Anybody get hassled by the man?

[True School 240Z]

This topic is something I see much of on other boards pertaining to newer cars. I was wondering if anyone here has been pulled over for their Z looking "high-performance." In my experience with my previous project cars: '89 240SX, '88 CRX, and '96 turbo Integra respectively, there was always an exceptional amount of attention thrown my way by the constabulary, despite low key sleeper status(no ricey tin can mufflers or neon underglow or gargantuan wings, jolly rancher lights, or what have you). But when I was driving my Z's (I had two '73's concurrently) I got looks from John Q. Law but no red and blues flashing at me. I appreciate this side benefit but was wondering if any of you experienced this almost harley-davidson-like courtesy or if the fuzz dropped the hammer on you and your "racing stripe clad, loud exhaust having, fat tire burning Z." Anyone?

[datsunan]

I passed a cop unknowingly the other night, he was going the opposite direction on a frontage road, I did not see him and blasted from the stop sign past him onto the freeway ramp doing 80 mph. Long on ramp, by the time I got to the bottom I saw headlights behind me ( I always check my rear view when getting on the freeway) they were coming up fast. I proceeded to do slightly above the speed limit as the lights gained on me. I thought it might be a cop so I stayed at what I thought was 65-70 for a few min. befor the red and blues came on. The first thing he asked me was if I saw him on the frontage road, I said no, he said I pulled you over for speeding and I said "on the freeway?" He said he clocked me at 80mph on the freeway and that he thought I saw him on the frontage road and took off at a high rate of speed down the on ramp. I told him I liked the corner on the ramp and that my speedo was not accurate dew to the larger tires and modified tranny and such. He gave me a warning and gave me a $10 ticket for no current insurance card. I could not believe it! Never asked to see under the hood, or get out of the car. My reg I gave him was not current either. I don't know how I got so lucky but I bet it won't happen again.

[GrayZee]

I find age (of the driver) has alot to do with it. When you are 16-21ish, the cops will hassle you big time. As you get older they tend to let things slide. As for the Z, vs a honda or something.. yes I think you would get less problems in a "classic" car instead of a "young punk ricer mobile"

[Mikelly]

Yup. Age has everything to do with it... True School, Your first two cats were Hondas and I know from my own sons' experiences that Hondas and Mitsubishis (Eclipses mainly) will get you a lot of negative attention. The pitch of the CAI/ CATBACK/ stupidity of many of the drivers seems to draw cops like stink to poo.

 

Even if you don't act like a ricer, you get attention. I was driving my stepson's car testing it after we installed a clutch kit on it. Cop pulled me over and I was doing ZERO wrong. We had dialogue and that was it. If it was the kid driving the car, he'd have been given a ticket for something dumb like illegal exhaust or incorrect light lenses. Instead, The officer just had dialogue with me and I explained that I was testing my kids car out after the work performed.

 

They look hard at young drivers because young drivers are more apt to do inappropriate or illegal activities behind the wheel in less appriopriate places. I'm not going to buzz through a nieghborhood and do donuts in a culdesac, because it is in a low speed residential area where pedestrians might be walking, or pets may be running. Many young drivers don't think that far ahead. That's why younger drivers, and especially those in hopped up front driver imports, will get more attention than I will in my modified C5 Corvette, with cam lope and all.

 

Mike

[SuperKid]

I've never been hassled by the police. I have been hassled by rent-a-cops before though. Maybe it's because I drive a 16 year-old beater truck, or maybe it's because I look older than 18, but I've never been hassled by the police. It seems to me though, that sherrifs are alot cooler than police. There's one particular road I drive everyday, the speed limit is 35mph, I regularly do 45-50mph. I've passed three sherrifs and not a one has pulled me over.

 

The only sherrif around here you have to watch out for is one we call, "Ol' one bullet." He's the only sherrif in a nearby town, and he's been known to give tickets for 1mph over. It's hard to not speed through his town too. The speed limit on one side of town is 45mph, the speed limit on the other side of town is 45mph, and through town it's 35mph. He's real tricky too. He hides in car lots on either side of the road so you don't see him. Other times though, he'll sit right on the side of the road daring people to speed. But, it only takes maybe 2 or 3 minutes and you're through his town, so I just slow it on down to 35mph, and cruise through and I'm on my way.

[vashonz]

What I've found to not get hassled is to just not be stupid.

One of my roommates had a Cobra, and drove it stupid, peeling out, racing, and got pulled over a couple times.

On my R1 I don't do dumb stuff, no wheelies, no stoppies, no burnouts. About the worst I do is rev the piss out of it, I can do almost double any legal surface street speed limit in 1st gear (I've seen 97 mph, supposedly its good for 103). With that I'm just careful where I do that (divided streets, with no entrances, and the highway).

[tfreer85]

They look hard at young drivers because young drivers are more apt to do inappropriate or illegal activities behind the wheel in less appriopriate places. I'm not going to buzz through a nieghborhood and do donuts in a culdesac' date=' because it is in a low speed residential area where pedestrians might be walking, or pets may be running. Many young drivers don't think that far ahead. That's why younger drivers, and especially those in hopped up front driver imports, will get more attention than I will in my modified C5 Corvette, with cam lope and all.

 

Mike[/quote']

 

I completely agree with all of this. Also there is 9 times out of 10 it deals with an import vs. domestic problem most cops around here are prefer domestics. Now age is HUGE role especially when looking at the import vs. domestic. In my own personal experience with the 2 cars that I have driven regularly, an extremely loud custom flashy truck and an old 93' BMW 325i. I've gone to my local "street-racer" hang out because I like pawning noobs with knowledge. Before hand me and buddy decide just run my truck open headers and un-bolted the exhaust. My truck is LOUD normally, it was now a hell of a lot louder then. Now this was a time in which I was younger and of course drove like a bat out of hell. I made the 15min trip racing 2 camaros (getting whooped both times) to the next stop light no problem. That exact same night, before everyone went out to the "racing" area I went home and got in my little BMW because it had more gas and was faster than my truck. I didn't get 5 minutes from my house on a road I was just going 70mph in my truck and get pulled over for doing 2mph over the speed limit TWO!!!! I think that there is a huge bias towards the import crowd, but unfortunately they are for the most part the ones responsible for creating negative attention towards themselves. A bias that has been slanted to stereotype a type of car and its owner. This does us no good when trying to solve a problem and keep the streets safer.

 

Illegal street racing has had a big jump since F&F drawing more attention and scrutiney in its direction. Now I'm all for racing at the track in a more controlled environment. However, sometimes its just not practical for the average guy or interesting enough to the young street racer to go out to the track. The track here is 45 minutes away, you'll pay $20 PER PERSON in the car with you and you'll be lucky to get 2 passes down strip and waste the majority of your gas. I'm NOT saying its right to race on the street, however I don't think street racers are SOLELY to blame for not taking it to the track. No this is not the case with ALL citys and race-tracks, but I still think a problem lies with the costs and travel time involved to get to the track. So why would a young, poor or gas paying kid, spend 20 dollars for two passes down a strip when he can go to a movie, eat dinner, still have money left over, and race at least 5 times on the street? Some of you may take these as EXCUSES, they are not just excuses; they are reasons as to why some younger drivers would be more apt to racing in the street than going to the track. Its easy to point fingers at the kids and put all the blame on them, but I think that we need to make changes within our policies to better train these younger drivers and to offer more incentive to get a kid to run down a track rather than down a street. I am a 20yrs old, I've done my fair share of stupid stuff, and now take my racing to the track. However, if it weren't for some of that stupid stuff, I'd still be out there racing on the streets. We learn from our mistakes and hopefully we make the best choice after that mistake. So lets not just point the finger at each but take the action to solve the problem.

 

Well hopefully this wasn't completely off base, longwinded, or political... if so I'll edit/delete it.

 

Tyson

[Guest strokerZ]

Here is some first hand experience. I spent a number of years on patrol. While I cant speak for all or different jurisdictions this is what I would recommend. Be polite, have all your documents ready and in order and dont drive like an idiot in areas where the public will observe the behaviour or would be perceived as dangerous to the public.

 

 

Attitude has a lot to do with how you will be treated ....remember...for the most part police have "discretion" when it comes to the laying of a charge. Many times the copper has to deal with belligerent, abusive people and after a long shift may have a slightly shorter fuse...its nice when someone is civil and understanding that what the police officer is doing is a "job".

 

Having said this, there are certain times when police will conduct a "traffic enforcement blitz"...most of these are the result of public complaints in a specific area or high numbers of accidents(school zones, busy intersections, street racing etc.). When these blitzes occur there is often less discretion. Having said all that, I would have to agree that it would be more likely for the attention of an officer to be drawn to a civic with a huge "fart can" than a nice oldschool Z. Unfortunately for the younger crowd there are a small number of younger drivers that have drawn LOTS of attention to themselves with a variety of antics. Most of the older drivers have mellowed somewhat:shock:

 

Anyhow, that is my perspective.

[Guest ON3GO]

ive been pulled over in my blue Z a few times.

most the time it was because they wanted to see it up close as they own or owned one when they were younger.

im always nice and showed them around, even gave one a ride.. he LOVED IT!.

my Z was always loud, open downpipe and a very loud blitz BOV.

so ppl saw/heard me coming, but most the time the cops just liked the car.

never got a ticket it in though.

i look young too (well i am young im 22) but they never picked on me because i was a kid though.

they use to in florida when i had my other rides..

 

mike

[Metro]

Until I started driving my Z, I had never been pulled over for anything. The first month I started driving it, I was pulled over twice in the span of two weeks for nothing - rolling through an empty intersection and dirty license plate (??). They didn't give me any crap and I was 19 at the time. The second cop mentioned he had a 77z 280z, so I'm sure he just wanted to check out my car.