racket.

Anyways, I'm driving my winter beater Honda Civic and this older man is pulling out of a side-street in his new Silverado. He comes to a half-*** stop at the stop sign and then starts to continue on through it as I lay on my horn and his wheels lock up resulting in him sliding through the stop-sign by a few feet and almost into the oncoming lane of traffic (which WAS clear, unlike my own lane)

Had he come to a complete stop at this stop sign, there wouldn't have been any issue...

I'm sure his excuse would have been "well, I never seen you coming" which is pretty much my whole point here... He didn't take the time to stop at the stop sign and take a GOOD look to see if it was safe to enter onto the main road. This is especially important in these winter conditions as your time to brake/accelerate to avoid an accident is obviously greatly reduced.

Had he actually pulled out in front of me, I feel I DID have time to brake and avoid running into the side/back of him HAD he pulled out infront of me... But if you're forcing someone to come to a complete stop on a main road to avoid hitting you when you just pulled out, then CHANCES ARE, it probably wasn't the safest time to be pulling onto the road...


Like I said, I roll stop-signs all the time if I see there is no traffic coming, I can't think of too many people who don't... But all the cop would say when you say "There was no traffic around who would have been affected by this" i'm sure all he's thinking is "Well, you just ran a stop sign in front of a police car, so it looks to me like you missed seeing me in the area and makes me wonder if you could have missed another vehicle which COULD have been affected... OR you just don't have any respect for the rules of the road"


If you look at it from another point-of-view i'm sure you can see where he's coming from... But if you look at it from our typical point-of-view, you did nothing INSANELY wrong and he was just being a douche... I know a few friends who got busted for rolling stop-signs over the years during the summer on quiet streets and that was always the cops outlook on it. (The whole "ok you say there was nothing coming, except for me in my MARKED POLICE car...")



The fact that you feel it fairly justified to NOT stop at a stop sign because it's icy... Well thats the kicker right there... More than likely why the cop ticketed you in the first place. It's THEN, if any time that you should come to a complete stop.

DarkLord7854

Same here, I get so incredibly pissed off when someone decides to do that. Dad used to do it all the time, I picked up the habit of constantly pestering him about it, now he always stops at Stop signs.

It's kinda why they're called "Stop" signs, you stop, check, go.

You don't know how many times I've almost smashed into someone because they decided to break the law and not stop. The worst are the stop signs on streets opening onto large roads when you're going 45mph.

lokaldisruption

ya out here in california there are a shitload of tickets going around for rolling stops....cuz here we even gave it a name.... the good ol " California Roll" lol and now having a stick 8 makes it even more tempting to roll em.=)

cornholio135

iTrader: (2)

Why do cops do this crap?

because it is their job....


Here-Here, you did not come to a complete stop and that is what a STOP SIGN means fool. you deserver the ticket. I cannot stand drivers you think they do not have to come to a complete stop. Was it a yeild sign???? No... there is a stop sign very close to my house and I can stand outside and count the number of drivers that do a "rolling stop" this behavior is what causes accidents. if I saw you you would have gotten a be dose of Horn Honking... Learn the rules of the road!!!!!! My daughter had to do an experiment for school and had to watch a stop sign for 1/2 an hour. She recorded 10 cars- 1 did a complete stop, the rest either did a rolling stop or ignored it altogether...

dmc27

Stop Signs are recommendations.

But good god man, how the hell do you not notice a leo right behind you???

Tickets are rarely undeserved.

I hadn't had a speeding ticket in 10 years when I bought the 8. The 1st state trooper to pull me for speeding didn't seem to care. I didn't get all bent out of shape, either, since I was speeding, thus deserved the ticket he was writing out.

DarkLord7854

I love how people will rant and b*tch about street racing, but some are completely OK with rolling stops. Irony eh? Heh.


It's still breaking the law.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Heh, up here in Rhode Island, everything is ***-backwards...90+% of drivers are terrified of what they shouldn't be (moving, turning, accelerating, and merging), and fearless of what they should be cautious of (running red lights, stop signs, pulling out into a solid line of crossing traffic)

They also
- Stop at yield signs and highway acceleration on-ramp lanes
- Roll stop signs
- Feel that a fresh red light means "you have 5-10 more seconds before crossing traffic starts...go get em!"
- Merge into traffic at the absolute first possible chance on the ramp (often just after stopping on said ramp), or else ride the ramp the entire way to the end under the speed limit and shift over into the travel lanes only once they see they are driving on the shoulder
- Every single day on my way home from work, I see people merging from travel lanes into highway on-ramps.

Honestly, I prefer the drivers of DC, NY, LA, and Miami over Boston / RI.

Drivers here are terrified AND careless. And honestly, it makes me a bit paranoid myself.

I feel that these types of drivers cause more accidents than "aggressive drivers", even though they probably are never involved, since the accident is in the stack-up behind them.

Yesterday I saw a car come to a complete stop on I-95 in the middle lane, right blinker on, waiting for a clear gap in traffic to change lanes to the right lane which becomes an offramp 1/2 a mile farther down. I guarantee you that that driver also rolls stop signs and the first few seconds of red lights. I make every effort to know what is going on around me at all times, expanding that as far as possible in all directions. These people apparently make an effort to NOT know what is going on around them, and it just fuels their terror.

As an aware and level headed driver, albeit on the fast side, these people scare me.

Razz1

Really?

Your violation is the worse. I bet you run lights too.

Do you know how many accidents are caused at intersections?

My brother was killed on his motorcycle by someone like you who thought..... it wasn't even that fast when I ran the stop sign/light.

Tell it to the judge.

DarkLord7854

Miami? O.o

I didn't know it was worse than Miami elsewhere.. wow..

DarkLord7854

No, it means Stop, as in, come to a complete stop, 0mph.

Why? Because it's the law. The law which you were supposed to read, and agree to, when taking your driving test.

What's it going to cost you? An extra second or two? It can mean the difference between hitting someone and not.

Just because there's no-one around doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. It'll become a habit, and then maybe the next time you do it, there actually will be someone there, and you're going to hit them.

This thread fails.

zoom44

you ran the stop sign you pay the ticket. if you had stopped you'd have seen the cop. for people backing him up that there was "no one around" guess what THE COP WAS THERE! so who else was there that he missed? maybe some one crossing the street on foot next time.

you f'ed up suck it up pay the ticket and next time STOP.

thread closed