2 LEO contacts in September...rough month!

[trdvet]

There are some Constables around here that buy a vehicle of their own choosing. I've seen F150s, chargers, mustangs and a couple Tundras. All have regular plates. These vehicles are marked but sometimes they are hard to spot.

[jsimmons]

There are some Constables around here that buy a vehicle of their own choosing. I've seen F150s, chargers, mustangs and a couple Tundras. All have regular plates. These vehicles are marked but sometimes they are hard to spot.

Define "around here".

All LEO vehicles in San Antonio are owned by the county or city. Bexar County has a couple of stealth cars as well as a few F-150s. SAPD has some stealth Suburbans. All of the ones I've seen have the exempt plates.

[3dfxMM]

There is nothing listed on here about how to break the law or condoning doing anything illegal.

You're kidding, right? The whole thread is about how to not get caught breaking the law.

[The Annoyed Man]

The P71 also has a transmission cooler that the civilian cars don't have.

Thanks, I had forgotten that detail.

[Fangs]

I'd still like to know which I-35 crossing it is in SM that the second ticket happened at, so I can avoid getting caught.

And speeding's a dumb law anyway. Like having to buckle up everyone in a car but you can ride a motorcycle in your undies.

[NAVY CHIEF]

...but you can ride a motorcycle in your undies.

TMI!!!

Hooyah!

[The Annoyed Man]

And speeding's a dumb law anyway.

I disagree strongly. Go work in an emergency room for 5-6 years like I have. If you can repeat that statement after that, then I'll disagree, but I'll respect your viewpoint for being more fully informed. The car versus bike thing is a separate issue. People get killed both ways. That the laws are written and applied unevenly for different means of transportation is irrelevant to whether or not excessive speed is involved in an extremely high percentage of accident fatalities. Besides, if you don't want to get tickets, don't break the law. It's pretty simple, really.

[trdvet]

There are some Constables around here that buy a vehicle of their own choosing. I've seen F150s, chargers, mustangs and a couple Tundras. All have regular plates. These vehicles are marked but sometimes they are hard to spot.

Define "around here".

In and around the Houston Metroplex.

[CompVest]

Speed does NOT kill - differential velocity kills.

[Fangs]

I mean no disrespect TAM, and I agree that it's quite likely I would change my opinion if I had to deal with the human wreckage caused by speeding-related crashes on a daily basis. For now though I think it's silly that the same speed limit that applies to my mom's minivan also applies to my GTO. From a capability standpoint, a 20-something-year-old with good reflexes, good eyesight, who is focussed on the task at hand and regularly drives at those speeds in a sports car can handle roads much faster than an a lady with screaming kids in the back who's driving a box, or the 16-year-old airhead who's too busy texting her friends to look at the road... and if they're allowed to do 70 on the highway I'd like to be allowed a bit more.

I guess I just don't like the idea of being confined to the lowest common denominator based on the abilities (or lack there of) of others. I'm also not happy about having to stick to the boundaries of "safe" that other people put there for themselves so they can function. I don't think driving is safe at anything more then 10 or 15 miles an hour (by all participants), so once I'm over that I don't feel any less safe at 120 than at 60 based on variables like road conditions and traffic. Granted, those variables as judged by me, but I'm also of the belief that I'm a better judge of what I can and can't do with my vehicle in current conditions than a street sign is. I also have a vested interest in not wrecking. I'm just not lying to myself by thinking that those little yellow lines on a two-way 60 mph road are going to stop a distracted, sleepy, or drunk driver from crossing over at the last second and nailing me in a 120 mph combined speed head on collision - while both of us were doing the speed limit. So why would I be any more concerned about the possibility of hitting a tree at 120? We risk serious injury or death every time we drive somewhere. I just don't paint it with a happy brush and "can't happen to me" mentality like most people I know.

The vast majority (ok, so 100%) of my speeding hasn't resulted in serious injury or death, yet. So it might be recklessness, mixed with youth and lack of negative experience, but I'm pretty confident in my ability to drive faster than the posted speed limit without anything horrible happening. I'm pretty good at not getting caught too, and have no speeding tickets on my record. Thank God for defensive driving.

I hope that explained my point of view a little better, and yes it may still be uninformed and naive, but that's the illusion I like to look at.

...and to throw this slightly back on topic, I want to know which I-35 crossing it is because I can't think of a single one that changes like described in the first post. I drive around SM regularly and I haven't been able to spot it either, so naturally I'm going to get a ticket (likely) or be cowering in fear at 35 mph at every crossing (unlikely). I want to know where it is so I can know to slow down there, otherwise I'll be doing 45 or 50 in a 35 where I believe it to be 45. The only place that comes to mind would be Aquarena Springs or Wonderworld. Wonderworld I (think I) know is 45 all the way down on both sides by the highway, Aquarena changes to 35 a pretty decent distance before the highway... idk I'm still confused.

[LarryH]

Speed does NOT kill - differential velocity kills.

It's not the speed that kills you -- it's the sudden stop.

[CompVest]

That's right differential velocity.

And now back to the OP.

[The Annoyed Man]

Fangs, your sports car may be more capable than a minivan, and you may be younger and have better reflexes than the soccer mom with a minivan full of kids, but you both have to share the same road, and that there is the problem.

Posit: Mom is driving east coming toward you as you are heading west. You have the late afternoon sun in your eyes. Between you, on your side of the road, there is a gray colored piece of sheet metal, a foot square, with one corner folded upward like a shark's tooth, right in the line of your left front tire; and you, with your better reflexes and younger eyes can't see it because of the glare in your eyes and it kind of blends with the color of the road. Mom is going 55 in a 60 zone, you're going 110, fully in control. Suddenly, your left front tire blows, losing pressure so fast that your steering wheel pulls hard to the left and before you can regain control and ease your car over to the right shoulder, the closing speed of impact is 165 mph. Mom is killed instantly. Some kids are ejected and killed by the impact with the ground. The rest die in the fire which consumes the van. You're quadded, leaving you to live the next 20 years in complete disability before you die at age 40 something of pneumonia - having left your family with both the weight of your own medical bills which have far outstripped your insurance coverage, and a multimillion dollar judgement entered against you in court for reckless driving and multiple vehicular homicide.

Now I ask you, was the 110 mph worth it?

If you want to go fast, there is a place to do it. It's called a racetrack. I used to race my motorcycle - a well set up sport bike - up and down the Angeles Crest Highway in California, dragging my knees in the corners, on a road shared with hippies in VW microbuses and families in SUVs. I knew that road like the back of my hand, and I was good. I once got followed down the mountain by Fred Merkel - 2 time world superbike champion of the day - who complemented me afterward on how smooth and efficient I was.... ....and I still caught some unexpected sand in a corner one day and low sided the bike. As soon as I let go of the bike as we were sliding along, it began to tumble and destroy itself.

I took the lesson learned and took my sorry butt to a racetrack and learned to race. You want fast? Go to the racetrack. Join the SCCA or some other sanctioning body and go race. Slow on a racetrack is faster than fast on the street by a good deal. A) It will make a better, more skilled driver out of you; and B) it will make you more respectful of the laws on the street. And, it will scratch your itch. Because the bottom line is this: no matter how good you think you are, you are not good enough to anticipate the undefined danger and deal with it; and no matter how much you wish it were otherwise, you still have to share the roads with other people. Whereas, the racetrack is a pure laboratory where you get to find out exactly how good you are, and good your car is, in a relatively safe environment, with medical response right there, God forbid you should need it.

[Carrots]

Tam is right. I was a highly trained and a highly skilled driver who had the pleasure of driving Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin, Lamborghini and a whole host of other super quick, super exotic cars. I was taught, I was good and I was young. I spent six months riding around the south of France on my Ducati motorcycle. No stranger to speed, confident, aware and a real ace on everything with wheels. I knew what I was doing, always had perfect control & excellent reactions and I would think nothing of 165mph+ on public roads with the windows down and the tunes blaring whilst mentally and physically flipping off the poorly skilled peasantry who were usually right in my way and on my stretch of road. I spent some time on the track, enjoyed finding the limits of what I was driving and enjoyed playing the percentages. They were good times to be sure.

Then one day this happened:







And yes that is (was) a +/- $275,00 Ferrari 360 Modena. This was the result of a "simple" over take, nothing out of the ordinary and to this day I couldn't tell you exactly what happened. Maybe some grit, maybe a slight canter to the curve of the road, maybe some oil on the road, maybe a touch too much throttle at the wrong second. Who knows and apparently just "one of those things". I was “lucky” to have only hit a tree and nothing else, and I was very lucky to be able to walk away to go and face my boss. Lesson learnt.

Take it easy Fangs, bad things can and do happen even to us "untouchables". Take it from someone who knows, and whilst I do still drive a "sports car" I am usually to be found cruising the legal side of 100. We all only get so much luck, and pushing it day in day out is one surefire way to upset the Gods and you do not want to do that. No one is good enough to skirt the laws of nature and a history of good luck won't save you. Fair warning to you Sir.

[joe817]

Well put TAM & Carrots. My hats are off to you 2 for bring home the point of what can and will happen.

Your true life experiences drive home the point that no matter how skilled a driver (or rider) is, speeds at those extremes should only be attempted in a controlled environment....not on the roads or highways that millions of travelers use.

Thank you both for sharing.