I've paid my speed tax

[E61Silver]

Originally Posted by brian5

Why on earth would anyone who wants to go 15+ miles over the speed limit not have a radar detector? And preferably a V1

Yesterday, I exceeded limit by 45mph on I-95 and Merritt again. And yes, the conditions were safe enough to permit this. I wouldn't consider these speeds with 1) safe conditions and 2) the V1. And no, I'm not trying to "brag" -- I'm just trying to make a point that using a good radar detector has saved me for more than 15 years now!!

I never seen cops on the Merrit, I have run it many times and never been stopped.

[brian5]

Originally Posted by E61Silver

I never seen cops on the Merrit, I have run it many times and never been stopped.

I know it's OT, but I have definitely seen cops in action on the Merritt. I have seen them stopped at the exits (and at the gas stations exits) using Ka band. I have also seen multiple high-end cars pulled over -- those have been mostly down towards Greenwich.

[ravenheart]

Well - my aproach to tickets is to consider it an inevitable go-faster-tax - and also count lucky stars. I've not had a ticket yet - but I will at some point I am sure We do have a passport but we dont use it any more since around where we drive they all use instant on or laser and we dont really drive that fast any more.

When ever my wife or other members of the family have been pulled over we've always gotten off with 5 or 10 above the limit despite going much faster by simply being curteous and cooperative with the cop - and being honest most of all. When asked why we were speeding the response has always been along the lines of 'just enjoying the drive'. Not saying it will get the same results for everyone but it has worked well for us.

Once in Michigan - going up I 75 (I think it was anyway) we got lasered in the Z4M doing close to triple digits. The cop was sitting on the inside of a curve so we did not see him until he was ~100 yards away and shooting - but the road was empty and it would seem the cop did not care or got a bad read since he did not pounce. It was on that same trip we found how at what speed windnoise becomes loud with the top up - which is well into triple digits Oddly enough, at that speed we hit a large bee and it loosened the rubber seal around the windshield so the seal was flapping about making the next leg of the journey rather annoying until we figured out what it was. When we took it in to get it fixed for good the dealership found the bee still wedged in there

[Meiac09]

I love the Merritt Parkway. Love, love, love it. Not just because I put on my DJ friend's track, open my sunroof and play, but because theres always SOME jackass from New York going faster than me! I've never broken 100 on it though. I'll put that on my bucket list.

I do have a tendancy to get called in. Every time I'm about to leave Maine to go back to school, there are always a ton of traps set on my "hit my limiter" stretch of 295 where there are no good hiding spots. Sucks I can see the revenue monsters from 3 miles away.

My next highway adventure I'm gonna go 130 and not have a problem Love Europe.

The State of South Carolina will turn ANYTHING, and I mean, from experience ANYTHING into a "negligent driving" charge. No points, doesn't go on your record, but you pay the full fine. I've had a friend get 100/60 AND racing in the same week, and used that tactic to keep 12 points off their license, but if all else fails, change the court date a few times and pray to god the cop doesn't show up

[Zoich]

Originally Posted by rh71

For those who say to hire a lawyer, how much is the fee usually and will my insurance go up because of points during the next assessment? I mean they don't go querying my record every week or anything... I guess if it's really worth it then I'll do it but otherwise I'll pay it and put it behind me. My last one I don't think my insurance was ever affected even after pleading guilty.

This is speaking from my experience: your insurance will pull your records at least once a year. Let's say you were able to plead from a moving violation down to a non-moving violation (illegal parking). That still shows up on your record. But is a no point violation, so they can't access additional premium against you. Back in my "younger days" I'd pay laywer fee and resolve the case -- showing up at the lawyers office and ask them not to mail anything to my house when I was in high school. The funny thing was, my dad always knew in the end. Our insurance co would supply him a report once a year and he'd say "looks like you had 'another' non-moving violation with my car..." After that I'd just fess up if I had gotten a speeding tix.

The way it works in StL is that there is a mature market for traffice lawyers in St. Louis (Craig, feel free to chime in). The lawyer fee can range any where from 60 to 100 dollars (these are strictly Traffic Laywers, and it's their bread n' butter business). Also depending on the speed you exceeded (just another way to gouge you). For example, if I was 70/60, they would charge their std fee. If I was 20 over, they charge additional 20 to 30 dollars. Doens't make sense since the back office work is the same, but that's how they generate revenue.

If you decide to plead bargain or create what I called a "win-win" -- the fine (at least in StL) is then doubled. So if you were going to be fined $80, they would double the fine plus court cost (~$15). Plus your out of pocket for lawyer. So you're looking at 75(AVG lawyer) + 160 + 15 = $250.

if you the speed was 20 n over, then you're looking at 100 for lawyer, and probably 100 or 120 X2 for fine. So you may be out of 300+.

I think the threahold may be around 25 over -- of course 85/60 vs. 50/25 are a lot different. Some Prosecutor just won't deal when it's that excessive. In your case, I don't think it's a big deal.

The loophole at least in StL, and why traffice law "bargaining" can exisit, at least from my lawyer friend of mine is that -- if you plead not guilty, you can request to have a formal hearing with the PD and jury present -- it's your right -- Most likely the city is NOT going to want to waste all that money and time just so you can be found guilty for a $60 fine. So for small offenses the city is willing to deal and make more money (if you record is clean), and you get off the hook.

The way the "point" system for license is that, for a speeding ticket, you get 2 poionts. The next one will eclipse the "3" point which the insurance company would start charging more premium. You can always accept the first ticket. Or wait for another 2 year to get a second one... since the 2pt becomes 1pt after 1st, then down to 1/2 pt after 2nd year, then it dissovles after 3 years.

Hopefully that helps. I am 36 this year, and for the past 20 years, the law firms like Traffic Hotline and Traffic Law Center have been a life/$ saver. I do have to say after 15 traffic tickets or so, you lose count on how many you had in your life . (I think I am on #20 plus or mius a couple) Though I did have a lull period in college and grad school when I didn't drive as much. And type of cars didn't matter, from my dad's cadillac, mother's volve, brother's Acura, my wrangler to my e39 and Lexus and now the e70 (knock on wood no tix yet!) I find myself get nailed pretty much in any vehicle. I do notice when I am in my business attire, they are least likely to get me a ticket. Oh yeah, your heart won't even skip a beat when you see the flashing lights behind you after 15 tix or so.

What I do have to deal with now is my wife screaming in my ear when I was recently pulled over in her car becasue i rolled through a stop sign with her in the car -- got off with a warning -- must be becasuse the officer took pity when he saw how angry she looked sitting next to me and knew I had to deal with the aftermath...

Hopefully this helped.

[Naz24]

Its hard not to. thats where the valentine one comes in

[StumpyPete]

Originally Posted by ALPHA

StumpyPete you are mistaken... Pimp my Nav is also for the E70... I've used it for all my nav discs! SL and DL bmw prof. 2008 /2009... thats the reason I bought it... and it works like a charm on my E70...

But the audio warning doesn't work. It is pretty useless without the Audio warning. I no longer use my "pimped" DVD.

[ALPHA]

Originally Posted by StumpyPete

But the audio warning doesn't work. It is pretty useless without the Audio warning. I no longer use my "pimped" DVD.

You are right the audio doesn't work on the E70. But IMO just the POI it self is very helpful.. and much better than nothing..