Supraboy1

While Texas is a right to work state there still are some wrongful termination events. One of the top ones... Firing an employee for being accused of a crime. There is several court decisions regarding this matter. Reason being.... your innocent until proven guilty not the other way around.

Bullett is right; a great lawyer will get you out of all tickets some how. After all the cities just want your money.

I absolutely would not report a ticket to my employer unless and until it was a conviction.

Refer to the rader detector chart. The best one of the market at this time is the Passport 9500IX

Supraboy1

Get a Blinder M47 Laser Jammer and never worry about a laser ticket again.

Bullett

In many cases, I tend to think this is absolutely true. I mean sure, there's the occasional a-hole driving like a bat out of hell and doing so very dangerously. But just because a person is going faster than what the white signs say doesn't mean they are one of those a-holes.

In fact, my lawyer (my main one anyway) says that technically speaking, and when sifting through all the legal mumbo jumbo, there is actually no "legal speed limit" in Texas. It's got something to do with the way the laws are written. But basically, the white signs only indicate what the city feels is a "reasonable and prudent speed" for the road in question. If it can be shown in court that a person going faster than the limit posted was doing so in a reasonable and prudent manner, there can be no conviction.

He talks sometimes of a case -- just one as far as I know -- where the client wasn't happy with deferred adjudication or driving school and pushed for a jury trial. My lawyer got up in front of the jury and asked if anyone had ever driven faster than what was posted on the signs. Then, after seeing hands go up, he asked if they felt they were being reasonable and prudent with respect to the road, the conditions and their driving ability. When hands went up this time, he said "Then according to the letter of Texas law, you must acquit in this case."

And they did. He used to talk about it a lot on a radio show he hosted a few years ago. It's only happened once, but according to him, it worked.

Luckily, most cases never get that far. I've had at least a small handful that were dismissed outright, and many others that simply "went away" after I paid the fine. Sure, they still cost me money....but after a brief period, they were not on my record.

I'm all for driving smart, safe and not like an a-hole, but I firmly believe that I can handle my car at speeds that may be slighter higher than what's posted, and I have no qualms about doing so. I'm not some young punk out to race everyone and their brother and prove the size of my man bits. I just like feeling my car roar when I'm tearing up the road.

Bullett

That's the one I've been drooling over since I started saving up for my new car. I just don't know if I can swing the purchase and installation before the 1st of September.

Supraboy1

Call John Turner at the link I posted tell him your a friend of mine see if he cant give you a discount. Car toys installation $250 in Plano near the old Toys R Us.

Bullett

Sweet. Thanks for the tip.

BambiTLK

I think the part that lets them get away with it is that they would be firing me for failure to report the accusation, not the accusation itself. Oh well. I didn't mean to hijack your thread!

Back on topic...are lasers used a lot here? In Colorado it was just radar, and the 8500 did just fine there. I was thinking about picking up something in that price range, but if laser really is used widely here, I guess it'd be worth it to upgrade to the 9500.

I'm not worried about red light cameras, just speed traps and speed cameras (do they have those here, too?).

mrMTB

iTrader: (13)

Yeah, there are some municipalities that use it quite a bit. I don't think I've seen any speed cameras in the area...

BambiTLK

Do you know which ones? I've been doing some internet research...but all I seem to get is conflicting information.

DEVO330

iTrader: (1)

lasers are used quite a bit in FortWorth, not sure about the rest of DFW
my Valentine is 6yrs old and continues to pay for itself each yr.
the false alarms are not a problem- you kind of get to be your own GPS after a while
some cheap radars will set it off, but you kind of learn the false beeping patterns
i think it was worth the extra money

chad99evo

iTrader: (24)

i have a cost free solution that will keep you from getting tickets AND it saves gas...

Supraboy1

Drive the posted limit? I'm not a proponent of thumbing my nose at the law; but the speed limit laws are ridiculously low. Most Americans feel the same way otherwise only few would speed.

I have been an elected official for the past 12 years. I was a small thorn of many in getting seat beats in school buses and trying to get the law to force police officers completely off the highway and into parking lots when issuing traffic citations. Of course the law just requires people to move over and or slow down.

Its utterly retarded that cites have turned police officers into revenue collectors rather than protectors of peace and servants of the public trust. I have watched trains of 7,8, even 9 police writing tickets rather than solving real crimes.

The State Legislature even considered allowing Texas drivers to prepay a coupon book. But they didn't pass it; for the reason of it sending a message that the rich were allowed to speed.

I'm glad to see Texas raise the interstate limit to 85. Hell most people drive that on the Dallas North Tollway and for certain of the 121 Tollway. Of course few people realize that both that Tollways were designed for speeds of 100 MPH.

The biggest problem is the real lack of safety enforcement. Idiots that drive with bald tires or lack of decent tires, lack of alignments, low grade brake pads from pep boys, even a general lack of maintenance.

Speeding is 7th down in the list of one of the causes of accidents yet its the most enforced due to the amount of money collected, and no other reason.

Bullett

Ya' know...this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.

Let's not forget that just about every car ever made that could go current speed limits was actually designed to go at least 40 or so miles per hour more than the highest speed limit. Even a Prius can break 100. It may take a day and a half, but it can do it.

Sounds to me like you're also a proponent of the not-so-common "common sense." When I got pulled over Friday on 75, traffic was ridiculous and the road was crap, so I made for the next off ramp, stuck my arm out the window and pointed to my right, followed by a to let the officer know I was getting him to a safe place to conduct the stop. I may believe whole-heartedly he was running a speed trap on me, but that's no reason he should risk getting nailed by another car just to give me a ticket. He's got a job to do same as anyone. I can't fault him for doin' it. (Okay, I can a little bit, but not enough to wish him harm.)

All very good (if little known) points. I listen to a radio show where the host routinely says "It's not speeding that causes accidents. It's people going all different speeds that causes accidents. You have some people who want to go 90 coming up on some dude going 40...things are going to happen. The 40 MPH guy is no more "safe" than the 90 MPH guy because he's creating a rolling obstacle for those going the actual limit.

I always bring up how interesting it is that they can have a freeway in Europe where people drive like bats out of hell, but we find it necessary here to cap speeds so low some cars can't even reach their top gear. (I have an RA instead of an Evo and in Auto/Sport Mode, it won't shift out of 5th gear unless I'm over 80. That's how I hit 105 during my test drive because I was waiting for it to hit the last gear.)

The first time I got cited when I came home from overseas, I felt that it was such BS, I came home and jumped on my computer, researching speeding tickets and fighting tickets, etc. Every single page I found said "Do NOT 'just pay the ticket'...that's what they want you to do, otherwise their ticket isn't cost effective for the city."

SilverEvoX

iTrader: (2)

Take some satisfaction knowing you're not the only one getting stopped all the time. I got stopped 3 consecutive Saturday nights in a row for NO REASON. The cop just came up and asked me random questions etc and let me go. I filed 2 complaints against the Colleyville PD for harassmant because it was the same officer 2 outta 3 times within that 3 week span. One night I was told that I revved my engine at them and that's why I got stopped (what actually happened is I clutched about 300ft before them and coasted by and then about 300ft past them re-engaged the clutch), one night I was told I was stopped because the officer thought my car was stuck in gear initially then realized it was just that loud and that I rounded a left turn without making a full 90 degree turn at the corner, and one night for suspected underage drinking because they had reports of a party in the neighborhood I happened to be in. That last instance the cop was sitting in his car when I walked out from my buddies house, it was dead silent outside and I was the only car in the area, fired up the Evo, turned the corner onto the main street with him following me out of the neighborhood and got popped about 200ft onto that street.

I get stopped seriously once a month for some bull**** lately but haven't been earning any tickets thank god just wasted time being stopped.

Bullett

Dang man. That blows. But I had a stop JUST like that back in '05 when I had my '04 Ralliart. The excuse I got was "Oh, you're not who I thought you were I was looking for _____." However, it was dark and I had tinted windows. How the hell could he see whether or not I resembled some fictitious person? The answer is probably just like the one from Friday night -- it was a made-up DUI test stop. If I'd smelled like alcohol, the stop would have went very differently. Since I didn't, he came up with some lame line and let me go.