Speeding excuses, Hamsters or Aliens you decide!

[Unknownsoldier]

Thought you guys may find this interesting:



POLICE are shocked by some of the excuses that [Australia's Northern Territory] drivers are offering up for not wearing their seat belts, running red lights and speeding.

The Sunday Territorian has obtained a list of recent excuses given to Territory police for traffic infringements.

Worst among them, police say, was a woman pulled up for not wearing a seat belt recently who told police: "I can't wear my seat belt as I have sore breasts."

And two days ago a man was pulled up by an unmarked police car for running two red lights in a row.

When asked why by police, the man said: "It's a V8 - you try stopping it".

Police say when drivers are pulled over, they are always given the opportunity to explain why they may be disobeying the road rules.

"Because there may be some exceptional circumstances that may excuse them, such as a medical emergency," Superintendent of Road Safety Division Mark Jeffs said.

"Police hear all sorts of excuses as drivers try to justify their actions but in many cases they know they have been caught and it's just a feeble attempt to try and justify the action.

"But remember for a lot of those things there is no excuse, it's just simple carelessness.

"There aren't too many things you could say to justify an accident or injury to someone. The bottom line is it's a serious matter and we treat it seriously even though there are some lighthearted incidents.

"Every driver has to take responsibility, there are no excuses for many of the things that occur."

Supt. Jeffs said the V8 excuse was a good example of the reckless attitude of some drivers. "You would be amazed at the stories, red lights are a good one where people say 'I thought I could make it through before it went red'."



THE WORST EFFORTS

Seat belts:

• I CAN'T wear my seat belt as I have sore breasts;
• I WASN'T wearing my seat belt as I was getting changed;
• I KEEP getting in and out of the car and it's a nuisance.

Red lights:

• I COULDN'T stop for the red light as I was going too fast;
• I COULDN'T stop because it's a heavy vehicle and I normally have a wood chipper on the back;
• IT'S a V8, you try stopping it.

Speeding:

• I HAD to speed to get in front of you;
• I'M HURRYING to the service station because I am running out of fuel;
• I'VE got diarrhoea;
• I WAS running late for a funeral.

[http://www.driveandstayalive.com/articles%20and%20topics/police%20issues/police-articles-001_very-breast-excuses.htm]

Speeding excuses from motorists

• My ex still has keys to my car and keeps taking it without asking. I haven't reported this to the police
• My budgie was ill and I was rushing it to the vet
• I was desperate for the loo and had to speed to the nearest public toilet
• An ice-scraper fell out of a compartment in the door and jammed under the pedal.
• I picked up a hitchhiker who commented that they liked my car so I let 'this person' drive the vehicle. I don't have their name or address.
• I was in a hire car and the speedometer was in a different position - I was actually looking at the rev counter by mistake.
• As I entered onto the motorway, my car was dragged along in the slip-stream of a truck. My brakes aren't very good, so I had to keep pace with it.

[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/w..._/4111835.stm]

The 10 most elaborate excuses given by drivers caught by speed cameras were:

:: I had passed out after seeing flashing lights in the distance, which I believed to be UFOs. The flash of the camera brought me round from my trance.

:: I was in the airport's flight path, and I believe the camera was triggered by a jet overhead, not my car.

:: I had a severe bout of diarrhoea and had to speed to a public toilet.

:: There was a strong wind behind my car which pushed me over the limit.

:: My friend had just chopped his own fingers off, and I was rushing the digits to hospital.

:: The vibrations from the surfboard I had on the roof rack set off the camera.

:: I had to rush my dying hamster to the vets.

:: A violent sneeze caused a chain reaction where my foot pushed down harder on the accelerator.

:: There was a suspected case of foot and mouth and I had to rush to see the cow concerned.

:: The only way I could demonstrate that my clutch was faulty was to accelerate madly.

[http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/...59895,00.html]

Boy, are you in trouble now. Or not?

So, who takes home the StreetPilot 2730? An entrant known online as DBellefe will have some help getting to his next funeral on time with his new grand prize:

"I am a funeral director, the law does not bother a hearse on the highway at any speed. But this one time I had a time to be at an out of town crematory, and I was in a van, taking an unembalmed body to be cremated and he got me at 90 mph on the Interstate, when he stopped me and asked what was my hurry, I said, 'Brother, I have to be at a crematory in an hour or I'll miss my appointment time and they will be closing for the weekend.' He said, 'So....' I said, 'Take a whiff in the back, he stuck he head in the side window and jerked it back out and said sir hurry along and be careful.'"

Second place - and the XM2GO - goes to Therese, who proves that it pays to know a cop…intimately:

"I was driving along one day minding what I thought was my own business, and kind of daydreaming. I must have gone a little faster than I should have and was pulled over and stopped by a state police officer. My husband is a former police officer and told me how he always let someone go if they could tell him a reason for speeding that he hadn't heard before. I knew I had to think quick because he was now approaching my door. He advised me that the reason he was stopping me was I had exceeded the posted limit by 15 miles over. I looked him in the eye and asked him sternly "Do you have any idea what I did to the last cop who stopped me for speeding?" He looked a little shocked and began feeling more cautious. I said, "I married him." I believe he is still laughing, he just walked away and said slow down, have a nice day. I was so pleased that for once my husband told me something that would really work."

Third place - and another XM2GO - to a hard-working officer experiencing a case of mistaken identity:

"Vehicle pulled over for speeding at approximately 04:00. When approaching the vehicle the driver asked me if I knew Officer Westberg. I told him I did. He then went on to tell me how he was Officer Westberg's buddy, and he (Westberg) wouldn't be happy knowing I was giving one of his friends a ticket. I asked him how well he knew Westberg. He said that they have been close friends for years, and even showed me Westberg's business card. I told the driver to wait in his car, and I would check to make sure his license was valid. It was, so I wrote him the ticket for speed. When I gave him the ticket, he asked me why I didn't let him off with a warning, since he was Westberg's friend. I told him Westberg doesn't have any friends and that he should look at the name of the officer on the ticket. There neatly printed was WESTBERG. The driver stared at the officer's name on the ticket for probably 15 seconds, then looked at my nametag, and saw it spelled out Officer Westberg. He told me that a buddy of his always dropped officer's names, and since he had received my business card in the past during some type of event, he thought it was worth a try. He paid the ticket."

We'd also like to honor some great runners-up. Bounder JCH also experienced a case of mistaken identity when an officer tried to write up the passenger:

"We were going to a Sports Car Race in a MG TC on a rainy night when we were stopped for going a little to fast. The officer approached the left side of the car and asked for my driver's license and disappeared into the wet dark night. A few minutes later he came back and slipped me a ticket through the flap on the removable side weather shield. I said, "Officer, I am not the driver of the car." With that he shined his flashlight through the front window and saw my friend sitting behind the right side steering wheel. I stuck the ticket through the flap and he took it. Disappearing into the rain we saw him drive away soon afterward."

When we last went to court hoping to beat a speeding ticket, our spousal unit kindly suggested, "You don't have a prayer." Perhaps, but JNavedvm's sister seems to have a direct pipeline to the appeals judge in the sky:

"My sister in law was pulled over one day for speeding and she said to the passenger with her "O dear God don't let him give me a ticket" the officer came up to her and as he was looking over her driver's license the call came over the radio that the church down the road was on fire. He jumped in his car and told her it was her lucky day. My sister in law said "God you did not have to go to that extreme."

And finally, from his entry, we can't tell whether Paul McB's excuse got him out of a ticket, but you have to admire anyone who would simply tell an officer, "Time is money."

[]TCC’s Speeding Excuses Contest Winners! - The Car Connection

Have fun,
Tom

[GHGH]

Do you got any excuses that actually worked?

[Unknownsoldier]

Yeah, but I won't post them on open forum (I paid a lot to get mine ). But if you need help, then pm me.

Tom

[GHGH]

Not yet mate, but you never know....

[Unknownsoldier]

I've got off in the past, thanks to a good excuse. (same excuse most police officers use ).

Tom

[l-noel]

Oh Lord, why didn't you listen to me when I drive over the speed limit last week

Good one this one but not a good example !

Many years ago, ne evening I was driving after a few beer in the local pub, and I was not sure to be under the limit so I take the "safer" way to go home (sorry, but here in France we haven't your bus/taxi system ...) and for once a paper control was made . A Gendarme on his BMW Motocycle stop me, and try to get down of his machine (he was short legged ) and the Motocycle fell onto my car, very minor damage where made so I said 3not a problem Officer, my car is already scratched, so there is no need to do a report..." and he let me go !

Since I dont drive after a Pub or I drink water...

[GHGH]

Lucky! Two of my neighbours are police officers - one day I'll ask them.

[Unknownsoldier]

Do you get points in Norway/France, Or is it actually a sensible system of fines???

Tom

[l-noel]

We have both in France and they speak about hardening the system... During 30 years we were far beyond all northern Europe countries (well above 10 000 dead/years to 8 000) and since 2000 with M Sarkosy (Former Interior minister and yet our beloved president...) with a huge progress in implementation of automatic speed control system and so on we are at 5 000 dead per years. And yet they will try to enforce alcohol/drugs regulation strongly to reduce this Number by about 1 500 (N° of dead caused under alcoholic/drugs influenza)

You can loose from 1 to 6 points for speed with 1 point with a minimum fine of 68 € (reduced to 45 if you pay within 15 days) if you exceed the speed by less than 10 km/h out of town up to 6 point for exessing speed by 50km/h (or less in town) Driving license canceled for 3 years and 1 500 € fines (you can go to for 3 month jail if it's the second offense with a fine of 4 000 €)

Eventually you can be court trailed if you put life of others in danger...

[Unknownsoldier]

Thanks for that, must admit my dad got a ticket for something along the lines of 130mph on the motorway in France, by a bike cop (I was ill at the time though, and the guy was meaner than the fish police, but thats another story), and we just took it, let him go and then tore it up, never heard anything about it since (about 10 years now......).

Must admit, the French had some odd ideas when it came to driving, by far the weirdest was giving way to people coming on to a roundabout.........seems that has now changed.

ATB,
Tom

[l-noel]

The most famous roundabout of France "Le rond point de la Place de l'Etoile" http://maps.google.fr/maps?f=q&hl=fr&geocode=&q=place+de+l'%C3%A9toile&s ll=48.873716,2.295134&sspn=0.000833,0.002465&ie=UT F8&ll=48.87391,2.295896&spn=0.003331,0.00986&t=h&z =17
is still working like that. Ok it's not as bad as the "Magic roundabout" in Swindon ... be carefull next time you go in Paris.

[sallytraffic]

Apart from the Alex Ferguson case where he was speeding to get to a loo this reminded me of something that happened to me many, many moons ago.

I was returning from a night out and my wife was in the passenger seat. We had to cross a main road about half a mile from home, as we did so the light turned red and I must have gone across just after the change.

A police car followed me until I stopped outside my house and an officer approached me as I stopped. I wound the window down and he asked me if I realised that I had gone through a red light. "I thought I might have done, officer", I said " I am sorry, but as we approached the light my wife reached back to get her handbag from the back seat as we were nearly home. As she retrieved it the bag clunked against my shoulder as it came forward. This distracted me for a second and by the time I realised the lights were changing I looked both ways and decided that to continue through as the way was clear would be safer than trying to brake suddenly in the wet."

(well I thought it was good at the time )

As a man of the world and clearly accustomed to wives and handbags he nodded sagely, proceeded to the passenger side of the car and gave my confused wife a real telling off about not distracting the driver of a motor vehicle !

[Unknownsoldier]

Sally; Brilliant......

I-Noel: Oh my good god, I'm never going there

T

[GHGH]

Originally Posted by Unknownsoldier

Do you get points in Norway/France, Or is it actually a sensible system of fines???

Tom

Yes, you get points by:
Speeding more than 10 km/h in 60- km/h zone, 15 km/h in 70+ km/h zone,
Running a red light
Dangerous overtaking
Not giving way


A dot "lasts" three years. Eight dots in three years and you lose your licence for 6 months.
Very few cases per year so far.

[GHGH]

Originally Posted by l-noel

The most famous roundabout of France "Le rond point de la Place de l'Etoile" place de l'toile - Google Maps
is still working like that. Ok it's not as bad as the "Magic roundabout" in Swindon ... be carefull next time you go in Paris.

I remember that roundabout. Went into a car store at Avenue Kléber, thinking If I ever buy a car here, I'll get it transported by helicopter out of Paris!

[Unknownsoldier]

GHGH, very interesting, thanks.

Tom

[alanwalne]

Originally Posted by l-noel

The most famous roundabout of France "Le rond point de la Place de l'Etoile" place de l'toile - Google Maps
is still working like that. Ok it's not as bad as the "Magic roundabout" in Swindon ... be carefull next time you go in Paris.

I went round there many years ago in a Citroen AX - I thought it must have been that I was driving a French car that I was let on - the next slip road scared me a bit when a bus cut infront of me, until I remembered 'Prioritie a droite' (Appologies for poor French)

I have heard that like the Nurburg Ring, your insurance is not valid on that roundabout - is that true??

[Unknownsoldier]

Never heard that, but as the Nurburgring is private thats why your insurance doesn't cover you.

Tom

[alanwalne]

Originally Posted by Unknownsoldier

Never heard that, but as the Nurburgring is private thats why your insurance doesn't cover you.

Tom

I thought Nurburgring was a classed as a toll road, but Elephant insurance certificates specifically exclude it.

[l-noel]

Originally Posted by GHGH

Yes, you get points by:
Speeding more than 10 km/h in 60- km/h zone, 15 km/h in 70+ km/h zone,
Running a red light
Dangerous overtaking
Not giving way


A dot "lasts" three years. Eight dots in three years and you lose your licence for 6 months.
Very few cases per year so far.

We are allowed with 12 points. ok most of the small rules breaking are 1 point. But you can loose 3 points for traffic lights or Stop and up to 6 points in case of serious rules breaking (High speed and so on)

once you've loose all points, your driving licence is canceled. You can pass the exam after 1 year.
Every three year's if you dont loose points you can gain up to three points and since the first of january this year, if the sanction was 1 point you can get it back after one year if you dind't make any other offense ...

Last year 67 000 driving licence have been canceled.

@Sallytraffic : Very nice one

@alanwalne : Why should your insurance be invalid ? It's a Public road