The OP didn't have a dying person in his vehicle.The first line was meant for the OP, the second sentence was meant for general family emergencies. I already posted a story earlier about rushing a friend who got stabbed to the hospital. If tensions are running high people will do stupid things. My friend caught a ticket and paid it, but it's a small price to pay to have gotten a friend medical help.
Could we have caused a larger accident? Yeah absolutely, but that wasn't going through our minds as my friend bled out in the back of an accura. I personally don't blame the OP, but he should just state his case at court and see what comes of it.
Here was my situation. I was actually going to seem my mother to see if I could get to my parents home to help... 911 was already called and on my way the cop that pulled me over and I explained the situation and he I need escort. I said no because I didn't know which hospital EMT would be taking her to or if they even arrived yet. As he was telling me to drive safely and not speed after explicitly telling me he wasn't going to give me a ticket, my got a call from the EMT people telling me they stabilized her and they also talked to the cop. Maybe my situation was unique, I don't know but that level of humanity is what I expect from all cops.
So he talked to the emts and you knew the exact condition. That is not like the op's example, and something I even said would change the situation.
I think the craziest part of that story wasn't that the cop pulled me over and let me go asking me for an ambulance and telling me to go slower (dropped down to 80). The craziest part of that situation was the pure adrenaline pumping through my body. I didn't realize I was going 110 or that a cop was behind me until I randomly heard the speaker of him telling me to slow down. It was really surreal. I was just trying to get my friend to a safe place. Shoot, I was driving a Kia rio 2006. I didn't even know those things could pass 100Sorry i didn't even see this. That's nuts. I think you can already tell that I would have sped for that as well.
The OP didn't have a dying person in his vehicle.
Concern for family trumps a lot common sense issues.
Nah, I meant the first time I totaled a car I'm up to 3.
I'm a black man and I was pulled over in Orange County (lower black population) on my way to Los Angeles. It was an Asian cop so I don't think the bias was there one way or the other. I can see how the burden of proof is on the OP but its nice when cops understand that we're humans and show empathy. Maybe the cop understood that help was already on the way and certainly could have held me longer and given me the ticket but I'd like to believe he was a descent human being and knew that was an important situation.
It would cripple the system if everyone was speeding to go see a family member with a health issue but that isn't the case so handling the cases where it happens with a little more empathy seems ethically correct.
I think the craziest part of that story wasn't that the cop pulled me over and let me go asking me for an ambulance and telling me to go slower (dropped down to 80). The craziest part of that situation was the pure adrenaline pumping through my body. I didn't realize I was going 110 or that a cop was behind me until I randomly heard the speaker of him telling me to slow down. It was really surreal. I was just trying to get my friend to a safe place. Shoot, I was driving a Kia rio 2006. I didn't even know those things could pass 100
I don't think they'll throw out the case, but if it is your first ticket and you explain everything to them, they might knock it down for you.
I was in a situation where I received a ticket for parking in a handicap spot. When I went to park, the signs were put in backwards (so instead of the two arrows pointing inward to each other, they were pointing outward). I had a lapse in judgement and thought that I was parking in the only non-handicap spot on the street. It was stupid. I took pictures of the signs and decided to argue my case anyway just to see what would happen.I explained myself to the judge and he dropped the ticket from $250 to $50 and told me not to be an idiot next time.
Some judges will understand, others won't. If it won't require you to miss work or anything, you might as well fight it just to see what happens.
understandable it is expensive
A way around this:
Tell the dispatcher you need a police escort then- (did this when my wife started having our baby a week early at our home) the service was free- 2 cruisers showed up within 3 minutes
Yeah like I said not some crusade I'm on. I just don't get angry if cops follow procedure more often than not; I don't think letting people go in this situation is necessarily "good" or "bad." There's different ways of looking at the enforcement of laws.
Considering the particular issues we seem to have with biased police forces in this country I tend to think we should just be training our cops to follow the letter of the law as often as possible without exception.
Yet you also said thisI never said he did.
Dr Peru and I don't understand why you would even bring this up when your story doesn't even parallel the OP's. And it's already been explained multiple times that speeding to see someone at the hospital can only serve to make matters worse. And if public safety is trumped at the expense for concern for a family member and it wouldn't even have mattered as to when the OP ultimately saw his mother, all criticisms to him are justified.I'd probably do the same or worse if it meant ensuring the safety and health of a family member.
OK that is fast. There is no excuse for that.For non-US gaffers: 120km/h in a 65 km/h zone
Anyways, would've done it as well. You family was pretty assholeish for not calling or texting you.
BRB going to let my mom know I love her right now.
Yet you also said this
Dr Peru and I don't understand why you would even bring this up when your story doesn't even parallel the OP's. And it's already been explained multiple times that speeding to see someone at the hospital can only serve to make matters worse. And if public safety is trumped at the expense for concern for a family member and it wouldn't even have mattered as to when the OP ultimately saw his mother, all criticisms to him are justified.
If anything, let this thread argue to reason that speeding to see someone at the hospital (edit: someone you think is dying) will never result in a better situation for you.
Well, your mother would 've suffered a heart attack if something had happened to you.Please do, this is probably what was going through my head the most. When was the last time I told my mom that I love her.
I should have thought of this earlier, I just grabbed a screenshot from google maps of the road. I know this still doesn't make it ok, but I just want you to know I wasn't swerving around corners driving like a maniac.
quote said:here is the road I was driving on
His mother was already in the hospital. He was racing there to visit herSorry OP I realize this is very traumatic for you; However the ticket is justifiable as an ambulance should have been called for three reasons.
1) Paramedics on scene can stabilize your mother should she have needed it. You can't/don't have the training or equipment had she needed it before and after you arrived.
2) You could have killed yourself or another person driving at such excessive speeds. Ambulances have sirens and can alert those around of their potentially high speeds. You were unsafe and in the wrong.
3) Your mother is more important than someone else only to you. You put other peoples loved ones in jeapordy for driving 75 in a 40.
Wow, GAF really has a thing for speed limits.
Wow, GAF really has a thing for speed limits.
People in general have a thing for speed limits, and law&order in general, and it takes a lot of work to convince them otherwise.
So Mexico? But since everyone drives like that it's like no one is breaking the law! (No one is never breaking it, unless the cop wants money or it's school zone)For non-US gaffers: 120km/h in a 65 km/h zone
Anyways, would've done it as well. You family was pretty assholeish for not calling or texting you.
I should have thought of this earlier, I just grabbed a screenshot from google maps of the road. I know this still doesn't make it ok, but I just want you to know I wasn't swerving around corners driving like a maniac.
You don't have to have "a thing" for speed limits to think 75 in a 40, while crying, is dangerous.
Can somebody figure out where the OP lives and alert the authorities? He should not be allowed to operate a motor vehicle when he has such little regard for traffic safety. The cop fucked up by letting him go. He is a threat to himself and everyone else around him.