Apparently I'm a felon.

[DE727UPS]

I know a Capt with a DUI (post hire) that used to fly with me up to Canada all the time. Nobody ever said a word going through customs. Maybe there is some selective enforcement or just rare enforcement of that law.

 

[Bandit_Driver]

I know a Capt with a DUI (post hire) that used to fly with me up to Canada all the time. Nobody ever said a word going through customs. Maybe there is some selective enforcement or just rare enforcement of that law.

It is definitely selective enforcement. Probably depends if officer hard a$$ is working that day. I used to fly with a capt that had a marijuana conviction when he was 17. He has been in and out of Canada numerous times without problems. Then all of sudden it became and issue when he was 55 years old. He then had to pay a small fortune to a lawyer to get it expunged and a bunch of paper was filed with the Canadian consulate.

I wish they had a better system in place to weed out the idoits before they become cops or worse US Customs. These are some of the most poorly trained people I have ever had to deal with. (that is another post in itself)

 

[TurdBird]

Plus, isn't that the time where the people who are speeding may very well be drunk off their butts?

Supposedly here in South Florida, past midnight, 1 out of 3 or 1 out of 4 vehicles on the road are DUI. Last night alone, I arrested 3 DUI's. The one that bothered me the most was a 19 year old girl. She was so drunk that she was laughing and excited that she was going to jail, yet driving a car that I initially stopped for doing 94 in a 65. Shortly after that we did a multi-agency DUI checkpoint. You would be shocked with how many people where drunk.

My patience level for DUI... 0%. I want myself, family, friends, and strangers to make it home in one piece. Way to often we hear of an entire family killed by 1 DUI driver.

Actions have consequences. If you want to speed, be my guest, but don't complain about unfair cops when you get busted. Laws are laws, whether or not you like them.

Very well said Tony. You cant complain about unfair cops when you where the one who drew the attention to yourself.

mhcasey. I guess you had to deal with an aggressive cop. Im not going to respond because I dont know the situation of the case. It could be that the campground you got nailed at has a zero tolerance towards whatever it is you did. Who knows, someone could have been killed out there a few months prior and the city/county got their ass handed to them and where told to be ore strict and to prevent another accident. Too many variables. You said you got off and thats all that matters.

 

[TaterSalad]

To the original question in the post............My driving history is checkered, to say the least. When I was a bit younger, I had a rather fast sports car, and I liked to drive it to its potential (which was not necessarily the smartest thing to do, I've since learned). I've had 2 reckless driving tickets, and about 5 speeding tickets in the last 7 years (and none of them was for less than 15 over the limit), was even 1 point away from losing my license at one point. I was still hired by PSA (though I've since turned down a class date there after waiting 7 months since I found a better job). So, there is hope for you. It'd been 2 years since my last ticket when I was hired, apparently that was enough to show them I'd learned the error of my ways and matured some.

And to hit on another point brought up in this thread...........there are a lot of cops out there who like to give bs tickets to people in fast sports cars, apparently just because of the car. Case in point........one of my reckless driving tickets was for passing a (slow) car in the right lane, as the right lane was ending (going from 2 to 1 lane). Never did I cross a solid line, and I wasn't even speeding to a great extent to pass said car. The cop, once he pulled me over, actually said to me "I should just give you a speeding ticket, but reckless driving carries more points, so that's what I'm giving you". I'm not going to deny any personal responsibility in any of my incidents, because at the least I was being stupid. But, there are at least 2 times I can think of, where the ticket was not necessarily justified, and I know I was ticketed solely because of the car I was driving. I didn't cop an attitude or anything, every time I've been pulled over I was apologetic, cooperative and admitted what I was doing was wrong. So my overwhelming experience with law enforcement has been negative, even in light of the fact what I was doing was admittedly outside the bounds of legality.

 

[DE727UPS]

"there are a lot of cops out there who like to give bs tickets to people in fast sports cars, apparently just because of the car"

I don't know, man. I would have thought that to be true but I've never got pulled over in my red Corvette. I never go more than 5 over or faster than the flow of traffic, though.

Gawd, I'm getting old....

 

[Malko]

.....My patience level for DUI... 0%. I want myself, family, friends, and strangers to make it home in one piece. Way to often we hear of an entire family killed by 1 DUI driver.....

Ditto....:yeahthat:

A couple of years ago my wife's truck was totaled thanks to some a$$ that ran a stop sign and blew a .28. My wife was driving and both kids (2 & 5) were in the car at the time. A split second later and I could have easily lost a family member. No surprise he was a repeat offender.

 

[mtsu_av8er]

Gawd, I'm getting old....

Or, you just have some common sense!

 

[chipdouglas]

And to hit on another point brought up in this thread...........there are a lot of cops out there who like to give bs tickets to people in fast sports cars, apparently just because of the car. Case in point........one of my reckless driving tickets was for passing a (slow) car in the right lane, as the right lane was ending (going from 2 to 1 lane). Never did I cross a solid line, and I wasn't even speeding to a great extent to pass said car. The cop, once he pulled me over, actually said to me "I should just give you a speeding ticket, but reckless driving carries more points, so that's what I'm giving you". I'm not going to deny any personal responsibility in any of my incidents, because at the least I was being stupid. But, there are at least 2 times I can think of, where the ticket was not necessarily justified, and I know I was ticketed solely because of the car I was driving. I didn't cop an attitude or anything, every time I've been pulled over I was apologetic, cooperative and admitted what I was doing was wrong. So my overwhelming experience with law enforcement has been negative, even in light of the fact what I was doing was admittedly outside the bounds of legality.

First of all, I'm glad to here there is hope still if this RD charge sticks.

Otherwise, I know what you're talking about. I had nothing on my driving record for 2 years before I bought my muscle car down in Laguna Beach. Within two years I had a poor driving record. No accidents but at least 3 tickets. I think a car like yours or mine will draw extra attention, and I think age has a lot to do with it as well. But from my experience, it is clear there are two possibilities: Either 80% of cops are evil d*cks, or people like you and I let off an unintentional vibe of arrogance. I always think I'm being as cordial as possible, but it seems clear that something must be escaping through body language or intonation, because after (and sometimes before) five words with me most cops seem ready to bury me. Because of some vibe I cannot master, I'm the guy every cop perceives to be a "punk" who needs to be taught a lesson, so I get the benefit of the doubt 0% of the time.

 

[Mr_Creepy]

Cops look for sports cars, yes, and for pick up trucks, as they have become the new "macho, make-up for small personal equipment" vehicle, but that's not the litmus test.

They look for signs of rebellious or immature behavior.

I had a young sheriff's deputy tell me his "laundry list" -

1) Aggressive and impatient driving, such as weaving in and out of traffic (passing on the right for example)
2) Ridiculous car decorations, such as low riders, big mufflers that don't "muffle", etc.
3) Loud music
4) Weird hair, piercings and tattoos (discrimination? yeah so what deal with it)
5) and of course they look for young drivers.

The funniest thing was this guy had a blue tint to his hair, an earring and an eyebrow ring, and a tattoo on his arm. He also drove a Ford F-250!

 

[tonyw]

And to hit on another point brought up in this thread...........there are a lot of cops out there who like to give bs tickets to people in fast sports cars, apparently just because of the car.

I've got a Mustang GT. I've had that thing up to about 130 on a track. I think that's fast enough.

And you know how many speeding tickets I've gotten since I've had that car? Zip. I'm hoping it stays that way.

Bottom line is, if you're going even one mph over the limit, you are speeding. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time! If you want to speed, be my guest, but be prepared to pay the fine if you get caught, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE COP WAS A BUNGHOLE OR NOT.

what I was doing was admittedly outside the bounds of legality.

Well, at least you can admit you were breaking the law. As they say, everyone in jail is innocent.

 

[Cheechako]

I know a Capt with a DUI (post hire) that used to fly with me up to Canada all the time. Nobody ever said a word going through customs. Maybe there is some selective enforcement or just rare enforcement of that law.

This has become a fairly recent development (past 2 years or so). If the conviction is more than 10 years ago, no problem. 5-10 years, Rehabilitation paperwork and $$, <5 years, inadmissible.

From the Canadian Immigration website: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/irpa/fs%2Dcriminal.html

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Any activity that is considered a criminal offence in Canada, such as driving while under the influence of a substance such as alcohol, may prevent you from entering into Canada, even if the activity was not considered criminal in the country where it was committed.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]

[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Here's the FAQ Sheet from the same website:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/faq%2Dinadmissibility.html


[/SIZE][/FONT]

 

[mhcasey]

OK I'm confessing...

I hate to do this, but in the past few days this post has been up, I've decided that speeding , even "just 10mph over," is typically pretty stupid. It generally saves no time, burns more fuel, and takes away precious time in collision avoidance.

The sad/kind of funny story behind my epiphany:

I was driving from Ft Worth to Austin on I-35, going a few mph over the speed limit, but just enough to keep up with traffic and not get destroyed by the semis behind me. A small caravan comes up on my left going ~ 10mph over being led by a truck towing a small trailor with a goat inside. I consider joining the caravan to save a little time - afterall, I'm tired, and I hate being on I-35 any longer than I have to be. However, I remember that I'm trying to beat my new record of fuel efficiency that I set just last week (almost 40m/g in my dorky looking yet super practical Pontiac Vibe), so I stick with my group that's going maybe 68 in a 65.

A few minutes later, I see a big clowd of dust and everyone in front of me slams on the brakes. We slowly progress to the scene of the accident, and sure enough, the truck towing the goat is on the side of the road with some other guy, neither vehicle seriously damaged, but scraped up pretty good on the containment wall.

All people involved looked ok, but the goat was no longer standing in the trailor...