[wchew]

Last night I was coming back from San Francisco to Salinas on US-101. It was 4:00am so basically there were very few cars on the road. I was traveling around 85 mph.

I came to a place where there are four lanes and virtually no car in sights, so I thought I'll pull it up to 100 mph...very smooth, very stable. After just about two minutes, I was quickly approaching a SUV in the middle lane, so I changed to left lane, and immediately when I went pass the SUV, to my horror, I saw that the SUV has the word "Sheriff" on it !! I hit the break immediately but I was so much faster than it that I was already about one and a half car length in front of it. The Sheriff SUV flashed me with the spot light on the top...and I thought "I am going to jail this time". I slowed down to 60, waiting for it's siren to come on and I'll stop. After 5 seconds, 10 seconds, no siren. I looked carefully and I think the SUV do not have a siren light (it was very dark, I am not sure about this part). So I slowed down even more to let him drove pass me so that he can give me instruction on what to do. He passed me but didn't do anything...didn't roll down window or give me any hand signal. I didn't know what to do, I just slowly following the car.

After about 3 or 4 miles of following at 65, he went out an exit !! I was like "what?"...so I just kept going and arrived at home safely.

So can someone explain why did I escape ? He definitely know I was travelling super fast because he was driving at 65 and I went passed him like crazy. Personally I think the flash of spot light means this :"I know you are speeding, but since it is 4:00am and no car on the road, I am going to cut you some slack, but please don't do it."

Anyone has any other explaination ?

[ase2dais]

ur lucky
may have been the sheriffs wife driving,
or the sheriff just came from a xmas party and he was drunk.
...just take yur blessing and treat yourself to a BMW cd player or something, the cost of the ticket that would have gotten, and say "merry xmas to me"
enjoy

[RichReg]

The Lord works in mysterious ways, my son.......

He was probably up to something during working hours, or on his way somewhere that he wouldn't expect to be going at 4:00 AM so he didn't want to bother.

Go to church and just "PA-RAISE JESUS-AAH... Yes , PA-RAISE JESUS-AHH"!

[db17k]

heh coming home at 4am in the bay area, i'm guessing you may have got a DUI if he'd pulled you over too? Shnapp i've been there, but on 280, got pulled over, but passed the DUI tests holy hell that was scary though

[wchew]

Originally Posted by db17k

heh coming home at 4am in the bay area, i'm guessing you may have got a DUI if he'd pulled you over too?

actually no...I was indeed back from a company christmas ball in downtown San Francisco. But I didn't drink. I am not a big drinker and I know I need to drive....

[wchew]

Originally Posted by ase2dais

may have been the sheriffs wife driving

[longtran]

sheriff are not allow to pull you over on a highway. they are out of juridiction. only highway patrol can pull you over and give you a ticket. sheriff traveling on the highway are just like us. they are only on the highway to transport criminals or police buisness. they do not patrol the highway. thats why you did get pull over. they could mess with you and pull you over, but trust me, they didnt do it because its 4am and they cant do anything anyways but give you a warning.

[ase2dais]

sheriff or not, I dont want to be the first to find out that they could write up a ticket.
.... I still think its the sheriffs wife, up to no good at 4am.

[IDENTITY_MOTORSPORTS]

i have gotten a ticket from a sheriff? oh well.

[findtom]

Wow, you must have felt a pretty incredible rush of relief when he exited.

I've had similar close calls in the past.... although none involving a speeding infraction that bad! If I were you I'd make a nice donation to a good charity and try to buy back some of the good karma you just burned up.

[user1]

Originally Posted by longtran

sheriff are not allow to pull you over on a highway. they are out of juridiction. only highway patrol can pull you over and give you a ticket. sheriff traveling on the highway are just like us. they are only on the highway to transport criminals or police buisness. they do not patrol the highway. thats why you did get pull over. they could mess with you and pull you over, but trust me, they didnt do it because its 4am and they cant do anything anyways but give you a warning.

Actually, as long as the sheriff was in his county he could pull you over and any charges would stick as much as any other peace officer.

Normally when that happens in places out of their jurisdiction the officer is inclined to call for backup from the local officers. When the local officer arrives they take over the investigation. Unlike the general public, an officer can relay events that are seen and the receiving officer can act as if he/she had seen it first hand. This stands up in court whereas in the general public this is known as hearsay. If no local officers can respond the sheriff can write you the ticket.

As for why you got off... its 4am and the sheriff probably didn’t feel like dealing with pulling you over, filling out paperwork and calling for the backup. You slowed down and the lights scared you enough.

Plus the sheriff knows he could only warn you as a ticket wouldn’t stand up for this reason: The officer would not have an exact/approximate speed for the ticket. The officer needs radar, laser or matching your speed with his cruiser. All police vehicles speedometers are calibrated and can stand up in court. This sheriff knows his ticket wouldn’t stand up reading "speed somewhere over 65 since he briefly passed me."

[ZenDriver]

A sheriff in CA has jurisdiction to write tickets anywhere he wants... most sworn law enforcement officers have the ability to write tickets on law violations anywhere they see fit.

There are 3 things that could have happened:

1- The sheriff just didn't give too much of a rats ass about someone driving fast on an empty road. While most people think every cop is just itching to write a ticket, most of them are actually interested in enforcing meaningful laws and busting bad guys- not writing chicken shit tickets. He probably lit you up because he likes watching people squirm... I would.

2- Sheriff's wife driving the truck. It happens...

3- He didn't have any evidence. The officer needs to pace you and get a speedo reading or radar you in order to quantify how fast you were speeding. As a sheriff, he probably doesn't have radar on his vehicle. No evidence = no ticket.

[JonnyCrash]

Sounds like you did get lucky. My guess is that the Sheriff was just giving you a friendly warning: he probably either hadn't clocked you, was on his way to something else or was just in a holiday mood. In any case, his message seemed to get accross to you loud and clear, and I'll bet you drove more cautiously the rest of the way home! Since that is what giving a ticket is really supposed to do, I think he earns a job well done for keeping the roads safe while letting you escape the indignity of getting a new boyfriend named Bubba

Drive safe

[wchew]

I agree that he probably don't have any evidence, because I have radar detector and it didn't alert me.

Actually there is a small side story that I didn't tell. When I was following the Sheriff... I saw another car quickly approaching us from behind. I was like "now what ? you are going to write two ticket?"

The owner of the car is a bit more careful than me , he immediately slowed down when he was half a car length behind the sheriff. (It helps that he was not driving as fast as I did, probably 80 or 85). It then became a situation where two cars are following the sheriff...ha ha ha... had my heart was not pouding so fast, it would have been very funny.

[Curt3s]

I got a Ticket for going 92 on the 101 outside of Milbrae before. I was lucky, because I was going faster than that a few moments before.... this was in my WRX though. Now in the BMW, I drive alot slower and try not to do the "stupid stuff" that seems to be so fun.

[325 Baller]

I did the same thing last night, went about 120 down I95. going that fast is scarry. I only did it for maybe 45 seconds, but it took me about 15 min to get home instead of 30 lol. I was so scared that a cop would see me, thank god they didnt, this is one fast ass car.

[Arby 330]

i just got caught for speeding.... 90 in a 50. I know the guy didnt clock me, because he said i was going 90, but by the time i went by him i had slammed on my breaks beforehand. He was facing my direction in the median of the road, and I know he didnt have his radar turned around pointing backwards yet, because i had seen him stop there about 30 seconds before that. Unfortunatley i was really upset (which was why i was driving like a maniac) and i forgot the cop had just pulled right there, so when the light turned green i gunned it. I dont plan on taking him to court because it really isnt worth it and my parents dont really care about the money, they are pissed that i was driving that fast.

[LEDZEP]

Originally Posted by wchew

So can someone explain why did I escape ? He definitely know I was travelling super fast because he was driving at 65 and I went passed him like crazy. Personally I think the flash of spot light means this :"I know you are speeding, but since it is 4:00am and no car on the road, I am going to cut you some slack, but please don't do it."

Anyone has any other explaination ?

I think that's exactly what it was. Consider yourself lucky!

[Robert]

Not all cops out there are assholes. Their job is to enforce the law and it seems like that cop did his job. He proved it by you not doing crazy speed even after his pulled off the freeway. Most of the time they just want respect and you to follow the law. You did that by slowing down, obeying the speed limit and respecting his authority.

If you carelessly continued to speed off or flagrantly ignored him he would have pulled you over for sure. Drive cafefully, even though the 330i is perfectly safe at triple digits you never know what's going to happen next. (example, the cop.)

[StewtheBassman]

Originally Posted by RichReg

Go to church and just "PA-RAISE JESUS-AAH... Yes , PA-RAISE JESUS-AHH"!

That was from "The Apostle", right?

[Robert]

Originally Posted by Arby 330

i just got caught for speeding.... 90 in a 50. I know the guy didnt clock me, because he said i was going 90, but by the time i went by him i had slammed on my breaks beforehand. He was facing my direction in the median of the road, and I know he didnt have his radar turned around pointing backwards yet, because i had seen him stop there about 30 seconds before that. Unfortunatley i was really upset (which was why i was driving like a maniac) and i forgot the cop had just pulled right there, so when the light turned green i gunned it. I dont plan on taking him to court because it really isnt worth it and my parents dont really care about the money, they are pissed that i was driving that fast.

For future reference, radar can clock speed of vehicle going towards the radar ( your case) or going away from it (if he turned around then clock your speed.) All radar has to do is measure the change is doppler frequency of the returning radar wave. I am not sure how advance police radars are but a radar that can do both aren't that much more complex.

[RichReg]

Originally Posted by StewtheBassman

That was from "The Apostle", right?

Well, its certainly one possible way to reference that quote.....
among the other dozens of preachers that say it every Sunday morning.