The Devil made me Do It

[Bluerauder]

Being from DC metro area, I rarely have the opportunity to let the “Big Dog Run”. However, one day last week on the way home from work, I got caught at a redlight. There I was – first in line and a full ½ mile of black top parkway was looming ahead of me. This clear road and no traffic is a very infrequent sight around here and the demon was whispering in my left ear wanting me to – do it – just Do It !!! :banana2:

Well, I’m sure that some of you have been there before. Needless to say, I am rather weak at warding off temptation. So, when the light turned green … I mashed the gas and enjoyed the feel of power and acceleration of my Marauder. It’s just a stock 300B; but enough for now. The needle moved quickly up the scale – then I decided to back off and let her coast awhile.

In the distance ahead, I noticed what looked like a pedestrian trying to cross the road. As I got closer, it started to look more like a policeman … holding a radar (maybe lidar or vascar -- he## I don't know) gun. Since the rest of the crowd was some 300 yards behind me, there was no doubt who he was looking for. It was a County Motorcycle officer with his bike hidden neatly off to the side of the road. :nono:

He approached the driver’s side and said those chilling words – “driver’s license and registration”. He had clocked me at 20 mph over the speed limit and I felt fortunate that I backed off before it was much worse. As I opened my wallet to retrieve my license – he asked “Is that a military ID?” and asked to see it as well. As I mentally prepared for the worst, he said “I was going to write you out a ticket; but out of respect for your prior service – I am going to overlook this one. Be real careful out there and take it easy. And, by the way, that is one really nice car. I wish that the county would spring for a couple of them”. :bounce:

With that, he told me to “have a nice day” and I started to breathe again after a bunch of yes, sir and no, sirs and Thanks. I realize that he was half my age – but he really did cut me some bigtime slack. I’m glad they have got guys like that on the force. My last “speeding” incident was in 1972 in a ’71 Chevelle and I was in no hurry to ‘splain what happened to my wife on my way home that night. She just wouldn’t understand ….. :down:

Will I do it again … probably …. But not too soon. I told you I am weak. Does anybody think that I can recoup some money from Mercury for the 2 inches of pedal that I won’t be using much.:o

[stevengerard]

cool story, always glad to hear someone got off, and most of all thanks for protecting our country for us.

[Bigdogjim]

Humble pie!

Glad you did not get wrtten up!!

Now go find a back road where no one is watching:):):)

[Ross]

Glad to hear a story about a cool cop. Lots of times we only hear about the uncool ones. Kind of like lawyers! :lol:

[THE_INTERCEPTOR]

I have gotten out of THREE TICKETS in the past 3 years since I've been in the military. :)

3 warnings. :)

[woaface]

Haha! Hey correct me if I'm wrong but VASCAR is where how they clock you from the air, in a plane or such. Radar and Lidar is where they get you from the ground?

SPEAKING of which, my friend Taylor's dad used to be in the Navy, and he lived on the base as a child. SOMEhow he gets a new military ID every 5 years.

Gah, I wish I had one. It might help at least a little!

[Bluerauder]

Haha! Hey correct me if I'm wrong but VASCAR is where how they clock you from the air, in a plane or such. Radar and Lidar is where they get you from the ground?

James,
Radar uses radio frequency energy, Ladar uses light/lasers. My expereince with VASCAR dates to 1973 and was relatively new at the time. It enabled an "on-coming" police vehicle to calculate speeds even though distances were closing. Computer processing now does the job. Here is what I found on VASCAR .....

"VASCAR (Visual Average Speed Computer and Recorder) is really a stopwatch coupled with a calculator. Once a distance is entered, the operator pushes a button to start then stop the stopwatch. VASCAR displays the speed calculated from the distance entered and the time measured.

Thus, a VASCAR measurement depends on human input. Therefore, in order to make a VASCAR measurement as accurate as possible, the observer's/operator's reaction time must be as short as possible. (Reaction time is defined as "the time interval between an input signal (physiological) or a stimulus (psychophysiological) and the response elicited by the signal.) "

If you win anything on "Jeopardy" with this info ... I get half !!!! :lol:

[woaface]

Yup, you get the biggest half!!! I knew how it worked, but I thought it was air patrol only...MY BAD!!!:up:

[Bluerauder]

Yup, you get the biggest half!!! I knew how it worked, but I thought it was air patrol only...MY BAD!!!:up:

No, you are probably correct as well. That is why air enforcement uses those measured distances painted on the roadway.

[MapleLeafMerc]

cool story, always glad to hear someone got off, and most of all thanks for protecting our country for us.

Thanks from me too. By the way, don't worry about the two inches of pedal travel. I learned here that the "preferred" approach to a Marauder is to drive it like you stole it. I LATER surmised this to mean WIDE OPEN THROTTLE as often as practical, 'cause high rpm is where it makes its power, at least in stock form.

Welcome to the club. :up: