In my state (Virginia) you can be cited for “reckless” driving for exceeding any speed limit by more than 20 MPH. It sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t – because so many speed limits are preposterously low to begin with. I’ll give you an example: I-581 near Roanoke is (as the “I” plainly concedes) an Interstate highway. It is three lanes each direction and limited access (i.e., no traffic lights – just on and off ramps). Yet it is posted an absolutely ridiculous 55 MPH. Which means, driving a mere 76 MPH is sufficient to draw a “reckless” charge.
Meanwhile, 70 is perfectly legal on adjacent I-81 (which, incidentally, is only two lanes each direction). The same 76 MPH on that road would be – at most – a minor ticket.
However, Virginia has another nasty surprise in store for the unwary: Anything more than 80 on any road, anywhere in the commonwealth is also statutory “reckless” driving.
79 MPH – just a ticket.
81 – “reckless.”
This is no ordinary mail-in-the-fine-and-be-done-with-it ticket, either.
The cop can, at his discretion, arrest you on the spot and cart you off to the clink (and have your vehicle towed to an impound lot at your expense).
Usually, that does not happen – probably because the cops themselves know these “reckless” tickets are grotesque perversions of language. However, what will happen is you’ll be issued a piece of paper ordering you to appear at court (not optional) on such-and-such a date, where – if convicted – you’ll be slapped with six DMV demerit points (vs. the usual speeding ticket’s three or four) a huge fine (several hundred bucks, at least) a likely suspension of your “privilege” to drive – and the absolute certainty that your government-mandated insurance premiums will double for the next several years at least. Obviously, hiring a lawyer to game the system is essential. 
But either way, you will pay.
Best case, you’ll avoid the conviction – but there’s no avoiding the lawyer’s fee. $700-$1,000 or so is the going rate. Worst case, you’ll be convicted. Which means in addition to the lawyer’s fee – which you’ll pay regardless – you’ll also pay the fines levied by the court, as well as the jacked-up insurance rates for years to come.
The total cost if convicted of “reckless” driving can easily amount to thousands of dollars.
All for the Great Crime of driving 76 on an Interstate highway where everyone is doing about the same thing – and nothing unsafe (much less ”reckless”) about it. Ditto 66 in an under-posted 45 zone – or 82 in a 70 – and so on. 
Which brings me to the following. It is a natural – a normal – thing for a prey animal to flee from a predator. No one expects an antelope to just freeze in place and await the lion. Most people, if they saw such a thing, would consider it odd. What is wrong with the antelope? Doesn’t he see the lion?
It’s interesting that many of these same people nonetheless expect two-legged prey to stand still for two-legged predators. It is a remarkable thing. A manifestation of cognitive dissonance – what I like to call Cloverism (see here for more about that).
Of course, it will be argued that the two-legged predators in question (cops) are not going to kill you. It is merely implied (though of course, sometimes they actually do kill their prey). All that cop’s going to do, these people will say, is hand you a ticket. Instead of all your flesh (as per the antelope and the lion) the two-legged predator merely wants a pound or two.
But, the balance is tipping.
When the lion-cop just takes a small bite, it is bearable. Which makes it worth not running. But what happens when the antelope-driver knows that to not run (to “pull over”) entails the certainty of a judicial mauling – as in the case of Virginia’s “reckless” driving statute?
There is every incentive to run.
I wonder whether this has occurred to the lions (er, cops). They had a pretty sweet racket set up. It operated on the principle of just a little – but not too much. Everyone – even lions – does a cost-benefit analysis. It need not be a conscious process. Lions – the actual animals – will instinctively refrain from pushing their luck. They will not, for instance, attack the strongest-looking animal in a herd. And nature herself always strikes a balance between predators and prey. Not enough lions – and the antelopes run amok. Too many lions – and in short order, there aren’t enough antelopes left for them to eat – and the lions starve.
On the roads, the antelope are becoming restless. The resentment – the outright hate – is simmering. It may boil over. Back in the days when we had what amounted to an American version of the banana republic mordita – the simple bribe, a small amount of money changing hands and then on your way – it was worth it to play along. You pulled over, you played your role in the sick little farce of pretending you did something objectionable (as opposed to merely illegal) and that your were sorry. You accepted the unctuous lecture, took your “receipt” – and paid the damn fine.
The stakes are much higher now. 
As the police state congeals – as what the late great Sam Francis tagged anarcho-tyranny (i.e., the increasingly brutal treatment of ordinary people over trivialities concurrent with run-amok real criminality which the powers-that-be refuse to do anything meaningful about) becomes the defining characteristic of our rapidly receding republic – it occurs to the “antelope” that attempting to avoid the “lions” is a risk worth taking, in view of the certain fate that awaits those who do not make the attempt.
Soon, it may develop that the two-legged antelope do something else. Something the real antelope never do.
They may stand their ground. And turn and fight.
The lions have given them no alternative.
Throw it in the Woods?
As originally designed, the interstate freeway system was to be safe at 85mph. This was the original speed limit on the Kansas turnpike back in the 1960’s. And cars back then were way less safe than they are now. State cops are nothing more than armed, mobile, toll booth operators. I was given a ticket a few years ago for going 75 on I-90 60 miles E. of Ellensburg Wa. AKA, the middle of nowhere. The cop explained the ticket with the rational that, “It was snowing in Snoqualmie pass 100 miles away!
Heh. “Orificer, it’s pretty treacherous on Mt. Everest right now so I expect you to warn and ticket everyone about that too.”
Did you see the article on today’s (31 July) Drudge about the Nevada State cops cracking down? What a racket.
I read some of the comments about the Nevada revenue generator. It was good to see some people actually recognized what the real problem was: clovers driving slow and not moving out of the left lane, which caused the speeders to weave and sometimes wreck as a result.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-nevada-speeding-las-vegas-20130730,0,4225243.story
All the clover comments I read there had a similar ring to them, they were all quite like EPA’s clover.
Downshift, if speed is so dangerous then why are the interstates as well as secondary roads in Tx. all being increased speed limit wise? Makes no sense from the reason they used to always give when it was 55mph…..on the very same roads that haven’t seen one iota of width increase nor anything else that would lend them to being safer. Now every highway except for “some” farm roads are posted 75mph and interstates are mostly 85 mph. Geez, clover, look out, OMG, everybody is doing 90 and it’s bumper to bumper, better slam on your brakes to slow them all down, no doubt that semi behind you will just scrub off whatever speed you reduce to immediately. I roll along on I-10 at 90 and hate to go that slow since everybody is passing me but I have 4.10 gears and it’s not like I’m not using prodigious amounts of fuel. Where’s that second OD when you need it? I hate when the wife is with me: Get your hand down, you don’t have another gear. I just reach for one all the time. Maybe I should install that old Brownlite 3 speed auxiliary box except I’m afraid it’s not designed for that extra torque.
The problem with America’s Swinest is simply that there are far too many of them. We have the highest proportion of cops to citizens in the entire world, with the possible exception of North Korea – one for every three hundred mundanes. Naturally, they have to keep themselves occupied, mainly by tormenting the populace.
I’ve driven for days in various European and even some Latin American countries without ever seeing a cop.
john, say it again. I was in mexico in ’04 and you rarely saw a cop except for some towns that had brand new pickups and several newly uniformed very young cops, probably due to Vicente Fox and his drug fighting policy. Sure did them a lot of good too, just about like this country. While the news is always touting how many people in Mexico die from drug wars they never mention how many die in the US from the same. Exit, what you say too. Why west Tx. cops need fancy SUV’s is beyond me, looked like the Vics did just fine and used one hell of a lot less fuel at a greatly reduced buy in price.
Eric, you are one of my favorite writers. Thanks for another good one. Here in Colorado, where mj has been legalized, the cities have been losing money for drug busts… so in light of that, they have been lying in wait in every available hiding place in their fancy, expensive-ass SUVs that are nearly impossible to differentiate from a mundane’s vehicle because lights are no longer visible until they are turned on and they now have fancy rims that make them blend right in…. to write tickets for minor infractions. It pisses me off that these bastards are out to screw the very people who foot the bill for their paychecks (and fancy vehicles), all the while showing complete and utter contempt for us. Definitely throw that shit in the woods!
What makes things even worse for Eric is that in VA radar detectors are illegal. Not just use, possession. Supposedly the
pigslions have devices in their cars that can pick up the tiny RF emissions of radar detectors — even the hidden ones. I’m surprised Eric did not mention that.The license plate readers, cameras everywhere, and the necessity of driving oversize trucks have ended my running days but they were good ones.
Back in the 80’s I always left the gas cap on my 78 T/A wedged between the license plate holding it down (to which I always had the excuse I forgot to put it back when I gassed up) and nearly always took off at any sign of potential contact with the constabulary.
Several of us also gathered dozens of garage door remotes at garage sales and anywhere else we could and would keep them up front and simply turn into alleyways in tract house subdivisions while pushing buttons until a door with an empty garage slot would open that would provide a temporary hiding spot from our pursuers.
Thing is we were not that afraid of being caught back then as the one time I was (car died rounding a corner) I only received a few tickets and severe cussing by the one who caught me whereas today I’d probably have been shot or looking at felonies. Never would have believed what LE has devolved into if you had told me even twenty years ago it would be like it is.
Hi Manny,
Ditto – and amen – to all of that.
I had similar experiences.
Running from the cops over a traffic beef used to be not that big a deal. Sure, you’d get in trouble if they did catch you.
But it’s not like today – with the real risk they’ll try to kill you while screeching “officer safety!”
Not necessarily related to speed enforcement or running – not something I’d recommend anyway – however my mother tells me she had a friend in high school (both of them were class of ’73 as far as I know) whose childhood dream had been to become a Washington State Trooper. And, well, he did it. Out of high school, into the academy, got his badge and… after basically no time at all (maybe not even a couple of years) he had to quit. The culture on the force was just so toxic that he couldn’t continue to be a part of it. Remember as far as I know they both graduated in 1973, so it couldn’t have been much later than 1977 that he got sick of it and left (don’t know how long the academy takes; it could have even been 1975!). Toxic police culture has been going on for a long, long time.
Hi Chuck,
I used to work with Sam Francis at The Washington Times, another lifetime ago. Sam coined the term, anarcho-tyranny – which describes, essentially, a limitless get-out-jail pass for the elite, regardless of the egregiousness of their conduct while at the same time, ordinary people are practically crucified for trivial things such as violating some statute or other – like “speeding.”
Chuck, pretty much anyone who becomes a cop for the right reasons will follow that path if they don’t lose themselves. The reason is that police forces are really just another lie. We are told they are one thing but since the beginning, by design, they are another.
Wouldn’t it be more efficient to post speed and plate readers on open stretches of highway and then, if your speed was clocked above the limit, just mail the citation with the threat of worse to come if you don’t pay? Police are de facto agents of the insurance companies that benefit from these citations by hiking your premiums. I hope, in fairness, that the insurance companies are paying kickbacks to the police for performing this service and that — wishful thinking — these kickbacks might be devoted to actual traffic safety measures.
Settling with the cops on the spot, with a credit card, checkbook or cash, would also be more efficient. If paying by cash, the officer could gross up the fine a bit and put the surplus in his or her pocket and no one would know. Honest on-the-spot corruption is so much less harmful to the body politic than bureaucratic, by-the-book corruption.
By the way, that’s a male lion on the back of that water buffalo. Don’t the ladies do the hunting?
The traffic fines cannot become too efficient. The system will collapse if they do.
Roads will clog, revenues will decline…. everything that is bad for business will happen.
What will likely happen is that cops will be less selective. Mr. and Mrs. Clover may finally start getting tickets for their sloppy driving and going 10 over everywhere.
Lyrics worth contemplating… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg7B_WfY4SM
Now the revenue man wanted Grandaddy bad
He headed up the holler with everything he had
It’s before my time but I’ve been told
He never came back from Copperhead Road
This is the real reason why Prohibition was repealed… it was terminally unhealthy for the enforcers. The lions are not immortal despite their armor as the antelope always has the element of surprise. Cornered prey is capable of unpredictable action. If I got on a jury where an antelope was charged with murder there is no telling what way I might think is in the best interest of justice. It honestly could go either way. I see Smokey as equal to the prison guards at Auschwitz. Yup, like the death camp guard he may even have a kid and a family but he voluntarily serves as the tip of the fascist spear. It is a very real question to ask just how far you can push the people before they turn ugly. The sad but real fact is: “those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable.”
graham, I’d recommend The Worst Hard Times by Anthony Egan, a very good, well written account of the times and lives of the dust bowl. Revenooers in Tx. for the main part just disappeared or became some of the most successful bootleggers. Tx. was not a popular destination for such since the natives looked on them for what they were and dealt with them accordingly. Not a great many revenooers had the guts to come to Tx. and of those who did, only the few who succeeded in becoming good whiskey makers lived. Washington “lost” contact with most of them fairly quickly so as time went by, it became more difficult to find anyone willing to come here. Of course since the great yankee immigration during the Reagan years, Tx. has simply become the largest nanny state in the union(tear from my eye).
8, another good’un is “The Wettest County in the World”, by Matt Bondurant. It’s about Virginia during Prohibition.
Ed, thanks. I wrote than in my Book and Movie to-do list. Shiner brewery had lots of locations in those days and probably did the biggest business they’ve ever done according to those from that era. The hill country is a great place to stay out of sight, out of mind….and a good place to take care of those who won’t take no for an answer. Lots of revenooers on the plains too that were just bleached bones in the middle of nowhere. Revenooers had airplanes, locals had word of mouth documenting their every move. HUMINT
Fuck the FCC – Steve Earle
Fuck the FCC. Fuck the FBI. Fuck the CIA
Livin’ in the motherfuckin’ USA
People tell me that I’m paranoid. And I admit I’m gettin’ pretty nervous, boy
It just gets tougher everyday. To sit around and watch it while it slips away
Been called a traitor and a patriot. Call me anything you want to but
Just don’t forget your history. Dirty Lenny died so we could all be free
Leonard Alfred Schneider (1925–1966), aka Lenny Bruce, was an American stand-up comedian, social critic and satirist.
Renowned for his open, free-style and critical form of comedy integrating politics, religion and sex. His life philosophy included using whatever substances he wanted and having relations with as many women as he wanted. Convicted in 1964 in an obscenity trial he was forced into bankruptcy.
He fought the battles and paved the way for future outspoken comedians to enjoy a greater freedom of speech in the USSA.
Are there any niggers here tonight? – Lenny Bruce
“I think I see one nigger couple back there, between the two niggers, the three kikes. Thank God for the kikes, and two spics and one mick. There’s three more sheenies, six guineas, seven wops, eight dikes, four kikes, and eight more niggers”
– That’s great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane, Lenny Bruce is not afraid
Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn – world serves its own needs, regardless of your own needs. Feed it up a knock, speed, grunt no, strength no. Ladder structure clatter with fear of height, down height. Wire in a fire, represent the seven games in a government for hire and a combat site. Left her, wasn’t coming in a hurry with the furies
breathing down your neck. Team by team reporters baffled, trump, tethered crop. Look at that low plane! Fine then. Uh oh, overflow, population, common group, but it’ll do. Save yourself, serve yourself. World serves its own needs, listen to your heart bleed. Tell me with the rapture and the reverent in the right – right. You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright light, feeling pretty psyched. It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.
Six o’clock – TV hour. Don’t get caught in foreign tower. Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn. Lock him in uniform and book burning, blood letting. Every motive escalate. Automotive incinerate. Light a candle, light a motive. Step down, step down. Watch a heel crush, crush. Uh oh, this means no fear – cavalier. Renegade and steer clear! A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies. Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I decline. The other night I tripped a nice continental drift divide. Mount Saint Edelite. Leonard Bernstein. Leonid Breshnev, Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs.
Birthday party, cheesecake, jelly bean, boom! You symbiotic, patriotic, slam, but neck, right? Right. It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine. It’s time I had some time alone.
Tor, was listening to Steve several hours ago. I thought of all the names I’ve heard him called, know he’s heard more than I have. I won’t quit listening though. I guess Amarillo Highway is one of his more non-confrontational songs. Damn, I need to build some old iron that will scream and blow off some of these Tahoe “police specials’ around here.
I’ve got nearly all Steve’s albums and have seen him in concert about six times, including once in Dallas where his grandmother and a lot of his family had reserved front row seats. I stopped going to his concerts and buying his albums after he became another gun confiscation advocate and Obama hypocrite.
In his last Austin concert I saw he related a story about how he screwed up earlier in his life and let a messed up child he was watching get hold of a gun. Now he thinks no one should have guns (except the government, I guess).
Likewise, after (rightfully) lambasting Bush for eight years, in an ’09 concert Steve was singing the praises of Obama. Steve vowed to turn against Obama if Obama didn’t keep his election promises, especially concerning the wars. Haven’t heard an anit-Obama song from that hypocrite yet.
Great singer though.
Hi Graham,
I agree.
I loathe violence – and wish no one harm to anyone who isn’t out to do me harm.
But, that’s the catch, isn’t it?
They just won’t leave us alone.
Not enough to take a third to half or more of our money; not sufficient to keep us in a state of perpetual economic servitude by making it legally impossible to ever truly own more than the clothes on your back. Not enough to tell us with whom we’ll associate, how we’ll raise our kids. They have to control and micromanage every last detail of our lives – always with the threat of violence looming if we object.
At some point, we’ll have had enough.
Well Eric I give you a grade of 100 on reading comprehension. It seems you are the only one who read my post according to the plain meaning of the black and white text. Your article and my post both dealt with addressing the question of just how far you can push the people before things turn ugly. Everyone else wants to talk about the minutia of some bygone events in their youth. I don’t care if you outran the cops a thousand times in the 80’s. What are you going to do today? Sit back and let them pick your carcass one more time while you reflect on the Reagan years? How about when the fines become twice what they are today? (which should happen in a mere three years time as things accelerate)
Forget political efforts. Recent history shows us that it is the corporations, insurance companies and ‘roid raging officer Buzzcut’s “police union” and assorted insiders that call the shots. The people simply ARE NOT represented in any legislative body no matter what charade they put forth. “Of the people, by the people and for the people” is a big fat lie. When was one tax repealed? When was one regulatory agency abolished? When was the burden on the common man lifted one iota? Be honest and you will have to admit that you are simply NOT represented by your overlords.
Remember learning about “No taxation without representation” in your history class? Well King George had his political charade. He claimed the people were represented. But the reality was “He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.”
King George had great propaganda too. The vast majority of the people were “Loyalists” even at the time when a certain ship in the harbor of Boston was vandalized by an “unsavory criminal faction”. You wouldn’t want to be “disloyal” would you? Why, that is positively “unpatriotic”!
“Fatiguing us into compliance with their measures”… now that is an honest characterization of our present reality. So the real debate we should be having is when do we resist to the point of blood. When some social worker comes for our homeschooled children? When the gestapo tries to lock down whole city blocks like they did hunting down the Russian teenager in Boston? When FEMA workers and even the local sheriff seized guns in New Orleans during Katrina? How about when they fondle you seven year old daughter at the airport? Or when Officer Bob Speed (any Car&Driver fans remember him?) writes you a $3000 ticket?
We need to have an open discussion about when we resist unto the point of blood. Guns are about “altering and abolishing”, not duck hunting. Each of us has a different tipping point. A single man working three jobs who is on parole for a joint of pot may shoot when they try to write him that ticket for a few grand or put him back in the pokey for going 76 in a 65mph zone. A homeschooling father may shoot when the social worker comes to the door for his “abused” (non-vaccinated”) kids. A hunter may shoot a sheriff or game warden who wants him to lie face down on the ground while he seizes his truck. A sexually abused woman may shoot when officer Wendy cavity searches her at the side of the road.
The point is that we all have our tipping point. We need to face these questions openly. The business man with a large family will gladly pay that $3000 ticket instead of committing hari kari and taking out a cop. The youth from the projects who has known police brutality all his life may shoot instead. By having an open conversation we can all settle it in our own mind where our tipping point is and steel our hearts not to shrink back should that situation come upon us. The frogs in the boiling pot should each have a temperature in mind and then place a thermometer before their eyes. When that temperature is reaches, no matter how gradually, they should jump from the pot.
Can we stay focused on this subject which is what Eric’s article is really about? When do we say “Enough!” Let’s talk.
graham, I posited in another post “when the shooting starts” since I believe it will. The fools on the hill, even the ones who tell you they’re working the system to change it, are really just working votes at this point. I see not enough ready to get to the tough stuff. The rest are simply protecting their place in life, a really good place for them, not so much for “us”. I got caught with my pants down(literally) once but hope if it ever comes again I’ll be up and ready or die trying. I don’t really have a choice so what I say actually has some bearing on this subject. Next time? Next time I have the choice of living what will be soon to be very short life rotting in an institution or a victim of “bubba” or the uniformed ‘bubbas”, I’m going to take my only other choice, killing every “bubba” I see till they’re all gone. I’ll worry about the rest of them once I’ve regrouped. Now I’ve fought all my life to keep our freedoms and watched them go away little by little. Then the Shrub put a whole new spin of taking away our freedoms and his shadow is trying to one up him, and doing a fine job I might add. Next time, I won’t be the only victim. Even when I was in college it was hard to get a bunch of us together and not have the clover mommies running to hide their babies from the “bad men” doing all that shooting. Maybe we had some hard bark on us but we were real and you saw what you were getting and all you had to do to be protected was get stand Beside Us. Guns Up Raiders
Comrades just found this while serfing around on the neo-feudal globalist plantation:
http://autos.aol.com/article/is-flashing-your-headlights-free-speech/
Less complaints when armed civil servants paperwork meisters wear camera and less force is used:
http://refreshingnews99.blogspot.in/2013/07/88-fewer-complaints-when-cop-wears.html
Hi Owl,
But they always use force.
And that’s the problem.
Yet another timely post, Eric.
Larken Rose – Why Speak of Violence? – Porcfest X
In a movement whose primary goal is to achieve a world without violence, many people shy away from any discussion of forcible resistance to state aggression. This talk will explain why dodging the topic is a big mistake — and does a huge disservice to true peace and freedom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYOKVTaflbM
lberns1, without seeing the video, that Larken Rose bit seems like the exact opposite of Rothbard and the lessons of The French Revolution.
I mentioned something about that today on this thread:
http://ericpetersautos.com/2013/07/14/dom-in-dui-check-point/#comments
How do they square? Or do they?
The Daily Bell is closing shop. Here”s a bit from the final entry:
“The Daily Bell helped expose the real agenda of the Soros-funded Occupy Wall Street movement, which apparently remains intent on generating what could be a French Revolution-style bloodbath aimed at the “one percent.”…”
http://thedailybell.com/29394/Anthony-Wile-Hasta-La-Vista
Here is the link they had for ‘French Revolution’, and a snippet:
“The French Revolution, for all its promise, provides us with an example of what happens when violent revolutions are accompanied by a faith in the perfectibility of the human beings who are making the revolution.”…
http://thedailybell.com/floatWindow.cfm?id=1933
~ Memento Mori ~
RE: “forcible resistance to state aggression.”
That seems to play right into their hands:
“The entire covert op to stimulate violence in America, following up with interventions, and finally “prediction of future violence,” is underpinned with, yes, a philosophic position: the mind is nothing more than the brain.
Therefore, an all-out assault on brain function is the answer. If you want a supposition guaranteed to sink a civilization, this is it.” …
http://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2013/07/16/problem-violence-solution-minority-report/
I think you should watch the video, Down.
I hate violence. It’s degrading, it’s the antithesis of human interaction. But there are times when one must deal with people who’ve surrendered their humanity and become as animals. In which case, there is only one language they comprehend.
Eric,
People that talk about violently resisting the state without first talking about peacefully ending their support for it are getting things backwards. Trying to fight them only plays into their hands. What we need to do first is not pay taxes. If that were to somehow not work….
If you choose to run and are found, won’t you be arrested for attempted evasion?
Yes.
It’s a cost-benefit analysis you must be aware of going in (before you decide to make a run for it).
Therefore, only do it when the following applies:
* The penalty for stopping will be severe; possibly ruinous.
* The odds you can get away seem good.
This means (among other things) that you’ve got the drop on the cop. You’re already moving fast, or well ahead of him or he’ll need to stop/turn around (and so on) such that you can be out of his visual range very quickly. Also that you are in an area where it’s not likely they’ll be another cop in the immediate vicinity.
Come to think of it, this is a rant-worthy topic. I’ll expand on the above and post a full-length “how to” (and when to) shortly….
Excellent, thanks for the info. I have to look at my state’s laws and define ruinous for my personal self.
Interesting point, Eric. I am so grateful that I came across your blog quite a while ago via lewrockwell. I thought I was one of the crazy ones, but now realize there are tons of folks who feel just as I do. My daughter (19) even says “damned Clovers” now. That is funny.
Here’s a great story: I once got busted for speeding going to my on-base housing at the Naval Communications Station at San Miguel, Philippines. I worked at NS Subic Bay, about 45 minutes away, but the married housing list was over a year, and San Miguel had ample housing, which was better than living “in town” outside Subic. The base speed limit was 15 mph at SM. I came home from work one evening, changed from my uniform and began eating dinner with the wife. The base “pigs” knocked on the door and issued me a speeding ticket (21 in a 15) a good 20 minutes after I got home. I tried to argue that they couldn’t even know for sure it was me and they said my “hood was warm”, as if that proves anything. It wasn’t worth blowing a day’s leave trying to go and challenge it, and it didn’t cost money, but the problem was 3 tickets during your tour and you lose your license and base sticker. I was stationed in the Philippines for 3 years, so imagine how hard it was to avoid 3 tickets, but I did.
Outside the gate, all bets were off. Drive as fast as the roads safely allowed. The cops had no radios and no cars capable of catching you. THAT was fun. Never drove recklessly, as didn’t want to make a bad name for Americans, mind you. On the rare occasion you got pegged in traffic for some “offense”, 50 pesos ($2.40 at the time) to the cop did the trick.
I can sense the anger boiling to the surface in your commentary today, and I too, sense that the resentment of the “us vs. them” mentality is going to get ugly.
I was chased by a sheriff’s deputy for about five miles (including three miles of dirt road) in ’88 in Ohio while in my 280Z at 10 at night for (I can only assume) taking off a bit too quickly at a stop sign. I looked down once and the speedometer read 120. I ended up ducking behind my parents’ garage, which was over a hill near a four way intersection. I heard later from one of the local volunteer firemen that he was pissed after he lost me.
A buddy who was with me thought I lost my mind. I personally think it was a moment of clarity.
I sometimes miss that Z, rusted out unibody and all 🙂
Yea Michael White, score one more. I never knew a cop that could drive for shit.
Guess that’s why they need the radio.
A friend had a nice 280Z, ran very good. I almost bought a 240Z while in school but it was a tad too dear. They were very cheap the first year though. I’m sure mine wouldn’t have been stock very long. I just can’t keep from doing something to everything I own. Speaking of radios, I met a trooper on US84 with him going north and me going south maybe 10 miles S of Post, Tx. I saw he was going to pursue so I floored it and got up somewhere around 130 and kept it there till I turned off on US 180 headed east. I passed some friends I didn’t realize were going the same way. They said they got to where I turned and there was a roadblock. They laughed all the way home knowing I was already at the house. They didn’t allow they knew me but told the troopers they were 10 minutes too late if they wanted to catch “that red car”. They related the story the next day or so. We wondered how long they kept it going. No doubt I was home drinking another cold one by the time they figured it out. You really can cover a lot of ground keeping it at that speed.
Mike, Eight – back when I was a young hooligan stationed in NW Florida, I had more than my share of opportunities to test the driving skills of the local constabulary. The FL state police, Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Dept, Ft. Walton Bch. Police, Shalimar Police, Jackson Guard and Federal Police (? – on the Eglin AFB reservation in a jeep) all attempted to write me a ticket. The operative word is “attempted.” They often told me “You can’t outrun that radio.” My stock answer was “No. But you can outrun the dickhead holding the microphone.” I did stop for the USAF security police once because I didn’t think I was “speeding” but Staff Sgt. Butt-munch wrote me for 49 in a 45. My commander laughed and asked me, “Who did you piss off?” The next time the pink pudgy little Pillsbury dough-boy that wrote me up saw me, he got a brief view of the back of my helmet and my tail light…very brief. He knew who it was, so the next time he was at the gate when I came through, he followed me all the way to my duty station (about 3 miles). I idled that little RD 350 ring-ding-dinging practically the whole way. When I pulled up and parked next to our shop, Staff Sgt. Butt-munch pulls up next to me and snidely asks “Just what did you think you were doing running 15 and 20 miles an hour the whole way on to this base?” To which I responded “Making you look like an absolute idiot for not passing me.” He was so pissed he slammed that six cylinder Aspen into drive and threw gravel all over the place leaving. We all had a good laugh over that. Shortly thereafter he wrote a full bird Colonel a B.S. ticket and found himself driving a desk. What comes around goes around even in the Air Farce.
Boothe “He was so pissed he slammed that six cylinder Aspen into drive and threw gravel all over the place leaving.” Now there’s an amusing scenario. I guess they’re right about the radio, heard plenty of that myself. Maybe they just need to think and act a little faster. Maybe they just need to stay with what they can do. A local state trooper stopped me one day after I’d done a burnout he didn’t see, gave me a ticket for excessive noise or some bs. He left me with this thought: I hear you do this and that but every time I’m out I don’t even see you. I only looked at him. Gee, how do you think that works? Duh!!
In 1988 or so, I was traveling 67 in a 55 when I saw one of Fort Worth’s finest in the opposite lane on I-30 west of the 820 loop. Apparently, he radared me and decided to attempt pursuit. His wheels were starting to make a U-turn. I jammed on the gas and jumped on the northbound loop and pulled her up to about 105 mph. Got off at the White Settlement Road exit and disappeared. Bye Piggie.
In 1990, I was traveling about 45 in a 30 mph zone in AR. Saw cop, jammed on the gas, turned into a trailer park. Ditched cop. It looked like he was after me, but he got lost.
Thats all I remember for now.
nice! Was in FtWorth the other day and escaped a nasty encounter. Eastbound on 30, I was passing a clover in the slow lane (which was also my exit lane for 820 South), but had to punch it up to like 80 (limit is a stupid 60) because clover being clover, he accelerated, attempting to block my pass. This little game diverted my attention from scanning ahead for cops at just the wrong time, as one was sitting about 100 yards past the exit on the left emergency lane. I could see him start to get ready to pull out and get me just as I passed up clover. The dual satisfaction of simultaneously merging in front of clover and zipping quickly off the highway on my exit (knowing the cop wasn’t in a position to give chase) made my day!
Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.
I enjoyed your recollection. 🙂
How porkers got the nickname:
http://intellihub.com/2013/07/16/how-policemen-got-the-nickname-pigs/
Very interesting, Vinnie. I never heard this before, but it makes perfect sense. Peel is, in my opinion, one of the 100 Most Famous Political Figures Of All Time Who Most Deserves To Burn In Hell, and not just for having created the world’s first professional swine brigade (ask any Irishman you know why he thinks Peel should be damned for all eternity).
I have conversationally asked Policemen in the past, if they knew why people call them “Pigs”, and every time, after they initially think you are trying to insult them, they could offer no reason. But my guess is not one of them in a hundred (conservative estimate) knows the real reason.
Not surprising at all, given the freezer-temperature IQ of the average porko.
Again, based on the prevailing opinion that pigs are really a noble, decent, useful animal, I wish Peel had been herding rats through the streets of London.
I love those Youboob videos where they outrun the police in hot rod Mustangs and Camaros. They usually have fuzz spotters calling on cellphones and the best radar detectors. Some of those guys are incredible drivers.
Superspeeders. Their teamwork to get away is amazing.
I don’t know about most of you but I have already run, and do so every time I think I can be successful, so long as I can claim the cop was not directly behind me so I did not notice him.
I got out of a 25 over speeding ticket (doing 95 in a 70) because my rate of speed was so great and it took the cop to long to get around all the traffic he gridlocked by pulling into the interstate with lights flashing. Soon as I saw him I knew he tagged me so I sped up as fast as the car would go (which was ~120). As soon as I knew I had a good lead on him I hit the first exit and dropped off the interstate. Stopped at a BK right off the exit and ate lunch to pass the time. At no point was the cop ever behind me so I was never technically eluding in a manner which he could prove.
Matt, I’ve outrun the highway Nazi’s plenty times as well as cops in town, esp. on loops running around towns. I have had plenty times someone with me has pointed out a cop intent on stopping me to which I’d reply, What cop? Cop a mile back=no pursuit in my book. I can remember a few times in my life I’d be going so fast when I met one they’d just flash their headlights and hit the brakes but not pull over.
That is one unstated advantage of the higher speed limits and higher travel speeds on highways of today. When highways were less crowded and speed limits 15-20 mph lower in most states, cops had an easy time nabbing their bait. Prevailing travel speeds were in the high 60s. Today, they are in the mid-high 70s and it is far more difficult for them to turn around and pursue a high flier. With the higher speed limits, as an 80 mph motorist throughout, I have received far fewer tickets since the repeal of the 55 mph speed limit. My state of Texas has 70 and 75 mph speed limits on two lane roads, so tickets are basically a non issue until you reach 95 mph. Then, you lose your right to attend drivers school. If you are in West Texas, they are more likely to write you for 94 if you aren’t past 100.
Swamprat, talk about capriciousness, I’m driving to town one day and notice the speed limit is 75 on every road I’m on. This is 20 mph above what it was on the same roads a few years ago because anything above that was “unsafe”. What bullshit, plain and simple. I recently saw where in Dallas and San Antonio trucks on certain interstates were banned from driving in the left lane. This is done not by law but through proxy consisting of yankees on Inter-Regional highway boards of some sort. Texas has been destroyed and become a huge nanny state since RR invited them here along with his evil cabal of rodents, i.e. Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, etc. etc. I’ve had defense lawyers tell me when Republicans are in office their business picks up to a great degree. Well, we’re over ten years past when that evil cabal that took over the legislature re-wrote the entire penal code(and the last of them just recently went to prison), took appeals away from defense lawyers, added appeals for prosecutors and made anything you want to think of, such a spinning tires on the street to be a jailable offense. I’d like to remove every person in this state who can’t show at least 3 generations of Tx. ancestors, get back to the real deal.
Swamprat, I’ve noticed the same thing here. Traffic around KC typically runs 70 – 75 in the 65 zones and 80+ where it’s posted 70 isn’t unusual. There was a deputy on 435 this morning leaving us behind at 70 and folks were gaining on him, then backing off. Not one citation was written that we saw. I’d guess you’d have had to have passed him to even pique his interest. It’s a far cry from the days of “Arrive Alive. Drive 55” that’s for sure. One of my younger friends stated that you can pass a Missouri cop now at 85+ on a bike and they don’t even look at you. Almost makes me want a ‘Busa. 😉
I outran a piggy once. Was going 90 in a 70 on I-10 in Florida. Once I saw his wheels turn and move forward I floored it getting up to 130 mph. Got off at a rest stop a few miles down and watched him fly by.
And damn, it feels good!
A normal person feels shame – and contrition – when he does something wrong. He knows he deserves to be punished or held accountable.
But in this case?
It’s the same natural satisfaction a POW feels when he successfully evades the camp guards.
You’re lucky some highway Clover didn’t rat you out to the highway swine. Most Clovers think that anybody driving faster than they are, or who passes them at a certain speed above the posted limited is “driving recklessly,” even if they’ve caused no one –especially not the whiny Clover– any harm.
youtube dean clifford.
he’s pretty awesome when it comes to this sort of rubbish.
Here in Utah the cops decide judgmentally if you are driving reckless. However they do have to prove it to some degree. Besides it being judgmental, it is also objective, if you break 3 laws within a 3 mile stretch of road, it is reckless driving. 🙂
Hi Jason,
That “break three laws thing” is hardly objective – in terms of being synonymous with “reckless” driving.
I fail to come to a complete stop at a stop sign (but there were no other cars in the vicinity, so the act was not unsafe, just a violation of “the law”). Then I drive 10 MPH faster than an under-posted speed limit (again, no legitimate issue; just another statutory violation). Finally, I talk on my sail fawn (or fail to wear a seat belt). That’s three.
But is it “reckless”?
Preposterous!
It’s as absurd as the claim that probable cause-free random searches are “reasonable.”
Hi Eric. You’re right about the “three law rule” being absurd. I recently saw a Spotsy County deputy violate three traffic laws simultaneously: we were coming to a four-way stop from opposite directions. I arrived first and came to a stop before turning left. He was turning right and approached the intersection after I had already stopped. He went right through the stop sign (violation #1 – failure to stop) ahead of me (violation #2 – failure to yield right of way) without using his turn signal (violation #3 – failure to signal). Funny thing is that his violations were technical only; nothing he did was dangerous, since we were the only two cars at the intersection and he had plenty of time to make his turn, as I was just starting out from a complete stop. Of course, I seriously doubt that he would have seen it that way if our situations had been reversed.
btw, he was not on an emergency call. I was behind him for several miles and there was no urgency in his driving, though he did again fail to signal at his next turn.
I’ve seen a cop commit 5 violations within the same time span; 1) Speeding 2) Tailgating (10 feet or so at 70 MPH) 3) Failure to signal 4) Pass on the right. and oh yeah 5) Talking on his cell phone while doing this.
Did I mention his buddy was right behind doing all the same things except for the cell phone part?
Hi Len,
Yup – I have taken to videoing examples of this; a couple are over at clovercam.com
You’re right on again, Eric. I am starting to read more stories of people who have had enough and do actually run away with their vehicles after being cop stopped, and when they are finally cornered by the highway donut brigade, they start shooting like Old West outlaws until a combined SWAT paramilitary force with thousands of rounds of ammo takes them down. Of course, the corp crap media make these people out as lone wolf, crazy men desperadoes. Most of these outlaws on the road had either done some stint in prison and did not want to return there, or they were on the run from the law and knew that the fine, jail, prison death line was waiting for them.
A lot of people forget that there are millions of Americans on parole and probation. Even the slightest traffic violation, bad drug test, or showing up late to their ‘imposed wage slave work,’ can shove them back in the Amerikan gulag inferno. We have to remember that the highest prisoner population in the world and in world history, both in actual numbers of prisoners and in the percentage of prisoners to the general population, is right here in the USA. We have even outpaced the Stalinist Soviet Union in this area.
I am lucky that I still don’t have a criminal record, but I am not taking any chances. Because like you have been writing about, the rabid lions are getting more and more brazen in their tyranny. I have an attorney on retainer and have his personal cell number just in case anything happens. I also recently purchased a dash cam in my pickup truck to document any abuses. Due to all of the bogus checkpoints on the roads now, I rarely drive around between the hours of ten in the evening and three in the morning on Fridays and Saturdays. If I go out drinking at a local tavern, bar or saloon, I make sure that I am either walking there and back, or I ask the owner if I can pitch my tent out on his/her land. And I always travel with my loaded firearm and backup ammo. In my western state, it is still legal to do that, but I see that law changing soon too. It has crossed my mind about taking the final stand of honor and dignity unto death. I just wish we were more organized to fight together rather than as single desperadoes.
Yup.
Purely hypothetical scenario, for purposes of discussion:
Driver is headed home, taking the rural secondary highway posted 55. He is a good driver in a modern car. There is a nice, straight stretch – a good mile or so – with no side roads and excellent visibility. This driver opens ‘er up a little – gets up to 90, say. Perfectly safe, in that he’s in no significant danger of losing control or striking another car, because there are no other cars on the road … except for that cop coming the other way.
What to do?
The choices are:
a) Punch it; by the time the cop gets stopped/turned around/up to speed, you know you’ll be out of sight – and have a very good chance of getting away. All you have to do is take a side road, make a few turns… and either hide in some out of the way place for awhile, or sneak home via an alternative route. It’s a risk, but a reasonable one – because the odds are in your favor.
Or.. .
b) Pull over – and pray the cop is not what he almost certainly will prove to be: A law-quoting robot who will at minimum hit you with a “reckless” cite – which will cause you enormous problems (and not just in terms of the immediate fines; let’s say your work depends on a “clean” driving record – and you know a “reckless” conviction will likely mean you’ll lose your job) and may result in being arrested and jailed.
Punishment for over-hyped non-crimes is becoming so extreme that option b is the more sensible option.
And that tells you a lot about the state of this country.
You mean “option -a- is the more sensible option”?
“…you know you’ll be out of sight – and have a very good chance of getting away.”
Well, except that your license plate # would be noted (by camera) as the cop passed you going the other way. Or don’t you have a requirement for a front plate there?
We do – but not for motorcycles.
And I don’t think they have the plate readers here…. yet.
“And I don’t think they have the plate readers here…. yet.”
As close as you are to Mordor-on-the-Potomac, I can almost guarantee at least the major roads are littered with the accursed things. With as big a stink as has been raised over red light and speed cameras, almost all agencies most interested in ALPR cameras are keeping a very tight lid on information regarding their implementation.
Naturally, the first place you’d see them is sprouting out of the trunk lids and bumpers of police cars. Some areas have fixed installations involving pole-mounted systems that read all plates passing by them, compare it to a “hotlist”, and add the plate number to a date/time log.
Last year, I saw a demo by a company that specializes in integrating surveillance systems, which included ALPR systems. Many of their featured installations were in Georgia. Part of the demo showed how Atlanta is literally ringed with the things.
Much in the way speed and red light cameras were sold to the sheeple as improving safety, ALPR systems are sold under the pretext of recovering stolen vehicles and apprehending drug dealers/murderers/rapists. Of course, they don’t mention to the public how much money in paperwork violations these cameras generate. Sheriffs and police chiefs are well aware of it and are literally chomping at the bit to get a piece of that action.
Luckily, I’m 5 hours away from that pesthole!
But, I have no doubt the reprieve is only temporary….
“And I don’t think they have the plate readers here…. yet.”
I don’t know about Roanoke, but they’ve been around Richmond for several years, starting with the EZPass toll lanes..
It’s certainly more tempting to run. Yet in this age of big-sis surveillance, the dash-cam may have a plate number.
You know, the dash-cams that always mysteriously malfunction when a cop/tax-parasite does something illegal, yet work flawlessly when it’s a mere mundane in the camera sights.
It’s a pure revenue ploy. These kind of laws wouldn’t pass or wouldn’t be enforced if the traffic enforcement revenue were not earmarked for law-enforcement.
No good has or will come of providing cops with profit motive for road-side tax-collection (traffic enforcement) instead of the traditional keeping the peace functions. The cops don’t want to be bothered with anything that does not put money into the department coffers anymore.
I would be 100% behind any initiative that removed the profit motive from law enforcement. The option to donate any traffic enforcement penalty/fine to the charity of my choice would be perfect. It could happen at the state level while cities and towns would fight it tooth & nail.
Your charity idea is a good one!
The option to donate any traffic enforcement penalty/fine to the charity of my choice would be perfect.
In fact, pro sports leagues do just that with the fines imposed on players and coaches. The reason: obvious conflict of interest. If the leagues kept that money, they could be accused of ordering referees to eject people or penalize them in other ways.
Unfortunately, charity is not an option here, since no one could ever agree on which charities to send the loot to. So here is the idea I proposed several years ago: earmark all traffic and parking fines (minus the cost of processing) for the state highway trust fund. That would remove the incentive for governments to send the
pigslions after motorists, and would hold fuel taxes down.I was pulled over for going 72 in a 60 mph zone, (4 lane, late at nite, no other traffic out but me and the cop.
But when you consider the crime of speeding, consider that going faster in a residential area or school area, well, ok, there needs to be speeding laws to help prevent innocent people from being harmed. But on the freeway? Going 12 mph above the posted speed (72 vs. 60) just try driving down the street and see how fast those 12 mph actually are. 12 mph is ridiculously slow. I had to pay $145 for going 12 mph over the speed limit. It’s all perception. We have been conditioned to believe that 72 or 70 or 65 is much worse than 60. But the difference in actual speed is so very minor. Most speeding tickets – especially on the open road – are scams, designed to make money for the state. If we are not supposed to drive more than 60 mph then fine the car company for making a car that will do 72.
or better yet – lay off a large percentage of the highway cops whose main function is to collect money through deception. Next time you get a chance, try driving your car only 10 or twelve miles per hour. You will gain a lot of perspective not just about the speeding laws but other stupid – useless laws and regulations as well. We have been duped.