Speeding Chasers....

[Jesse Risley]

You were lucky, in TX for under 17 it's $100-200 now. Texas sticks it to you with ZERO tolerance on seat belts. They pay special task forces on certain days to go out and do nothing but give out seat belt tickets.

Illinois State Police follows the same policy. No warnings are given for non-seatbelt compliance, whether you are stopped as part of a seatbelt enforcement detail (a.k.a wolf pack patrols) or not.

Just remember this: past driving record + nature of your violation / attitude = ticket or a warning.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

What do they give you for taking pictures at 55 over? (avatar)

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

What do they give you for taking pictures at 55 over? (avatar)

Yahoo of the year award!!

 

[Gene Moore]

What do they give you for taking pictures at 55 over? (avatar)

Depends if you're steering with your knees or not

Mike! What's the story on those flashing radar speed signs in southern Nebraska (especially on #80 north). Are they going to put cameras on those things?

 

[Linda Kitchen]

A few years ago, driving through Tx, I was stopped in Texline. I wasn't on a stormchase, but was just taking my husband on a sightseeing trip to some of the places I go when stormchasing. I knew I wasn't speeding so I couldn't figure out why I was stopped. Turns out they gave my husband a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt. It was funny because my husband was saying "I told you to go slower, ect". He had to pay $75.00 and wanted to leave the state and never go back. After he calmed down we had a great time in Tx. Two years ago heading to Fort Morgan, Colorado I was stopped for speeding. I told the officer that I was a stormchaser and I was watching the storm ahead. He let me go with a warning. The storm went on to produce a weak tornado. I'd always heard not to tell them your stormchasing but he was very nice and told me to go catch the storm but try to slow down.

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

What's the story on those flashing radar speed signs in southern Nebraska (especially on #80 north). Are they going to put cameras on those things?

Are you talking about the ones on HWY 81 just after crossing the KS boarder near Hebron? They have many of the Highways across NE littered with those little gadgets, as far as I know none of them have cameras, I think they just use them as a Scare Tactic/Reminder, I have noticed though that the Cops do like to hang out/park in the general vicinity of them, I always see a trooper parked by them on HWY 77 near Ceresco, while they are not a threat in terms of getting you a ticket, they are obviously in that location for some reason, so if you see one its probably best to watch your speed as its most likely a region watched closely by police, and I’m guessing they’ll be much less likely to grant you a warning given you just had a warning.

 

[Jason Boggs]

I knew I wasn't speeding so I couldn't figure out why I was stopped. Turns out they gave my husband a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt.

Now the driver will get the ticket if the passenger is not wearing the seatbelt. Not sure when the law was passed, but that's how it is now.

 

[Linda Kitchen]

WoW!! Not sure how I would force a 6'4", 230 lb. man to wear a safety belt, but I'm glad this happened before that law was passed!

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Depends if you're steering with your knees or not

Mike! What's the story on those flashing radar speed signs in southern Nebraska (especially on #80 north). Are they going to put cameras on those things?

Those are everywhere here with no cameras.

God I can't stand those stupid areas along 81 south of York to the KS border. Nice 4 lane highway they give you 65 on, then I think 4 towns have those and make you slow to 55. It just seems so stupid to make you slow in those areas, since there ain't that much traffic around there anyway, and the towns aren't even right on the highway...plus like Hebron there are several road options to use to get into/out of that town(putting less cars on any option trying to cross/get on 81....which itself is never full of cars at all). I never see that many cops on that stretch except for right around Hebron. I wouldn't speed through that one.

I hate NE's 55mph highways with a passion(though there are less of them anymore). Things that are 55 here would be 70 in TX...and we have far less people using them. My last speeding ticket was on such a highway in se NE(way back in 03). That was funny, I had just realized I had no reason to be speeding and was slowing down. Then I see him coming around the corner. I thought oh crap. He stops me and asks if I knew how fast I was going. I said nope. He says he got me at 68. In my head I was thinking, thank god, lol. For what it is worth, I've had MUCH better luck getting pulled over by cops in ne NE than in se NE. Never had a ticket up there, but have been stopped a few times. I got another one near Auburn one year. There was a detour around town. They had the end of it leaving town marked double yellow down a little slope then up a slow slope. I quickly passed a semi as we left from that dead stop, never even speeding to do it(no gunning it even....just a casual pass as I had a great view and all day to do it), and was given a careless driving ticket that turned into about $1800 in insurance increase over the next 3 years. They were stopping car after car doing that, even while I was getting my ticket they were getting stopped by other cops. Such a stupid ticket. It was faaaaaaaaaar from careless. I've seen MUCH worse ares marked as passing zones than that huge gap. I almost always see someone pulled over by the bastards in that county.

Seatbelt laws are ridiculous(got stopped and ticketed for only that in IL in 06....no other reason to even be stopped). I mean c'mon. You're not wearing a seatbelt(mine is almost always on while on the highway) ain't going to do jack to the other driver/vehicles out there. If it is not dumb enough to create a law requiring a person to wear them, there are states that say you have to but let people ride motorcycles with no helmet! Nothing like driving along wearing the seatbelt you're forced to wear all while passing someone on a motorcycle without a helmet. I just can't understand that whole deal.

 

[Bill Tabor]

LOL! Don't you just love all the foreigners that come over here for a chase vacation and always drive 90+? Seems they are immune to the tickets somehow.

 

[Bill Tabor]

I've certainly had my fair share of speeding tickets. According to another chaser thread I determined that I was at least an F4 Yahoo Chaser . Maybe I need to get a bumper sticker. That cash outlay starts to sting after awhile. Cops always have this knack of catching you at the most unlikely, or inopportune times. I've really been attempting to slow down for years now and have been successful to some degree. Of course the key is to have a good forecast, and not screw around trying to decide if you want to go chase. You really have to decide if you want to chase first, and then just get out to the general target area. I'm sure many of you recall the many times I got in late to a good thing just because I procrastinated. The funny thing is though I usually bee line directly to where I need to go so am usually successful. If I couldn't forecast worth a darn I'd be screwed. Last season March 28th is a good example: http://www.tornadoxtreme.com/Chases_By_Year/2007_Chases/March_28_07/march_28_07.html

I went straight to the right place all the way from Austin into the Tx Panhandle but was late to the show. I still managed to get shots of tornadoes, but none as photogenic as many of the other keepers that local chasers got.

 

[Linda Kitchen]

Seat belt laws are ridiculous, just another example of Big Brother. Case in point, in June, the no smoking law came into effect in AZ. My daughters, boyfriends, grandma (who is 84) has owned a cowboy bar since 1972. Her clients are smoking cowboys in their 50's and older. She was forced to make her bar nonsmoking. She is now going out of business because her clients have decided to stay home. This was HER business and HER property. Some bars have been able to build patios. They are fine, but she doesn't have the money to build a patio or the land to do it on, so she is screwed. I can't figure out why this happened. This is an out of the way bar, no one HAS to go there, there's plenty of nonsmoking bars around. I feel so sorry for her. Back on the subject, in Az they can't pull you over for not wearing a safety belt, but if they pull you over for something else they can ticket you for not wearing a safety belt.

 

[Mikel Shively]

Maybe this needs to be split off into a different thread, I don't know...but what do you guys think the worst agencies are for issuing citations? Personally, I believe that probably small town agencies are probably the worst about it.

 

[David Drummond]

I scraped up enough folks back in the day that didn't have their seatbelt on that you would rarely catch me with out one. But I think forcing someone under threat of penalty to wear it is a violation of personal freedoms.

 

[Mark Sudduth]

This is why I like hurricanes, if you have to speed to get to one, you left waaaaay too late.