Road Stories

California Speedin'

California Speedin'

> My own experience going 135 mph or so up 395, the officer
> simply said, "I'm writing you up for 85" and basically told
> me not to ask him to tell me how fast I was going. I did have
> to go see the judge, and he threw the book at me with a $50
> fine in 1981.

Was the judge in Mammoth Lakes, on Main Street above the medical center a few doors from Whiskey Creek? I got popped doing 135 up Sherwin Grade. Officer was very pleasant considering, said he had lost sight of me from the first turn going up the hill out of Bishop. I'd slowed to 75 after cresting the summit, and cruised up the rest of the way to Hwy 203 turn before he finally caught up. I told him that I would admit to 70. He said I was going a LOT faster than 70. I pointed out gently that he had already stated that he had lost sight of me, and that the only time he had seen me since was after the turn onto 203. And he never actually clocked me except that his Plymouth, which could go 85 for short stretches up the hill, was not keeping up. So while he was writing the ticket for 70, the bottom end of his 440 engine let go with a big crash, spilling oil and coolant and engine internal bits. Offered him a ride into town but he declined, said he'd wait for the tow truck.

That was a $55 ticket in 1983.

I'm sure it was the same judge... ;-)

"Trust me, yer onner, it's all out of my system now..."

dr. bob


No, it was further south on 395, coming out of a little town. I just kept it floored through 5 gears and never let up until I had to slow down to about 100 mph for a wide turn at which point I spotted a black speck on the road behind me. I pulled over, got out of the car, and casually waited until the old CHP cruiser pulled up. The officer was spitting mad, so I smiled at him and asked, "What seems to be the problem, officer?" After an interminably long time he finally started laughing. In the meantime his cruiser was shaking and steaming, but it did not fall apart as in your case.

He told me that all of the cars I had passed were waving him on as he passed them and that had he not been driving one of the older model cruisers he would not have been able to get near me. He did say that he had already radio'd ahead for a road block and a helicopter.

All in all I felt that the ticket for 85 mph was pretty fair. The $50 [1981 dollars] fine did seem a bit stiff for me at the time. I keep thinking it was a Palmdale judge.
--
Daniel S.
'82 928 5 speed "S package" Chiffon/Brown



Got a good chuckle from reading these and thought I'd pass on something that happened a few days ago on my way to work. My drive is about 60 miles long over secondary country roads through the farms, hills, and woodlands of Western Oregon. It was a nice day and I was enjoying the new found extra torque after dyno tuning and exploring the limits of new rear tires. There were no other cars on this section of the road so I was really having some fun. I did occasionally catch a short flash of a car a half mile or so behind me, but with the corners and hills, I saw little of him. After a few minutes it dawned on me that the car was not getting much further back and I noticed that it was a white car. I thought, "Could it be....?". The small town where I work, Dallas, Oregon, was getting close so I slowed to near reasonable speed. Soon the other car broke over the crest of a hill behind me and sure enough, police car with all lights flashing. I was just coasting at that point so I immediately pulled over and stopped.

The freshly scrubbed officer, about 27 yrs old, asked me if I was in a hurry. I told him, "No, not really.". He asked if I knew how fast I was going. I figured he had not ever been directly behind me and probably never got a good lock on my speed so I told him I figured about 65 sometimes. It was true as I did get that slow on some of the corners. He grinned and said, "Yeah, it looked probably about that". He looked over all my documents, and asked if I had my gun with me. I told him that it was in the car in my overnight bag. He said it looked like I was hitting it pretty hard in the corners. I told him I was checking out my new tires and it handled great. He asked how the car went. I told him, "Awesome". He said that he didn't figure it would do much good to write me a ticket and would I promise to take it a little easier and slow down. I agreed that was a good idea and would sure do it. With a big grin on my face, I proceeded the last mile to work.

It's great to be a geezer.

Louis Ott
'90 GT a bit slower around Dallas for a while.

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