Folks Of Interest When was the last time you got a warning or a ticket?

A number of years ago we decided, on the spur of the moment to go to the mtorcycle Rally in Sturgis. Bought an old camper for the pickup, loaded bikes on trailer and high-tailed it for Sturgis. Thru Ca. Nevada and Utah no problems, up thru Deadwood Canyn to Deadwood to drop off a Harley rider/bike that was broken down in Utah. Pulled back onto freeway and got about two miles from Sturgis, Highway Patrol had a car lit up alongside the road. Never noticed him pulling out until he lit me up. Checked license, reg, insurance etc and told me that I was supposed to pull over a lane to give flashing red or blue lights a safety lane. Told him I was from CA and rules were then a little different, I could not pull a trailer in fast lane, and speed limit was 55. Hell, trucks were doing 80 in the fast lane! He asked if I had read the sign when I entered S.D. on the freeway--I stated that there were no signs in Deadwood Canyon or I would have had knowledge of their rules and regs. He thought about that for a minute, then decided after lecturing me about the danger for Patrolmen, workers, etc, working the Freeways.

Bastard wrote me a warning ticket anyway.
After issuing the warning, he asked where we were camping--told him that the Campground was about 15 miles on the other side of Sturgis, should be there in about twenty minutes--He told me that those 15 miles would take an hour with the traffic in Sturgis---
He lied--We were about 90 minutes getting thru town and traffic!!

 

Hello,

The only two times I remember getting tickets while driving a hot rod or cruiser was in 1962, I was in the 1958 Impala and in 1965 in the El Camino. Since 1977, I haven’t had a ticket in a hot rod or family car.
1962
The ticket in the 1958 Impala was for a 26 in a 25 school zone. We were just coming home from school and cruising down this busy street. As we approached the 25 mph zone, I slowed down to below 25, but the new radar had clocked me at 26, a ½ block away. Of course, I protested and got some warnings about being a belligerent teenager tacked onto the ticket. The school grounds were empty and no one was around, just normal traffic. But, the ticket stayed in place and cost me a point.

In 1965, I was away from home for the first time. (Going to college, new apartment, new surroundings, new friends, etc. They all played a part of growing up.) But, I was homesick for my mother’s fabulous cooking and So Cal in general. I heard about some So Cal kids creating a car speed/time record from Los Angeles to San Jose and back. The time did not seem out of place going the speed limit or above.

“When we sold the black Impala, my next car was a RED, 1965 El Camino. It was not fast, but just a 125k mile total, reliable long distance cruiser over the years. The red color looked fast, but not compared to my black 348 Impala. Actually, according to the California Highway Patrol (on one traffic stop) coming home from San Jose, during a semester break: “Son, your red El Camino stood out from my overpass, on ramp, lookout spot easier than any other color. You were going fast.”

Back then, they did not have radar, but counted the car going past the center divider posts in seconds to estimate the actual speed. Not too accurate, so the actual 95 mph was written down to a “66 in a 65 max speed” moving violation. This lowering of the mph was after several minutes of a discussion at 5 am, just outside of San Luis Obispo.

It was a lively discussion about “a poor college kid with a job lined up in Long Beach” within hours of this traffic stop. (at 8 am) It was a hard sell, with the back of the El Camino stuffed with a dirt motorcycle and a a 10 ft. surfboard, plus traveling bags. That ticket cost me $20 for the one mph over the max 65 allowed in California.
1965
Before I had left Long Beach to go to San Jose, I had racked up one other ticket in the El Camino going to the desert. So, this new ticket was going to be my 2nd one.

Jnaki

How could a twenty something hot rod/drag racer not want to participate in this long distance race from LA to San Jose or in reverse? The times going up Highway 99 were hampered from the CHP patrols all along the Grapevine area freeways.

But, leaving a 2 am in San Jose coming home was a 90 plus adventure on the empty 101 Freeway and highways all the way to San Luis Obispo. I was on a record setting pace arriving at that fateful overpass in Southern San Luis Obispo. Another hour drive through Santa Barbara to the Malibu area was within a record setting time that would have lasted for years. The record stayed in tack as the ticket in San Luis Obispo stopped me from setting the new time.

Unlucky for me this was number two and on the way back to San Jose after the mid semester break, San Luis Obispo played another part of me getting the drastic 3rd ticket…It was a leisure drive doing 66 mph in a 65 freeway lane passing. I saw the CHP a mile back on an overpass on ramp. I was going 65 mph at the time. He came onto the freeway and upon me passing a slow guy in the right lane, within a mile, the CHP pulled me over.

(I had to fly home within a month to go to a DMV meeting to get chewed out and given a final warning. Get another ticket within 18 months and your license will be revoked.)

 

Around 1968! I was driving home to Connecticut from Los Angeles in my 1965 Corvette. It was part of my cross country road trip, going to San Francisco from Stamford Connecticut the week before. Now was time to go home. I was out of money, with just enough for gas and tolls. So this was going to be a non-stop return trip. I left LA at 3 pm and got my first speeding ticket around 4 pm. Got my second speeding ticket at 4:15 pm. Where the cops came from was beyond me. It was a four lane straight road with nothing in site. Doing 90 mph felt like you were doing 40. And then a police car is on my ass! Got my third at 6:am the next morning for crossing the center line. Yes I was tired. At that point I let my cousin (who made the trip with me) drive for awhile after that. We did make it home without stopping for sleep etc. Yes we were young and dumb! Home in a bit over three days.