Total Motorcycle Community Forums

I found this interesting but not very surprising.

My cousin's husband is a cop in bloomfield NJ. He told me that if they come across someone speeding on a motorcycle, especially a sport bike that they were told not to chase the biker. All they can do is try to read their license plate and follow up later. He also said that many people are puttin switches on their bikes to turn off the lights on the back so when a cop approches them they can hit a switch and make it harder for the police to see the plates.

a crazy story he told me was some sport bikes flew by... and stopped up the road a few miles, when they caught up to the bikers they gave the police "the bird" then took off again.

He also said that if they are found to be chasing someone on a bike that they can be suspended from the force because too many people trying to outrun the police wipe out and get hurt or killed.

That is disturbing on so many different levels. First - if I ride in NJ I am guaranteed not to get a ticket? Second - dimming the lights that illuminate the plates?!?! Are they stupid!!!! Third - Speed limits are there for safety...

Gosh I never felt embarassed to be a motorcycle rider before now....

In my state, cops would rather send a ticket in the mail than chase someone to give it to them.

I am not suprised. It sounds like it is easier for people to avoid the law, but is is harder. They take a picture of the plates. They send the ticket in the mail.

a buddy of mine rode a very old triumph and his electrical system couldnt handle a day time running light(required by law). so he stuck a single LED lighto on the front and called that his running head light. he got pulled over constantly for it. but he said they law states a light be on etc. doesnt say anything bout size or anything else. he got out of tickets every time.

that said i wonder what the law would say about running at night with a dim light(to avoid cops). is there a law about what size/brightness the light has to be. is it up to the cop to decide whats acceptable?

i wouldnt run from them, chances are theyd eventually catch you and by running you add on way to much trouble for yourself.

iwannadie wrote: that said i wonder what the law would say about running at night with a dim light(to avoid cops). is there a law about what size/brightness the light has to be. is it up to the cop to decide whats acceptable?

The police don't have the tools to measure the light, even if there was a law saying how bright it needed to be.

I knew a guy who was driving his car, it was old and beat up. He was young, and the police were cracking down on young drivers at late hours (midnight, 2am). They wanted to catch all the people driving home after a night of drinking.

The police pull over my friend, and he gets very defensive. "WHY DID YOU PULL ME OVER, I AM GOING TO SUE, YOU HAD NO RIGHT, I BROKE NO LAWS". The cop reminded me of Bufford T Justice. He said "Hold on a second, I'll let you know in one bit, when I call your license in". The police officer walks back to his car, stops for a second, and looks at the license plate under the trunk. He takes out his night stick, and smashes the small little light. He then walks back to the car and says "It seems your license plate light is malfunctioning. I'd get it taken care of. Here is your drivers license, have a safe drive home".

Compare that to another story. A friend of mine is a cop. We went out one night to a bar. He got shitfaced, he was drinking and chugging, mixing beer with shots of jack. He drove us back to his place, where my car was parked. On the way back from the bar, he was swirving all over the place, he could not stay in his lane, he was speeding 20 over. He gets pulled over. The cop asks for his license, and my friend pulls out his license and badge. The cop lets him go home. My buddy explained "it was a professional courtesy".

The police, when pulling people over, are not doing it for public saftey. They are doing it for their budget. For every ticket they write, their department gets money. If a town had no crimes, no driving violations, the city police department would go bankrupt. It is one of the reasons they do things like change the speed limit on a road from town to town, hoping to catch people. It is all about money.

well now that pretty much every cop car has a camera on the dash i think it would be hard to pull this kind of thing. always stay in front of the cop car, theres no reason to go out of camera view when pulled over.

its sad cops let each other get away with driving drunk though. wait untill the cops kid is killed by a drunk driver and they wish they didnt have that professional courtesy

Magnum wrote:

iwannadie wrote: that said i wonder what the law would say about running at night with a dim light(to avoid cops). is there a law about what size/brightness the light has to be. is it up to the cop to decide whats acceptable?

The police don't have the tools to measure the light, even if there was a law saying how bright it needed to be.

I knew a guy who was driving his car, it was old and beat up. He was young, and the police were cracking down on young drivers at late hours (midnight, 2am). They wanted to catch all the people driving home after a night of drinking.

The police pull over my friend, and he gets very defensive. "WHY DID YOU PULL ME OVER, I AM GOING TO SUE, YOU HAD NO RIGHT, I BROKE NO LAWS". The cop reminded me of Bufford T Justice. He said "Hold on a second, I'll let you know in one bit, when I call your license in". The police officer walks back to his car, stops for a second, and looks at the license plate under the trunk. He takes out his night stick, and smashes the small little light. He then walks back to the car and says "It seems your license plate light is malfunctioning. I'd get it taken care of. Here is your drivers license, have a safe drive home".

Compare that to another story. A friend of mine is a cop. We went out one night to a bar. He got shitfaced, he was drinking and chugging, mixing beer with shots of jack. He drove us back to his place, where my car was parked. On the way back from the bar, he was swirving all over the place, he could not stay in his lane, he was speeding 20 over. He gets pulled over. The cop asks for his license, and my friend pulls out his license and badge. The cop lets him go home. My buddy explained "it was a professional courtesy".

The police, when pulling people over, are not doing it for public saftey. They are doing it for their budget. For every ticket they write, their department gets money. If a town had no crimes, no driving violations, the city police department would go bankrupt. It is one of the reasons they do things like change the speed limit on a road from town to town, hoping to catch people. It is all about money.

I live in NJ and I've been going to school for 3 years to become a cop and I'll tell you right now that rule varies from town to town. Like theres a town not to far from mine that a cop chased a guy on a sport bike and he went into a car at about 80 on a 35 mph road way. The another story about a guying going down during a high speed chase and got hurt really bad. I live in South nj and we have a lot of smaller towns and they some can't afford to have people suing them for stuff like that.

Psyco Diver 69 wrote:I live in NJ and I've been going to school for 3 years to become a cop and I'll tell you right now that rule varies from town to town. Like theres a town not to far from mine that a cop chased a guy on a sport bike and he went into a car at about 80 on a 35 mph road way. The another story about a guying going down during a high speed chase and got hurt really bad. I live in South nj and we have a lot of smaller towns and they some can't afford to have people suing them for stuff like that.

The police not only chased this guy over 130 mph, but they hit him. He then got off his bike, and it took the police 5 minutes of fighting and pepper spray to take him down.

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/4499875/detail.html

He must have been caught banging the sheriffs daughter. Or maybe he did not show up to the church for the wedding.

And I love how southerners talk... "It took a couple of five minutes or so to subdue him". Not ten minutes. Not fifteen. But a couple of five.

ive actually seen aftermarket kits for sale that will flip your plate up so it can not be seen at all.

iwannadie wrote:
that said i wonder what the law would say about running at night with a dim light(to avoid cops).

Might avoid the cops, but dim light at night could end up getting you an ambulance.