This story is from an quick email I wrote this morning out to the NSX club people in my region asking for some advice. On Saturday, I spent most of the afternoon installing my new brake pads (Carbotech Panther Pluses if any of you are interested.
) and just had finished around 8:15 PM. I took a small drive immediately after installing the brakes to seat the brakes and to warm them up slightly by following the directions. After bringing the car home (8:30), I let the car sit for about 30 minutes and went inside the house to shower etc. During that time, my brother had been preparing dinner so I called my friend who lives less than 5 minutes away to see if he was interested in having some food too because we had made so much.
Saturday, August 25th 9:15PM Anyways, I start down my first main street (Payne) toward Winchester boulevard which is only about 500 yards away from my home and approach the intersection which at the time was a green light. There is a right turn which has its own run-off and is a yield turn. There are no cars and I go through the turn at approximately 25mph and just continue on my way. I get held up at the next light which is about 250 yards down on Winchester and wait in the center lane for the green light. I would say I waited less than 20 seconds for this light. After the stoplight the next intersection is Hamilton, which is only about another 200 yards away. I need to take a left so I get in the left turn only lane. (there are 2 left turn only lanes here) I'm at the very front of the left turn only lane, and the next turn is a quick right about 150 yards away. Hamilton has 3 lanes on both sides of traffic but has a center divider in this area. Since I was the first one at the turn I accelerate faster than the Corrolla (duh) next to me and take a right turn crossing the 3 lanes. Immediately after the right turn is a quick left turn which is the street which my friend lives. I am now in the subdivision so I am driving slowly ~25mph or so. About 50 yards or so I see 2 police cars taking the last left turn at extreme speeds and approach me! I was very suprised at this point. I had no idea what they wanted from me. The shined their lights on me and I IMMEDIATELY put my hazards on and stopped on the side of the residential road. Once I stopped I opened the door to get out to see what the deal was. As soon as I got out they yelled "Put your hands up" I did as I was told and I could barely see them because their lights were so bright, but I could see that both officers were pointing their guns at me. I was very suprised, because I really didn't know why they were pulling me over. One of the officers then came over to me and put hand-cuffs on me and started to yell at me. He started saying all kinds of stuff that really exaturated what I was doing... I just couldn't believe what I was hearing... He asked me how fast were you going!? I replied: probably 40mph or maybe even 45mph at the MOST! Then he started rambling about how I used the shoulder on Payne to get onto Winchester.. I was like WHAT!? There is a should there for use to exit onto winchester... that is why there is a dedicated right turn area. I tried to keep explaining to him that I had even just spent the entire afternoon working on my brakes and was driving extra carefull... At that instant, I thought maybe my braking style was maybe irratic... (but I really didn't think so at the time) so I started to try to prove and explain I just worked on my brakes all day. He wasn't buying anything. He told me he wants to take me to jail and he would get my car towed. He than took me to his car and put me in the police car. I was just shocked. I sat in the car for a while about 5 minutes while the two officers talked amongst themselves. I started to think about where it actually was that they saw me do _anything_ At the intersection of Payne and Winchester there is a 7 Eleven that the policemen always hang out and drink coffee etc. That was the yielding turn that I went about 25mph through onto NO traffic and a 3 lane wide road. but the fact that I didn't brake very hard approaching the turn probably made it look really dangerous to them. (little do they know about NSXs) Also my car was very dirty and its green so they really can't tell what kind of car it is at night. I also realized the fact that I made a quick right turn then a quick left turn, it may have looked to them that I was evading them. (I didn't even see them until I was on the road my friend lived on) While I sat in the car, the two officers were speaking to each other about something. I soon concluded that they realized that they went over-board on this pull-over. The other officer came up to my door and let me out of the car and uncuffed me. He was much more cooled down, but the other officer was still quite hot and jumpy. I had kept my cool through the entire thing, but my attempt to try to explain the truth didn't really seem to get me anywhere. Since the hot one was so angry that he wanted to take me to jail, I aggreed with him that I must have been going too fast... which calmed him down somewhat.
I calmly spoke with the other officer while the hot officer started writing my ticket. He confirmed my suspicions. He mentioend that this pull-over was "his" (the hot headed ones') and I asked them where did you see me, and he mentioned 7 Eleven. The hot-headed officer continued to explain that he would give me a reckless driving ticket.. At the time, I really didn't know the severity of this ticket. I really didn't have a choice but to say ok, because his tone still sounded like he wanted to tow my car! They also explained, that by signing the ticket, it wouldn't mean I was accepting my guilt. He also said I was lucky that he didn't write me up on all my illegal parts! I wanted to yell back at him, WHAT ILLEGAL PARTS!? My car is pretty much stock, but the exhaust is somewhat louder than stock during acceleration. I think this could have also been what made them think I was going faster than I really was. They probably could hear me accelerate from 25mph to 45mph on Winchester as I went toward Hamilton.
They also said that next time we see you, we're gonna take you to jail... I was like! WTF!
They told me they had put my keys on the seat of my car and said I could go.
I got in my car drove 10 seconds to my friends house (on that exact same street) and just felt disgusted.
That is FUBAR.
If you any of you guys have any advice on how I can fight this or deal with this.
I just CANNOT afford to have reckless driving on my record. If I really was guilty of driving dangerously than my attitude woiuld definitely be different.
What I wrote above is the whole truth.
Saturday, August 25th 9:15PM Anyways, I start down my first main street (Payne) toward Winchester boulevard which is only about 500 yards away from my home and approach the intersection which at the time was a green light. There is a right turn which has its own run-off and is a yield turn. There are no cars and I go through the turn at approximately 25mph and just continue on my way. I get held up at the next light which is about 250 yards down on Winchester and wait in the center lane for the green light. I would say I waited less than 20 seconds for this light. After the stoplight the next intersection is Hamilton, which is only about another 200 yards away. I need to take a left so I get in the left turn only lane. (there are 2 left turn only lanes here) I'm at the very front of the left turn only lane, and the next turn is a quick right about 150 yards away. Hamilton has 3 lanes on both sides of traffic but has a center divider in this area. Since I was the first one at the turn I accelerate faster than the Corrolla (duh) next to me and take a right turn crossing the 3 lanes. Immediately after the right turn is a quick left turn which is the street which my friend lives. I am now in the subdivision so I am driving slowly ~25mph or so. About 50 yards or so I see 2 police cars taking the last left turn at extreme speeds and approach me! I was very suprised at this point. I had no idea what they wanted from me. The shined their lights on me and I IMMEDIATELY put my hazards on and stopped on the side of the residential road. Once I stopped I opened the door to get out to see what the deal was. As soon as I got out they yelled "Put your hands up" I did as I was told and I could barely see them because their lights were so bright, but I could see that both officers were pointing their guns at me. I was very suprised, because I really didn't know why they were pulling me over. One of the officers then came over to me and put hand-cuffs on me and started to yell at me. He started saying all kinds of stuff that really exaturated what I was doing... I just couldn't believe what I was hearing... He asked me how fast were you going!? I replied: probably 40mph or maybe even 45mph at the MOST! Then he started rambling about how I used the shoulder on Payne to get onto Winchester.. I was like WHAT!? There is a should there for use to exit onto winchester... that is why there is a dedicated right turn area. I tried to keep explaining to him that I had even just spent the entire afternoon working on my brakes and was driving extra carefull... At that instant, I thought maybe my braking style was maybe irratic... (but I really didn't think so at the time) so I started to try to prove and explain I just worked on my brakes all day. He wasn't buying anything. He told me he wants to take me to jail and he would get my car towed. He than took me to his car and put me in the police car. I was just shocked. I sat in the car for a while about 5 minutes while the two officers talked amongst themselves. I started to think about where it actually was that they saw me do _anything_ At the intersection of Payne and Winchester there is a 7 Eleven that the policemen always hang out and drink coffee etc. That was the yielding turn that I went about 25mph through onto NO traffic and a 3 lane wide road. but the fact that I didn't brake very hard approaching the turn probably made it look really dangerous to them. (little do they know about NSXs) Also my car was very dirty and its green so they really can't tell what kind of car it is at night. I also realized the fact that I made a quick right turn then a quick left turn, it may have looked to them that I was evading them. (I didn't even see them until I was on the road my friend lived on) While I sat in the car, the two officers were speaking to each other about something. I soon concluded that they realized that they went over-board on this pull-over. The other officer came up to my door and let me out of the car and uncuffed me. He was much more cooled down, but the other officer was still quite hot and jumpy. I had kept my cool through the entire thing, but my attempt to try to explain the truth didn't really seem to get me anywhere. Since the hot one was so angry that he wanted to take me to jail, I aggreed with him that I must have been going too fast... which calmed him down somewhat.
I calmly spoke with the other officer while the hot officer started writing my ticket. He confirmed my suspicions. He mentioend that this pull-over was "his" (the hot headed ones') and I asked them where did you see me, and he mentioned 7 Eleven. The hot-headed officer continued to explain that he would give me a reckless driving ticket.. At the time, I really didn't know the severity of this ticket. I really didn't have a choice but to say ok, because his tone still sounded like he wanted to tow my car! They also explained, that by signing the ticket, it wouldn't mean I was accepting my guilt. He also said I was lucky that he didn't write me up on all my illegal parts! I wanted to yell back at him, WHAT ILLEGAL PARTS!? My car is pretty much stock, but the exhaust is somewhat louder than stock during acceleration. I think this could have also been what made them think I was going faster than I really was. They probably could hear me accelerate from 25mph to 45mph on Winchester as I went toward Hamilton.
They also said that next time we see you, we're gonna take you to jail... I was like! WTF!
They told me they had put my keys on the seat of my car and said I could go.
I got in my car drove 10 seconds to my friends house (on that exact same street) and just felt disgusted.
That is FUBAR.
If you any of you guys have any advice on how I can fight this or deal with this.
I just CANNOT afford to have reckless driving on my record. If I really was guilty of driving dangerously than my attitude woiuld definitely be different.
What I wrote above is the whole truth.