FHP encounter

[LeeFL2]

Well, yesterday I was riding the Hayabusa on the I-95 freeway and passed a FHP unit that was pulled over busy with another vehicle on a traffic stop. Traffic was heavy and I was making time. 80 in a 55 construction zone. Bear in mind that the flow was at 75mph.

I did not pay much attention to the FHP unit and kept riding at 80mph. Next thing I see is blue light behind me. I'm in the left lane and did not want to pull over on the shoulder due to seeing too many accidents when people are pulled over on the shoulder, especially adjacent to the high speed lanes.

I turned on my blinkers and moved over four lanes to the right and then took the next exit and once off the freeway, proceeded to pull over.

Officer Rosko approached and mentioned that I was travelling at 80mph. I explained to him that we bikers need to keep ahead and away from other vehicles and we do that by riding 10-15mph above the flow of traffic. To my surprise he told me that he rides a GSXR 1000 and completely understands. That the reason he came after me is that as I passed him, I drop shifted a couple of gears and "kicked it up a notch".

I immediately said that it had nothing to do with him being there and no disrespect was meant. He asked about my driving record and I told him that it was good. I had one speeding ticket from a year ago and it was dismissed by the court. I told him that I would really like to keep my record clean and any break he could give me would be greatly appreciated.

He asked me to hang out and came back with a equipment defective/missing violation, a fix it ticket. He said that a speeding fine for that area is doubled due to construction zone and would have cost well over $300. I thanked him and shook his hand. Nice break .

We spoke about bikes for another 15 minutes on the shoulder. He waited for me to leave and then left himself.

Just another day in West Palm Beach!

 

[rockadaous]

cool. I sent my first ticket payment in today. there are cool cops out there.

 

[LeeFL2]

Turns out he is a motorcycle trooper but he was in a car because he got caught in the rain earlier in the day. It sure helps when you get pulled over by someone who understands what is required to stay alive in this heavy traffic.

 

[rockadaous]

for sure. He still did his job too without going overboard.

 

[jim777]

So, what part of that bike was missing? (Great looking bike, btw).

 

[gtrpimp76]

(rockadaous @ Aug. 04 2007,00:08)  there are cool cops out there.

But....They are few and far between!

here is SoCal, it seems the cop presence has grown, and their tolerance for sportbikers has dropped. It's pretty much due to the fact that there are a lot more squids, bike related accidents and too many bikers trying to run from Johnny Law these days.

 

[Don Hardcastle]

Congrats on getting tagged by someone with common sense and understanding.  

The 2 counties that are here where I live have cracked down hard on sport bike riders.  I got pulled over a couple of weeks ago for doing 9 over (64/55) and a cage was passing me (I knew the LEO was behind us).  Anyway this old deputy walked up and said, "Boy you tryin' to see how fast that thang 'ill go".  I responded no sir.  He commenced to chewing my butt, ran my license and told me to go home and slow down.  My thought was as fast as it will go, hmmmm, it will do damn near 3x the speed I was doing, but kept all that to myself.

We have a lot of kids here that buy the 600s and liter bikes and ride wheelies down the main street, so we are all paying the price for thier stupidity.

Don

 

[LeeFL2]

(jim777 @ Aug. 03 2007,08:26) So, what part of that bike was missing? (Great looking bike, btw).

Thanks for the compliment.
Missing a red reflector since I moved the tag bracket to the swingarm. He said just buy one of those wing nut screw on types and get it signed off.

 

[LeeFL2]

(USN05LE @ Aug. 03 2007,10:56) Congrats on getting tagged by someone with common sense and understanding.  

The 2 counties that are here where I live have cracked down hard on sport bike riders.  I got pulled over a couple of weeks ago for doing 9 over (64/55) and a cage was passing me (I knew the LEO was passing me).  Anyway this old deputy walked up and said, "Boy you tryin' to see how fast that thang 'ill go".  I responded no sir.  He commenced to chewing my butt, ran my license and told me to go home and slow down.  My thought was as fast as it will go, hmmmm, it will do damn near 3x the speed I was doing, but kept all that to myself.

We have a lot of kids here that buy the 600s and liter bikes and ride wheelies down the main street, so we are all paying the price for thier stupidity.

Don

Absolutely. That is why whenever getting pulled over, take control of the situation by the way you act. You need to demonstrate to the officer that you are not one of those idiots.

Face it, we all know what these bikes are capable of andwhy would we buy on if not put it to task on occasion.

First thing I ALLWAYS do is when being stopped on the freeway is to put on my right turn signal and proceed to pull over and EXIT THE FREEWAY. I NEVER stop on the shoulder. I don't care how far the exit is. I exit the freeway somewhere where traffic is not going by at 80mph. They have to follow you. I usually give them a finger point to the right overhead, give a right hand turn signal with my left arm and flasher. I merged over four lanes with him on my tail with precision and confidence and a speed to match traffic flow.

Second: Pull over, get off the bike, remove helmet, pull out ID, registration and insurance. Greet the officer as if you are happy to see him. Like you would greet a friend!

Third: No excuses. Apologize and tell him you meant no disrespect. Had you seen him, you would have definately slowed down. Ask him in a concerned way how fast were you going.

Fourth: Explain to him that you don't make a point of speeding dangerously but that on a bike, you need to stay ahead and away from traffic and all you have on your side is your ability to accelerate away from cars that encroach on your safety zone.

Fifth: Tell him that your record is clean and you would really appreciate any kind of break he can give you.

This has worked for me in the last five or so traffic stops I have had.

It will not work if your driving record shows that you are an idiot that constantly speeds at high rates. If your record is clean, they usually want you to keep it that way because they understand how much more it costs someone with a bad record on insurance and fines.

This also will not work if you are doing 120-180 mph or something stupid like that. Very rarely will you get away with that!

 

[Cadillac94Pimpin]

How about I left Palm Beach Cyles the other day with another guy i was on my Busa he had an all black 1000 RR we were going the same way south to Delray. We had been crusin at like 70 nothin serious. Right when we got to boynton beach after all that construction and an extra left lane appears he pops a stand up wheelie he rode it for like a mile perfectly all of a sudden an all black crown vic pulled up behind him unmarked lights flashing. Guess what hes is still riding it like nothing for about another half a mile while this cop is on his tail. He looks back drops down and dips. Cop turned off his lights and kept on crusin. That was the funniest/craziest sh*t I have seen in a while. FHP are pretty cool a lot of my friends have dealt with them and they almost always are let go with nothing.

 

[ambulldog]

cant beat being pulled by a leo that rides. especially if its sportbikes

 

[LeeFL2]

And a gixer, of all things! I had a good feelin bout this one!

 

[Ride_or_Fish]

I've never heard of such leniancy from FHP. I'm glad it happened, but I have known of incidents where even off duty LEO's have received citations from high and mighty FHP'ers. I guess times are changing.

Way to go.

 

[JuiceSC]

I was bringing home my 99 gixxer from the dealer and stopped at a friends place to show my new bike. We are in the plot of the complex he lives in and a state trooper pulls up across the lot. Younger guy, kept looking over at us. (its mid february, I'm wearing my ski overalls

) We walk over.

Trooper: Nice bike
Me: thanks, just got it, got 40 miles on the clock.
Trooper:be careful riding that.
Me:yes sir, its not my first sport bike, been riding many years.
Trooper: I got a 97 gixxer 750 (practially same SRAD) and smoke my trooper buddies all the time, they got liter bikes. Enjoy it, be careful.
Me::11 "thinking to myself" of all the squids I dusted on sunday morning rides..... they may have been state troopers off duty. Dayum........

 

[Cerberus]

Glad to hear people having some good experiences with Leo's instead of just bad ones. Guess the troopers her in Tx have it in for motorcycles. I haven't heard of anyone getting stopped by a tx trooper for speeding that didn't get a ticket.