LEOs that have worked traffic....question for ya

[Mazin]

Got a ticket for 4-9mph over the speed limit in Adams about 2mo ago. 0 points and its my first violation since 04


Sent from my Otterbox Defended Tactical iPhone using High Capacity "Clips".

[mrghost]

The last speeding ticket I got was several years ago for 13mph over the limit on 36 north of Boulder by the sheriff's department. I had actually been going the limit but gathered some speed without noticing until it was too late on a downgrade. What irked me about that was that they had setup the speed trap at the bottom of the hill, where it's expected people will pick up some speed. Up until that point, I had only ever seen speed traps at the top of a hill which is "fairer" since you're more likely to be consciously exceeding the limit flying up a hill. It was late at night with no other traffic and the interaction was all friendly but wasn't lucky enough to get just a warning.

[Ronin13]

Anything over the limit is capable of getting a ticket. Just depends on the state of their coffers and how pissed off the guy is at the time. T is amazing to me that there are certain days in a month where you see zero cops and then another day there is one every mile or two.

I can testify to this! Come up to Evergreen sometime, I'll go days where I might see one cop on the road, maybe (and I live about 1.5mi from the Mtn Substation and drive by it 4x a day minimum), and then other days where I'll see 4 or 5+. Strange.

[mrghost]

There are frequently speed traps at 120th and 287 right after morning rush and right before afternoon rush, often using laser, however, since I rarely see anyone being pulled over I think it's more about trying to assert their presence and altering driving behavior by getting people used to traffic enforcement being present and the possibility of getting a ticket.

[Jmetz]

A good radar detector is worth the money if you have a heavy foot.

[Ronin13]

A good radar detector is worth the money if you have a heavy foot.

Valentine V1 on my windshield as we speak... No tickets since 11/2010 (knock on wood).

[Bailey Guns]

If you haven't gotten a ticket it isn't because of your radar detector. It's because you were lucky. I had one guy throw his $400 detector (this was in the mid 90s) out the window on to 285 after I wrote him his 20+ over ticket. Then I threatened to give him a summons for littering. He was a dick anyway. Radar detectors are really good about warning you you're about to get stopped depending on the equipment the officer is using (and how they're using it). And if I stopped someone for speeding and they had a radar detector in the car you can bet they were gettin' paper.

A lot of cops will only stop the most flagrant of violators. Some will stop for really minor stuff. The dedicated traffic guys will often stop for 6 or more over. State troopers...different breed. I got stopped by a trooper on 285 for 3 over. A lot of guys (like me) will stop the serious speeders (15-20 over) for speeding but most often I stopped cars for minor stuff just to check them out. You'd be amazed the kind of people you find driving cars with no license plate lamps or burned out/broken lights, no front plate, etc. Traffic stops are a great tool when used properly for criminal enforcement. When the minor violation leads to nothing it was a quick "Thank you, get it fixed, have a nice day" and the driver was back on the road.

[Bailey Guns]

Oh, yeah...

Then there are the guys that wanna see the radar. Clueless.

[bigun1962]

Hwy 85 you can run as fast as you want unless you are in or near on of the small towns. Then you had better be under their limit or you will get a ticket.

[mrghost]

Valentine V1 on my windshield as we speak... No tickets since 11/2010 (knock on wood).

I debated getting that one vs the Escort 9500ix, and decided on the latter and it's worked pretty well. I don't really have as much of a lead foot as I used to, so it's more of an extra set of eyes/ears to pay attention to things even when I'm not intending to speed.