Scruit

In the UK the police can pull you over for a "Documents Check", no need for you to have done something. The UK police style tends towards the understanding that everyone makes mistakes on the road, and if you go after the obvious traffic violations on a car that is otherwise uninteresting then you tend to only get that one violation. Unless if's an immediate safety issue then your impact on that stop is not all that great. A keen eye can spot a hinky car/driver even if it's not breaking any traffic laws. Same thing that the US police do, with the big difference of not having to wait for them to do something that justifies pulling them over. I got a No-Insurance ticket in the UK many years ago, and the officer who pulled me over told me that I didn't get pulled over for doing something wrong - it was just the look on my face as we saw each other. Guilty conscience = Look-like-you-just-saw-a-ghost when the officer drives past. That's something that us regular citizes sometimes struggle to understand. Why did the officer not pull over a person for an obvious violation? When two cars come past at night, one with it's high beams on and the other with one headlight out, why did the officer ignore the guy with the headliht out? Well, becuase a headlight out is an equipment violation that is easy to correct and doesn't necessarily indicate a bad car/driver. The highbeams, on the other had, are a good sign of an impaired driver, and on some cars can be an indication of a stolen car with it's column busted open. Who would you rather get off the road?

That would be true of a citizen with a CCW. I didn't know that counted for cops too, their right to carry (even off-duty) is governed by a different set of laws. Well, I've had a couple contacts with the police and they haven't taken my gun when I notifed. Granted, none of those were enforcement contacts against myself, but still. It's up to the individual officer's judgement based upon the totality of circumstances, I guess.

10TV is reporting that the Gahanna cop was on their SWAT team (but was on worker's comp) and has been kicked off the team. http://www.10tv.com/live/content/local/stories/2009/07/16/story_gahanna.html?sid=102

I just want to know what happened to the last 10 bikers caught doing 147. Take the average of their fines / suspension / jail, and that's the officer's punishment. No more, no less than the average citizen.

I guess us regular folks are happiest when we can labor under the delusion that the police are not above the law.

125cc bikes like this are common in the UK becuase of a legal loophole that allows people to to ride them without a motorcycle endorsement. In the UK your cage licence is valid as a provisional bike license, with no expiration, for bikes up to 125cc. That, plus gas at $8/gal, means folks will ride around on these for years without ever getting trained or tested, all perfectly legal. Biking in the UK is more out of necessity than fun. People ride because it's much cheaper.

When bikes are riding in formation, can they run red lights to stay in formation (assuming the first bikes go through on green) like a funeral procession? Saw a group of bikes last friday - at least 5 of them shamelessly ran the light after it turned red. Last two bikes stopped.

A little ways north of Columbus.

Thanks all!

81. Your score indicates you are a nerd with too much time on their hands. You should be riding instead of filling out 115 question surveys. Joke is on them... I was doing the test on my iphone while going down i70 at 147mph. Hey, lookie at that neat plane.

Either way, this trial will be watched closely. As you say, any successful defense risks becoming de facto, so if they find a loophole they'd better close it quick.

That was my son. He's 5.

Hey all. Been riding about 4 years, but only got about 5k miles in that time. I can't commute on the bike because I always pull daycare duty... I ride a 2005 Suzuki Volusia (Last model year before they named it the Boulevard C50). Been a great bike, no problems at all.

I always go by the rule that if I lock up the back brake then I'm stopping whether I wanted to or not. Your accident can't be as embarrassing as my first 'spill'. I wasn't even moving! Stopped at a Pizza Hut, saw a car full of hotties and tried to look all cool stepping off my Hardley Davidson. They broke up my routine (yes, their fault. Any questions?). Forgot the kickstand. Failure in 3....2....1....

Anyone else feel like he's only paying the price after-the-fact because they couldn't sweep it under the rug? Wonder who narked...

There's going to be more fallout from this. The officer who turned the mic off and didn't cite for 4 and 8 days?? I think I already mentioned that Highsmith's citation number suggests his citation was written days after the incident - now the news confirms it. I've heard of Professional Courtesy, but I thought it was more of an "Employee Discount" rather than a "Steal everything in the shop" kind of setup. In some states they would go to jail for that kind of speed - and the video indicates the freeway was not empty. This is getting enough press I really wonder if that officer can ever bring himself to write a Reckless Op citation based upon speed alone? "If 3 guys on bikes in heave traffic at nearly 150mph is no, in your judgement, reckless... Then how can my 86mph be?" I'm as pro-cop as anyone out there (cop family), but this time I think the whole situation is rotten. At that speed they deserved no special treatment. Anyone on here have personal experience of a 100mph+ ticket on an Ohio freeway - for comparison? (Worst I ever got was 81 and that was 12 years ago)

Works as an octane booster.

Did you ever get it back? I have lojack on my laptop here...

If he loses his driver's license then he can't even do that. Desk duty? Work from home? Maybe he can telecommute. When the plane catches you speeding he'll call you from his house and ream you out for it. You know the next step... You get home from a spirited ride and you'll get a call from an Indian call center; "Hello, this is Jupreet from the Ohio State Patrol... You are a very very bad man! Your fine will be $150. Please to be giving me your credit card number."

Having this trooper do traffic enforcement after getting caught doing 147mph is a bit like having the fox guarding the chicken coop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZzeZqmQM00

http://10tv.com/live/content/local/stories/2009/07/08/story_trooper_plea.html?sid=102 This link has video of the arraignment hearing.

Aren't traffic light camera tickets a civil infraction rather than a MM?

It's a double edged sword. Which man law is most important?? Never leave a buddy behind? Never give up your buddy to the cops?

Sorry, reading > me. Officer Thomas' ticket was written two days later. That suggests they had to track him down after the fact. Naughty.