Accused of Street Racing/Reckless Driving, no ticket.

[Shadowell]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Utah

I was stopped by an officer and accused of trying to race him (the officer), demonstration of speed and reckless driving. There was no wheel slip, loss of traction, squeal or anything (on wet roads and not with the best tires, so lots of chance to lose grip if I had pushed it at all). I had been at a red light (first car, nobody in front of me), and the only thing that I really did was out accelerate him when it turned green (and not before). Not by much mind you, he was no more than a half car length away at any time during this, and I did not go past the speed limit. He was driving a Dodge with the V8 Hemi (he made a point of this several times), and said that he could barely catch my 19year old BMW (4200lb car with a 6cyl in it) with his car. He also accused me of changing lanes without signal (I was in the middle lane, and the only lane change made was to pull over for him, with the blinker definitely on the whole time). Very belittling, and acting (in my opinion) like all he was trying to do was to get me to admit I was racing him.

All of this I can ignore, as I have no idea what his mood was before the stop or anything, and it's not too big a deal to me about his attitude, as my opinion is everybody is entitled to be a jerk sometimes. For all I know he had a really bad day or something.

He did also state that he would let all his "buddies" (his word) in the area know my license plate number and DL number, and that if he heard anything from anybody he would tell them to cite me for everything they could (his words again), and then write a ticket out for me (there was no citation issued on the stop, and he stated he wasn't writing one) for "every offense I can think of" (again his words) related to this stop, and that he had a year to do so.

My question is this: Can he write a ticket at any time for the next year against me, especially with not issuing me one at the time? I drive this road every day, and do have some worry that he or another officer will be watching for me to cite me for something minor, and then he writes this ticket out, leaving me a nasty fight against it.

Thanks for any advise on this.

 

[I_Got_Banned]

I was stopped by an officer and accused of trying to race him (the officer), demonstration of speed and reckless driving. There was no wheel slip, loss of traction, squeal or anything (on wet roads and not with the best tires, so lots of chance to lose grip if I had pushed it at all). I had been at a red light (first car, nobody in front of me), and the only thing that I really did was out accelerate him when it turned green (and not before). Not by much mind you, he was no more than a half car length away at any time during this, and I did not go past the speed limit. He was driving a Dodge with the V8 Hemi (he made a point of this several times), and said that he could barely catch my 19year old BMW (4200lb car with a 6cyl in it) with his car. He also accused me of changing lanes without signal (I was in the middle lane, and the only lane change made was to pull over for him, with the blinker definitely on the whole time.

So you're basically saying that you were NOT trying to "race" a police officer who was in a marked vehicle... You only made sure that you “out accelerated’ him and that the closest he got to you was to be a half a car length behind. Right?
You know it's too bad that the vehicle code doesn't have any provisions that officers can use to cite people for "stupidity"... And that if combined with even a hint of speed or recklessness, the fines should be doubled.

Very belittling

Deservingly so…

and acting (in my opinion) like all he was trying to do was to get me to admit I was racing him.

So you were in fact racing him… It was only a matter of getting you to admit it!

All of this I can ignore…

That’s very kind of you…. All of this, you can ignore BUT only because I honestly feel he cut you a HUGE break. Had he cited you & towed your car, you would be ALL OVER the part you’re willing to forgive.

my opinion is everybody is entitled to be a jerk sometimes. For all I know he had a really bad day or something.

Cool… I like that. You know what though? Use that same analogy for “stupid” instead of “jerk”… Changes everything in that one can control being a “jerk’; being stupid, on the other hand, that’s out of your hands.

He did also state that he would let all his "buddies" (his word) in the area know my license plate number and DL number, and that if he heard anything from anybody he would tell them to cite me for everything they could (his words again), and then write a ticket out for me (there was no citation issued on the stop, and he stated he wasn't writing one) for "every offense I can think of" (again his words) related to this stop …

Don’t you hate it when they do that? He goes and tells all his buddies, from now on, every time you come across a police car you start thinking “Sh1t, he’s watching me…”. Every time you see a police car in your rear view mirror you start thinking “Heck, he’s following me…”… Nothing much wrong with that but if you start getting nervous, you start making mistakes forget a blinker, follow too close…

My question is this: Can he write a ticket at any time for the next year against me, especially with not issuing me one at the time? I drive this road every day, and do have some worry that he or another officer will be watching for me to cite me for something minor, and then he writes this ticket out, leaving me a nasty fight against it.

Thanks for any advise on this.

Think about it this way… If you’re suggesting that this, was not a legitimate stop; that the charges he suggested (reckless driving, Street racing, Illegal change of lane…), why would you assume that he cant stop you whenever he feels like it, even if you’re parked, and accuse you of whatever he feels like throwing at you… And that’s not just for the next year… That is UNTIL HE RETIRES!

Best of luck!

 

[Shadowell]

Not quite...

The assumption that I was TRYING to out accelerate him is incorrect. I was not TRYING, I was just accelerating at what I thought was a fairly normal rate. Based on this responce, you would have to say that any time if more than one car starts going from a green and they're not identical in speed, it's a race. If grampa in his old car barely presses on the gas when the light turns green to go, and I out accelerate him does that mean I'm racing him too?

IT WAS NORMAL ACCELERATION, THE SAME AS YOU WOULD SEE FROM MOST PEOPLE IN A CAR. The oifficers acceleration WAS NOT QUICK, if anything he was a good part of a second later than I was starting to go after the light turned green, which is what lead to the difference in car lengths, NOT ACCELERATION.

You could think of it as a spped limit anology. If the speed limit is 65, and conditios permit for 65 safely, am I supposed to do 55 if that's as fast as an officer is doing?

THERE WAS NO INTENTION TO OUTPACE HIM, it was just how it was.

The question is, can an officer issue a ticket for this at a later date?

 

[I_Got_Banned]

The assumption that I was TRYING to out accelerate him is incorrect. I was not TRYING, I was just accelerating at what I thought was a fairly normal rate. Based on this responce, you would have to say that any time if more than one car starts going from a green and they're not identical in speed, it's a race. If grampa in his old car barely presses on the gas when the light turns green to go, and I out accelerate him does that mean I'm racing him too?

Do you always watch and memorize the location of every vehicle around you and how far they are from you each and every time you drive?
Do you always make note of how many seconds or fractions thereof it is after a light turns green that you start moving?
And do you keep all this information in a log or are you blessed with that great a memory? That would be pretty ironic though... A great memory and yet no common sense what so ever. I guess even God has a sense of humor.

IT WAS NORMAL ACCELERATION, THE SAME AS YOU WOULD SEE FROM MOST PEOPLE IN A CAR.

And what qualifies you as the authority on what is “NORMAL?
You know… typing it in caps does not make it sound any less ridiculous that it is…

The oifficers acceleration WAS NOT QUICK.

Again, that is according to your opinion and version of the story. According to the officer, he had a difficult time catching up to you… Take your word and Put it against his in court… Guess whose gonna win that battle?
NOW DO YOU GET MY POINT?

You could think of it as a spped limit anology. If the speed limit is 65, and conditios permit for 65 safely, am I supposed to do 55 if that's as fast as an officer is doing?

You’re not helping yourself at all by commenting and giving other examples.
Going from 0 to 65 in 6 seconds is quite a bit different than going from 0 to 65 in 12 seconds…

 

[Maestro64]

First off your BMW can out accelerate the Dodge Hemi, their 0 to 60 is not as good as you would think for so much power.

The simple problem you have and will away have in a situation like this is the way these laws are written, plain and simple they are purely subjective. They make statements like show of speed or power or accelerating fast, simply put what is accelerating fast in you case faster then the officer's car, what if you had a even slow car then yours.

No where in these laws does it say what too fast is or at what M per Sec Sec is too fast or 0 to 60 time is too fast. My BMW goes 0 to 60 in 4.8 sec (from the factory) and can do it with no wheel spin or lose of control of the car. There is not a single standard issue police cruiser out there that can beat that, the best out there is the Dodge at about 6.4 seconds the Crown Vic are in the 8 sec range and most cars are in the 9 to 10 sec range. Most performance cars in the 5 second range.

These laws are written such that the office can pretty much pull anyone over and claim they accelerated too fast by the mere fact you pulled away from the other cars around them after that the officer can make what ever threat he wants about giving you a ticket or not since he know there is no way you can walk in court can prove otherwise.

 

[Shadowell]

I would call it normal based on that most people would have been just as fast accelerating as I was. I've been at that light many times, and subjectively I would say I accelerated as I always have there, and I don't leave cars in the dust. Quite often I am passed.

I'm realizing that with this case, if he issues the ticket, I take it to court. I'm not about to give in to an officer based on just his opinion, and will fight it if needed. If I lose I lose, but I have fought officers before in court and won because they have lied.

The caps were for emphasis, plain and simple. It still seems the point was missed.

I have NOT had my question answered about issuing the citations after the fact, and I'm beginning to think I won't here, so I will ask an attorney like I probably should have in the first place.

I have over a half-million miles behind a steering wheel, and I am not exactly ignorant of what a car can and cannot do. I know that mine is an older heavy car, and even new can't do -60 in 5 or anything close to that (max was around 9-10seconds if I remember correctly, it's a 7 series) and I was nowhere near full throttle. This is not an M series sports car I'm driving, or even a quick smaller BMW. He also followed for a half mile or so before the lights came on once up to speed. He stayed in my blind spot for that time until he went behind me and lit the lights (I DO try to keep track of cars that are in that location since they're not in the mirrors, so he wasn't being ignored).

All the belittling towards me did nothing to answer the question, and in my opinion is just arrogant.

 

[cyjeff]

You get what you pay for.

The answer is yes, the cop can ticket you later.

The answer is also yes, the cop gave you a HUGE break... and, in my humble opinion, the odds were very much against you in court.

From now on, accelerate at equal to or less than the COP NEXT TO YOU.