Traffic Laws & Enforcement Tactics

Replying to: davv62 (Apr 01, 2007 5:50 pm)

im from the great state of CT too - and i got a speeding ticket on my way back to school in RI in 1999 for $274. i was driving on 95N near groton (where they have that big wide 5 lanes across (or something like that) bridge that all of a sudden, the speed limit drops from 65 to 55 for no reason. following the speed of traffic, cop pulls me over telling me im doing 84 in a 55. whoops! sent it in not guilty, and it took them nearly a year to finally set up a court date for me! i had thought they had forgotten! had it reduced to 175, so i guess its ok. that place is infamous for speed traps though...
 
where abouts in CT are you located? im 10 minutes south of hartford, in newington.
 
-thene

Replies to this message:
• railroadjames (Apr 02, 2007 5:43 pm)
• davv62 (Apr 02, 2007 6:29 pm)
  • thenebean (Apr 03, 2007 5:42 am)
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Replying to: thenebean (Apr 02, 2007 6:23 am)

My honey and I went on a 3,025 mile combination wedding/visit family outing last Dec. I drove the 52mpg Prius with the cruise set most of the time 78mph and covered the first 900 miles and decided it was time for honey to drive. She is 58 yrs old and never had a single ticket. I warned her to be careful in Pennsyvania due to a few past experiences of others and my own close calls. She hadn't put 12 miles on the Prius when I adjusted my pillow while staring at a State Trooper pointing the deathray gun at "US". 83 in a 65 zone. As we pulled over my wife confidently professed ..."He'll check my driving record and see I'm a virgin with an unblemished driving record." I snickereda bit, trying not to say I told you so, and told her she was about to be de-flowered. She told the officer that the speed got away from her while "running with the pack." What was amazing tho was the officer was so very thoughtful and considerate it almost seemed like he was doing her a favor. Cost was $106.00 and no points to my surprise. He said he'd do her a ticket for "failing to obey a traffic sign."nver heard of that one b/4) My criticism of my wife is for failing to use the cruise-control. She says she doesn't like cruise. We still bicker about this from time to time. I tend to be on constant lookout for police with a bit of uncanny accuracy and a bit of Irish luck. I'll get mine too someday (it's inevitable), although I'm running close to 13 yrs without a ticket and I drive with my Locomotive Engineer's License at stake if I get a number of tickets and/or DUI's in a one yr period. This is another reason for cruise.

Replying to: thenebean (Apr 02, 2007 6:23 am)

thenebean --
 
I'm in Fairfield, down on the coast right next to Bridgeport.
 
Nice to meet a fellow nutmegger here.
 
My last ticket was also in 1999. It's been too long -- I think I need to go out and get another one....

Replies to this message:
• thenebean (Apr 03, 2007 5:42 am)
  • davv62 (Apr 04, 2007 7:04 pm)
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Replying to: andre1969 (Apr 02, 2007 4:47 am)

Andre, so you've had 4 tickets in the past 8 years. Pretty respectable.
 
I only drive about 8,000 per year at this point. I park at a train station and take the train to work, so I'm only driving about 4 miles each way per day. I have been to Boston a few times, but that's only a 2-1/2 hour drive from me.
 
Try to stay out of trouble, man....

Replying to: davv62 (Apr 02, 2007 6:29 pm)

yup - know where that is. a friend of mine lived there for a while, right near the train station off of mile creek road exit (i think?) anyways, its a nice town
 
there are a few of us nutmeggers on here - which is kind of neat! CT is such a small state, so sometimes its hard to find people from your area online at a big national website like this!
 
and you're right - i need to get another speeding ticket...im feeling naked without one!
 
-thene

Replies to this message:
• davv62 (Apr 04, 2007 7:04 pm)
  • thenebean (Apr 05, 2007 8:55 am)
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Replying to: thenebean (Apr 03, 2007 5:42 am)

Dude, I think you mean Mill Plan Road, rather than Mile Creek Rd.
 
Fairfield is definitely a nice town. I hear Newington is also.
 
You definitely need to get another ticket. So do I, man. It's been too long; we're really slacking...

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• thenebean (Apr 05, 2007 8:55 am)
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Replying to: davv62 (Apr 04, 2007 7:04 pm)

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• davv62 (Apr 06, 2007 4:02 am)
  • paisan (Apr 06, 2007 4:24 am)
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Replying to: thenebean (Apr 05, 2007 8:55 am)

Hey man, speaking of enforcement tactics...
 
Have you ever noticed that on Connecticut highways, the state troopers are either completely absent, or out in tremendous force?
 
They seem to favor special details over day-in, day-out enforcement. One thing I've learned is that if you see one smokey on those roads, watch your a&$, because you'll probably be seeing a lot more.
 
I rode to Boston once a while back with a buddy of mine. He got nailed a short distance into Connecticut on I-84 (I lived in New York at the time), and nearly got busted three more times before we made it through Connecticut. Man, that was a harrowing trip... Not harrowing enough, of course, to get him to slow down, but you know how that goes...
 
Most of the time though, you could drive for hours and never see a trooper.
 
Sometimes, the state police even announce publicly when they'll be having a crackdown. Maybe that's because they'll prefer to nail out-of-state drivers who won't have access to local news about the crackdown.

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• paisan (Apr 06, 2007 4:24 am)
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Replying to: davv62 (Apr 06, 2007 4:02 am)

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• davv62 (Apr 06, 2007 4:56 pm)
• rayainsw (Apr 17, 2007 8:45 am)

Replying to: paisan (Apr 06, 2007 4:24 am)

Hey Mike,
 
On the highway, I go between 75 and 85 under good traffic and weather conditions, so that is 20-30 mph over the speed limit in the 55 mph zones near me, and 10-20 mph over the speed limit in a 65 mph zone.
 
Even so, I haven't been pulled over since 1999, and that wasn't even on the highway.
 
I don't use a radar detector, but I gauge my behavior by the behavior of other drivers. I tend to use blockers too when I can, and I slow down if the behavior of drivers ahead of me indicates there may be enforcement activity.
 
The last time I got nailed, there was almost no traffic and I had the road all to myself. I knew that was the most dangerous time to speed from the standpoint of potential for getting busted, but I just couldn't resist the temptation.....