Trac busted by Police

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K

Kevin Lang

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Due to circumstances mildly beyond my control, I entered a relatively sharp turn (not too sharp, mind you, it's a major local road @ an exit of the unique and major I-97) at a higher than "safe" speed.



This, of course, caused wheel squealing. I joked that I shouldn't do it, and my compadre said not to because there was a cop in sight, but who am I to argue with physics? It was going to happen, and it did happen, and my compadre's words were quite prophetic.



Apparently however fast I went through the turn was too fast, as the front fender was "almost to the rim of the tire" (drivers' side). I haven't measured, but that could lead to some buffing against the wheel well ;)



Also, "all 4 wheels were sliding, and you could have flipped that vehicle". I maintain that all 4 wheels were not sliding. That would have been a very bad thing, and one can tell from the exhilarating feeling of fun that they're freely sliding, and I assure that such a feeling was absent.



(If all 4 wheels are sliding freely, then the likelihood of trac flippage is extremely low, but arguing physics, or anything, with the po-lice is never a good eye-dea)



Would the quality shocks and rear sway bar from our sponsors allow me to be unsafe? I think not :D



Anyhow, I got off with an informal reprimand as I don't make a habit of being busted by the fuzz, but it's still a bit frustrating. There were no other cars in the 2 lanes of traffic going south that I merged into.



And in the 2 miles from the site of pull-over (in one of the lanes) to the gas station, I saw a dude standing up on a motorcycle and 2 ricey beat up cars with "performance" exhaust doing a sorry excuse of drag racing north from the gas station. The irony in this sucks.



Oh well, I'll consider it a badge of merit, I guess :unsure:



(So it's time to get the new front sway bar and play with the rear endlinks?)
 
Yes, it could have, though I seriously doubt that it would have been in danger to me or other people.



A little wheel squealing as a normal thing in my ST...thank God it wasn't lightly raining, or I could have been busted for a little unavoidable hydroplaning :(



At least I didn't have to pay anything...that would have been difficult to do, and to swallow.



Apparently a Tahoe and an Avalanche taken at "safe speed" through the same turn don't do what an ST did...maybe the officer wasn't a ford guy, despite being in a CV....(While thanking God for small miracles, I'm grateful I didn't get busted by another, less respectable, police vehicle)



Sigh. Today just wasn't my day.
 
(gary s.) posted "anyone else on board ?" Monday 9/7. Necessary reading, gentlemen.
 
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TJR,



My guess is that swshawaii posted that because you inferred that KL was doing stupid stuff on the road.



KL's statement said he was just driving normally when he was pulled over.
 
Shaun t,



I said "when I did stupid things on the road".



If someone was going to make an inference about KL then that would be for them to draw.



However, now that you mention it, it's interesting that you said that KL's statement said that he was "driving normally when he was pulled over."



That's strange, because I read that KL said:
Due to circumstances mildly beyond my control, I entered a relatively sharp turn (not too sharp, mind you, it's a major local road @ an exit of the unique and major I-97) at a higher than "safe" speed.
Click to expand...



I read the above, especially the words in bold to mean that KL was either intentionally, or somewhat unintentionally driving around a sharp turn at a speed that was unsafe.



That doesn't sound to me like "driving normally". Or should I say, not "normal safe driving."



The way I see it is WORDS HAVE MEANING! My experience is that KL and others here choose their words very carefully. When KL said it wasn't his lucky day, I had to chime in that it seemed JUST THE OPPOSITE. That is all I was trying to say.



Luck, the presence or lackthereof is a subjective thing.



TJR
 
My guess is that swshawaii posted that because you inferred that KL was doing stupid stuff on the road.
Click to expand...



Saying someone is behaving stupidly, and calling someone stupid, are two different things...
 
WELL then TJR,



I have no idea why he would have referred you to that post....

I guess there was nothing unclear about your language usage that some other party may POSSIBLY take to mean something else.



 
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The way some of these threads flow, I think we have alot of potential Congressmen in our presence. Like watching a transcript of C-SPAN..:lol:
 
OK time to get this thread back on "Trac" :cool: (i know, lame)



I haven't been pulled over by the cops for a long time. Don't really plan on it anytime soon either! I've been driving like an old man since I bought the truck so that I dont smash it up - I love it too much to see it like that.



The most I've had to deal with is the local RIDE programs, and I don't mind those one bit. It is a little intimidating when the officer sticks his head in your window and takes a huge whiff to see if he can smell anything suspect though :wacko:



 
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The most I've had to deal with is the local RIDE programs, and I don't mind those one bit. It is a little intimidating when the officer sticks his head in your window and takes a huge whiff to see if he can smell anything suspect though
Click to expand...



That's why I eat a lot of beans. They'll think twice before they try that on me again. :rolleyes:
 
Shaun t, is a RIDE program some sort of sobriety enforcement program? I'm not to fond of them after one near BWI pulled over my buddy and I (he drove), asked if he had been drinking, and he answered yes, innocently. We hadn't had any alcohol, but my friend has been known to take authority literally. The officer didn't take kindly to that, but it was better than when he told the US/CAN border patrol officer on the US side that we were coming from Canada...that got the entire car inspected :rolleyes: To borrow the pun, I'll get back on trac from this tangent.



A huge line of cars was coming up on the turn ramp, and if I didn't get on ahead of them, I wasn't going to get on, and would instead be shafted into going north, which I wasn't too keen on. So I got in front of them, and went through the turn at 40 mph. The speed limit for both roads is 45 mph, and the turn wasn't that sharp. I meant to put "sharp" in quotes as well as "safe", because those were terms that the officer used to describe the event, both of which I consider untrue.



I try to limit my stupidity on the road to an absolute minimum, and the only "unsafe" thing I ever truly recall doing was unintentionally hydroplaning sideways down the same road I got busted on yesterday, right after I got the trac.



I think the sound of squealing wheels causes cops to loose rational thinking. Once on the local community college campus, I was mildly harassed by a campus cop who was manning a speed trap. He clocked me at 15 mph, but right past him, a little car sped out of a curbside parking spot without looking, so I had to make a quick turn onto a side road to avoid an accident...and yet I took the blame for "reckless driving at excessive speed." The campus speed limit is 20 mph anyhow. Sadly, I think the little car was a Ford :(



The fact that I saw some sad (but very unsafe) attempts at street drag racing just down the road from where I was busted is driving me nuts. :wacko:
 
KL,



I hear what you're saying.



Most police consider squealing tires to be "reckless driving". Their logic is that if you are squealing then you can't totally be in control. It's crap, I know, but that's the way it is.



Also, many jurisdictions have squealing of tires fall under an "Exhibition of Speed" statued which is how they define it as illegal.



If you chirp the tires, expect to get stopped.



TJR
 
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