Motometal gets bogus ticket on d-p bike

[motometal]

On the way to dirtweek, I lost a plastic tote full of misc. stuff out of the back of my truck. In my half-asleep state, I didn't put it far enough forward and it blew out as soon as I reached interstate speed (which was about 2 blocks from my house). Luckily, I was able to find most of the stuff that night but I really couldn't remember what all was in there.

So today I rode my dual purpose XR out along the interstate to look for a nice pair of hiking shoes I lost, and whatever else I could retrieve. Looked for quite awhile, didn't find a thing. On my last pass (which was about 30 feet from where cars travel) here comes a trooper. I half expected this, figured i'd just explain what I was doing then be on my way. Right off the bat, he thought I was just riding around the ditch on a dirtbike for fun. I explained what I was doing and why I was doing it, and that the bike was street legal. No luck, the prick gave me a ticket for "improper use of a roadway" which is $80. When I tried to talk my way through it, he just said I could take it to court. I explained that I wasn't doubting that the ticket would stick, but thought he could use better discretion and give me a warning or tell me not to do what I was doing.

I asked him if this was considered a moving violation as in increased insurance rates, and he couldn't tell me. Shouldn't they know what is and isn't a moving violation? Could it be looked up in one of their books? Job knowledge?

On my way out of the car, I made sure the door was shut (didn't slam it that hard). He jumped back out of his car and yelled at me for slamming the door. He probably feels like he was doing me a favor not giving me a "door slamming" ticket.

I don't hate cops, but I hate this kind of behavior.

 

[OKKX'er]

Whatever happened to common sense? Bummer man.

 

[FritoBandito]

You should have taken it to court. They might have used a little common sense and cancelled the ticket.

 

[jmics19067]

I asked him if this was considered a moving violation as in increased insurance rates, and he couldn't tell me. Shouldn't they know what is and isn't a moving violation? Could it be looked up in one of their books? Job knowled

I could be wrong here but I dont believe it is the officers job to know what the penalty is for breaking the law he only has to know what the law is that you broke. Improper use of roadway sounds extremely vague doesn't sound like a moving violation after all playing football in the street would be improper use. If it is a moving violation you can always go to court and try to pleabargain down to a non moving violation , convincing the court that you where in no way a danger to any other of the motorists on the road.

 

[Rooster]

Well, at least you weren't on your CR!! :eek:

Iowa Troopers have absolutely no sense of humor these days.

He should have given you a commendation for trash clean-up, if anything.....

 

[a454elk]

You should have had your horn on it, you know, the one that was on your CR at DW that I could hear behind me!! Sorry to hear it, some folks don't have any discretion I guess, sad to say.

 

[Peer Lovell]

I would fight this in court. Your chances are probably better than 50% that you will get the thing reduced or thrown out. Depending on where you are, this could be reported to your insurance company and increase your rates.

 

[motometal]

elk, this bike has a real 'lectric horn on it! only problem is I keep honking the horn to start it, and grinding the starter when I mean to honk at someone :|

 

[MXSparx]

Originally posted by FritoBandito
You should have taken it to court. They might have used a little common sense and cancelled the ticket.

common sense LOL thats funny

 

[Okiewan]

I can tell ya, there are cops with no common sense at all ... just look at Elk and Oldguy as examples :p Elk is scared to death of bugs and oldguy tries to pull a superman in a MX race. Sheez.

 

[truespode]

I thought Oldguy was Superman?

Ivan

 

[Milk]

Hey Moto, my insurance guy told me that once they check your MVR, they don't check it again unless its pulled on a random check. :) if they dont check it for 2 years, they will never raise your rates! Hes with Farmer's by the way....

 

[mx547]

if someone had posted "guess which drner got a ticket for riding in the ditches along a highway", i would have guessed--motometal. :)

it almost seems fitting...

 

[380EXCman]

No offense to any of the police officers on this site but nothing pisses me off more than a jerk with a badge. I dont care if a guy is cop or not. If hes a jerk he needs a good whoopin. Jeff Galulie style! Find out where he lives and whoop him. Why should they beable to get away with harassing us. Just because they have a badge and a gun or a robe and a hammer thingy?

I would take it to court as well. The down side to that is there are a few judges that are jerks as well. I had a run in with a Fish & Game warden, ended up in court. Turns out the Fish and Game fellar didnt know the law and then the Judge had to look it up cause he didnt know the law himself. I ended up with $400.00 fine and no hunting, trapping or fishing privileges for 2 years. The judge told me to be thankful I didnt have to do any jail time. It ate me up all the way home. When I got home I called the court clerk and asked her if there was a copy of the law that I broke availible for me to read. She said yep got it right here. I turned around hauled butt back. She took me into the library pulled out the same book the judge read from and pointed me to the right place. Turns out either the judge cant read or he was a jerk and figured I would not look into it any further. The clerk told me I could file a "motion for reconsideration of judgement" I wasnt to thrilled about that because the same judge would basically retry me but he could change his mind. Anyway She told me exactly what I needed to do. I wrote a 5 page letter to the judge with a copy of the law and penalty and high-lighted all the parts he screwed up. I then signed it and put a cc on the bottom for a lawer friend of mine. Even though I never really sent him a copy. A few weeks later I got a letter from the judge that said he had reversed his decision... :yeehaw:

What I learned from all this is there are people in this society that have way to much power than they should be allowed to have. With that abuse of power they can really make a persons life miserable. Fight it. I cant see why what you were doing would be breaking the law. Once again I would say either the law is to general or someone is misenterpiting it.

 

[a454elk]

380, I can't agree with you more, there are some that are plain idiots and I wish I could appologize for them. Some common sense and simple generosity goes a long way. Unfortunately, there are those that abuse what little authority they have. Those are the ones that used to get beat up in school all the time.:) It makes me want to go back to the road and treat people right again, we get a bad rap when one guy blows it.

For what it's worth, Moto, I'd let you go, only if you let me pass you on the track!;)

Okie, I believe those chips on the ground are from YOUR bag.:p

 

[MX-727]

No, Elk would've helped you look for your stuff.

BTW, he's really good at finding lost items (read: powervalve parts) in the grass. :)

 

[Milk]

He might have helped, but Im sure he would have "patted you down" first. Good job Carlita.

 

[motometal]

I know that if I try to fight it, a certain % get thrown out just because the officer is too busy to make it to court. He is probably from out of town, a state trooper not a city officer. Just yanks my chain, I was being so safe riding in 1st gear so slow I had to clutch it, and I was beyond the pull-off lane at all times. I would have to be an idiot to be dangerous on a bike in a world filled with cars and semi trucks.

A little bad luck was involved here as well...they were running a speed trap with a plane overhead, that's how I was spotted.

 

[rethnal]

Hey motometal! You should add "betrayed by LUST" to your sig! :)

 

[smb_racing]

didyou at least find your hiking boots? :p

 

[Lew]

If your bike is street legal, I think you have a very high chance that the judge might understand what you were doing and give you a break. Maybe too, you could go to the courthouse and look at that law before you have to apear in court. This would also let you state your case with your interpretation of that law. I think I would definately fight it.
Lew

 

[motometal]

I plan on studying the laws, etc. before my day in court.

and yes, I found the shoes, behind the seat of my truck! :debil:

either they were never in the tote, or I picked them up off the road that night. I know there were some other items in that tote that I never recovered, clothes etc. You have to understand that I brought a lot of stuff to dw, and in my packing frenzy I really didn't pay that much attention to what went where.

 

[IrishEKU]

Originally posted by motometal
You have to understand that I brought a lot of stuff to dw, and in my packing frenzy I really didn't pay that much attention to what went where.

Dirtitis, has some pretty strange symptoms doesn't it? ;)

Good Luck on your day in court big guy. From what I have read it doesn't sound like you had done anything illegal aside from the riding on the side of the road, unfortounatly it was up to the discreation of the officer to issue the ticket or not. He must of been pissed or had experiances with cyclers to make him so. Go to court, and contest it, the judge will hear your side of the story and likly will toss the ticket due to you trying to recover lost property. Explain that you wern't endangering other motorists and you should do o-k.

Phillip

 

[2stroke]

I just have to put in my 2 cents about officers.

Once, when I was 17, I was out in my 1970 charger. I had an electrical problem, and my fuse box had sort of melt down. It was dark outside, about 9:00pm. I have always been a gearhead, so I pulled over, and did what I could at the side of the road. The only thing I couldnt fix there on the spot were my tail lights and my instrument lights. However, my hazard flashers worked front and back, so I figured Id nurse it home with the hazards on, about 10 miles. The headlights worked afterall. I took it a bit slower than I needed to, I couldnt see the speedo anyway, so I was being cautious.

Then it happened. I got pulled over by some jerk in Anne Arundel county. He was acting like an irate parent right off the bat. He asked me what I was doing driving with my hazards on. I told him that I had an electrical problem and that my tail lights wouldnt work, so I was going to "get it home" by using the flashers. (Better than no lights back there, right?) In any case, he proceeded to lecture me about what a horrible car I had (I think he was jealous-it was a beauty) and then he told me i had to pull into a Dennys, and call my parents to pick me up. He told me Id better not leave, and that he was going to check on me every few minutes to make sure. I did try to call my Mom, but she was out. It was Friday night, and she was not gonna be home any time soon! So, after I faked talking to my mom, he drove off. I sat on the hood of the car, and sure enough, every 4 minutes or so He'd drive by and glare at me. this kept up for about 45 minutes.

Then, about 10 minutes passed and he didnt show up. So, I hopped in, and TORE ASS up the road, not being cautious this time, I hit the beltway and FLEW home. NEver heard anything else about it. THe thing to do was to have written me an inspection ticket, but he didnt even do that. He just felt like being a jerk. He was yelling the entire time. He didnt even take my information down. Just a 15 minute lecture about how bad my car was, and how it was unsafe, and I shouldnt drive it at all. No matter that I explained it had just happened, hell you could still smell the burnt wires.

THen you get the guys who follow you for 5 miles before pulling you over because your car looks like trouble. I get a sick feeling when they get behind me. YOu can tell when their up on your bumber that they've made their mind up to see if they can find a reason to pull you over and get you. Once, I pulled right into a shopping center not 10 seconds after one got up on me, and I got right out and glared at him. He drove around my car in the lot and then left. Right there it was. He had no reason to be after me other than my car has racing stripes on it, and mag wheels. He obviously had no busines at the shopping center, because he left. Ill admit, my car looks like it belongs to a delinquent, but I live 3 miles away from work, and thats all I use it for. (never have this problem in the family mini van, even though I drive that many more miles a week)

Once, I got pulled over in my little car, and the Officer seemed genuinley disappointed that he couldnt find any other thing to give me than a warning about my front tag coming loose. I mean he grilled me about EVERYTHING in my life! SUre enough I had every document he asked for, and everything checked out, He wasted 30 minutes of my time trying to "check out my information"

This one is funny, I dont blame the officer for his reaction:
Once, I was driving my Brothers car home from pennsylvania. I left my car up there for him to work on, and it was late. My bros car had bad tags on it, and I got pulled over for a head light. I explained that this was not my car, and I opened the glove box to try to find the papers, and there was all these shotgun shells in the glove box. (My brother is an avid hunter. ) The officer freaked out,and yanked me out of the car. He cuffed me and stood me up against the car, and proceeded to search the car. He found an unmarked bottle of pills under the seat! Im thinking now Im gonna go to jail for my brothers drugs or something. Well, the officer called in about the pills,and turns out they were an antibiotic. (YOu know most pills have code letters on them) and so he let me go after that. He never even picked up on the fact that the car had a bad registration! Simply gave me an inspection ticket for the light. When I told my Bro I got pulled over, he freaked, but after I told him about getting cuffed for his bullets, and the bottle of pills, and how the officer didnt even run the tags, he was rolling. He had borrowed some erythromycin from a friend because his throat was hurting, and he couldnt afford to see a doctor.

Having said all that, I know most officers are terrific, and that I have the utmost respect for the job they do. (many of my inlaws are officers)
Its like any other segment of society, you have your good ones, and you have your bad ones, and the bad ones give all of them a poor image.

 

[Rooster]

When is your court date?

Pssst, since you aren't a stm, I can't reply or send PM anymore. I need your email address. Drop me a note: [email protected]