The very good news is my wife and I participated in our first-ever PCA Ramble, this one organized by the Northeast Chapter. In perfect weather on Fri we drove 250 miles from the Boston area to Cooperstown NY. Met up with 120 other cars and about 240 people. The parking lot had more P-cars than a dealer ever would (expect maybe these days). On ramble day we had a glorious time running a few hours to a vintage car museum in Norwich NY. Our sinewy lines of 10-15 P-cars in groups had most of the dry and open roads to ourselves, and there were plenty of waving onlookers in small towns. My integrated Passport SRX radar detector/laser blocker never chirped once the whole day. Out of 120 cars there was apparently only one ticket written - can't imagine what for. We saw no law enforcement anywhere (not that we exceeded any speed limits!) A great day was followed by a great dinner, and the Sox beat the Yankees for the 2nd time (sorry NY-ers). Then we returned home on Sunday...

Now the bad news (you knew this was coming)...

Only 30 minutes out of Cooperstown on I-88, with light traffic and clear skies, the top was down and we were rolling, this time on our own. No high speeds needed for the trip home, we were comfortable and basking in the weekend. A slow-moving pick-up truck appeared up ahead. I shifted lanes to pass, accelerated ever so slightly, rounded a bend with a small bush-covered hill on the median, and in an instant my (until-then) absolutely silent radar detector went crazy! I saw the state trooper deep behind the hill facing out. My speedometer read 82 mph. It was too late to do anything but face the inevitable. She pulled into traffic slowly, caught up, flashed the NY red lights, and I was bagged. 82 in a 65. My first ticket in the Porsche since I bought it 11K miles ago. And my first speeding ticket of any kind in more than 10 years. That's a downer!

90 minutes later on the Mass Pike I was keeping up (at a safe distance) with a Nissan XTerra that was running at some crazy speeds. He was topping 90 in light traffic when he rounded a bend and a Mass state trooper on foot stepped out with a laser gun and pointed his finger at - the guy in front of me. So he was nailed and the theory of being safe(r) as a follower was borne out again. So I was unlucky and lucky on the same morning.

So I'm guessing that the NY trooper that caught me had "instant-on" radar, otherwise I would certainly have picked up some early warning. My system went from zero signal detection to full-on in a split second. Now I can see that I'll have to more consistently apply conventional non-radar-aided driving techniques (slowing down at curves, etc.) on top of reliance on the electronics - which until now had seemed to function as a "cloaking device." Live and learn...

Gene
_________________________________________________
05 911 C2S cabriolet
01 MB E320 4Matic wagon
08 Audi A3 3.2, S-Line = wife's

 

"painful read?" You got a speeding ticket...

 

I was surprised by the "painful read" description in the title also, given the details. You got caught speeding, that's all. Not sure why that would be so devastating. Having no tickets of any kind in 10 years, wouldn't it just be a defensive driving course for you?

 

OK, ok, a speeding ticket is not the same kind of pain that, say, hitting a wall during HPDE might be. I overstated. Still, it was painful in the sense that we had had a phenomenal weekend, reaching all kinds of speeds in all situations without incident. Maybe I should have said "ironic read."

Gene

 

Get rid of the Passport and get a Valentine 1. Maybe you would have picked up instant on from an earlier blast. Keep in mind, state revenues are down so traffic tickets are like printing money. I expect the cops are out in force now, NY is also on the move to nail talking on a cell phone without a headset. I'm in favor of that one...

 

There are routinely two things going for us who operate outside the legal limits in the USA. Police are generally (1) impatient and (2) lazy. They routinely leave on their transmitters so they don't have to turn them on and off all the time. With a sensitive enough super-heterodyne receiver you should routinely get adequate warning that something is coming up.

The other red flag for you and all Porsche drivers is to avoid entrapment areas. ALWAYS maintain speed control where you can't see clearly around the next bend or hill top. The standard trooper trap is to hide just over the crest of a hill and target speeders on that downhill section. I think the best anti-ticket investment I ever made was contact lenses years ago, and later, LASIK surgery. To see them first is critical.

Also, when you say that your speedo read "82" and you were ticketed for "82" causes me to ask you,--did the cop ask you how fast you were going? These cars have a built in error that will be 2-3 miles per hour toward the conservative. For example, if your digital readout read "82" then you were doing 80. Never volunteer information to cops. Have them SHOW you the readout on their machine.

Rest assured over time, that all those cops will get their just reward. They are routinely lazy enough to leave a radar gun in their laps during their shifts,--and all that RF energy is directed to their,--well, you get the idea.

 

Dan:

She did ask me 2 things (besides license and registration of course). Did I know why I was stopped ("uh, speeding?"), and did I know how fast I was going ("uh, 81?" I suggested). I intentionally suggested a slightly lower speed, just to see what she'd say. Her response was I was going 82. Given the long time between tickets, from this brief exchange you can see that I was unprepared for being stopped.

I was inclined to contest the thing in their court a month from now. "I had just overtaken a pick-up truck your honor, and was about to resume lawful speed when..." Maybe the trooper wouldn't show up, maybe the fine would be reduced just for being there, etc. But after completing the 3+ hour drive from the town where I was ticketed to my house, I decided that a 6-hour 350-mile round-trip on a weekday was not enough justification to challenge it. In Mass. we get points applied to our insurance classifications for moving violations, and it costs many hundreds of $ over 3-4 years. The ticket fine is just the first insult, but in our state those are the violations that keep on "taking." I believe Mass. has a reciprocal agreement with NY to share driver data, so I guess I'll find out.

Gene

05 911 C2S cabriolet
01 MB E320 4Matic wagon
08 Audi A3 3.2, S-Line = wife's

 

Passing isn't a valid excuse to go 17 over. If you're going to court make legal arguments (cop wasn't trained using the gun, gun wasn't calibrated, might have clocked some other car, etc.) and/or ask for leniency (no tickets for 10 yrs, not a lot of other drivers on the road so you momentarily lost track of your own speed because it seemed safe, etc.). In neither of these arguments should you admit you were going an unlawful speed.

 

Having lived in Massachusetts for several years I know how the Gestapo can operate there. What I learned was that many infractions don't get a ticket because the township has to split the proceeds with the state. As the township has to do all the legal work (the court time) they usually wind up spending a lot of money on the case while the state winds up getting the lion's share.

Does Massachusetts have any sort of program where you can take a class to reduce the impact to your driver's license? I think California does that.

Also, I believe what you saw and what you were doing were two different numbers. I believe that the digital readout in the 997 lags a bit behind the real speed. The analog readout is more accurate,--but harder to read because of the size. In reality, you were probably doing the 82 but the speedo simply wasn't keeping up with reporting that to you.

Sadly, Porsche are always sought out by the authorities for 'further encounters.' I hadn't been stopped in literally YEARS by any cops in my other cars but within two months with the new car back in the states I got stopped 4 times! (Never a ticketible offense). I even got stopped in Switzerland by the police and I wasn't doing anything there, either. (Maybe it's the color!).

Good luck.

 

I say you shouls always go to court. They'll reduce the ticket severity simply if you have a clean driving record. You don't have to argue any facts. Ask to speak to the prosectutor beforehand and work out a lower fine.

Obstructing traffic is always a favorite of mine. In NJ it carries no motor vehicle points and only about a $90 fine.

 

If you go to court, ask for the source code to the radar gun's software on discovery.

 

Yea I would be surprised if they don't offer traffic school. Here in Ca. as long as you aren't over the legal limit by 20mph and it is an infraction you are eligible for traffic school if you haven't completed one within 18mos.

I am definitely seeing more police now as the state is suffering big time and needs the income generation from traffic enforcement. I know they will say it's for public safety but I don't believe them.

Dave

 

I HATE stories like this because it is probably how I will get ticketed - not on a bout of spirited driving, but instead on some simple, innocent passing of another car or right at a speed limit change.

Driving in a spirited way has improved my safety when not doing so. I don't want to "waste" a ticket on rolling through a stop sign or red light.

 

Arrest me turquoise?

 

in NY, you only have 48 hours if you want to plead not guilty.