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[RonDawg]

Arete,

In terms of what happened to you at the mall and the mistaken stolen car info, no that is not considered standard treatment. However, "mistyping a VIN" does not cause the information to come back as a stolen. I'm not sure what country you are in (and apparently it's not the US), but in North America mistyping a letter, or two, or ten, does not cause a "false hit" when running a VIN. Unlike license plates, VIN's are not sequential numbers, and to alter one causes effects on what the other letters and numbers should be. There was some other reason why you were taken to the ground.

As far as

If I'm getting ticketed I usually respond by politely saying I know I have a bad record but didn't mean to speed and would greatly appreciate it if he'd let me go with a warning, which is almost universally replied with a "Lose the fancy car son, here's your ticket."

The whole purpose of a warning is to let you off without penalty, if the officer truly believes you will reform your behavior. If you've already been cited for it before, obviously if penalties don't prevent you from repeating your behavior, a warning isn't going to work any better, now is it?

It may sound cavalier, but the officer telling you to get another car (presumably something slower) might be your best bet. If you are unable to control your temptation to speed, the next best thing is to get a car that doesn't offer the temptation to start with.

Again, I don't know what country you are in, much less its regulations. But here in California for example, it's pretty hard to do any sort of modifications to your car without running afoul of the California Vehicle Code. This is particularly true of lighting, exhaust, and any performance-related modifications, the latter of which usually requires special CARB (California Air Resources Board) exemption to be legal on street-driven vehicles. You may need more than an engineer's certificate to keep your vehicle legal, but that's up to your country's laws.

As far as

Is the general police attitude towards young drivers in faster cars as bad as I generally percieve it to be?

that is just a poor excuse. In Los Angeles, there is no shortage of Porsche's, BMW's, etc. so a "fast car" largely blends in with the scenery. What does get our attention however is when that car is driven well beyond any sense of reasonableness. A bright red Porsche doesn't gain my attention; one being driven 25+ MPH over the prevailing traffic, weaving in and out, certainly will.

 

[TJcop]

RonDawg, I agree with you on every point you made. But, I have a few of my own to add...

Regarding VIN's, it is correct that you can't just "mistype" the VIN...in fact, mistyping a VIN gives you an error that says "VIN doesn't conform to standards". Even if they typed it in wrong, and if it came back stolen, there should have been other tips at the scene (like verifying the VIN, checking the plates, noticing that YOU are the listed owner). I don't buy your reasoning for the "thrown to the ground.....blah blah blah" as a mistaken VIN check. Sorry to sound harsh, but unless your country is overrun by corrupt police....it's very far fetched.

I do agree with Arete on 2 issues. One, yes, a young driver in an extensively overhauled, souped-up vehicle does draw attention to himself. And it's near impossible to modify the vehicle without violation some laws. Two, RonDawg hit the nail on the head....no warnings for you since you can't even figure out the speed limits with all the tickets you have! Remember, the idea behind citations is to change someone's behavior. If a ticked won't change yours, what is going to lead that officer to believe a written warning will?

Best of luck!
I say dump the car...and keep the speed on the tracks, not the roads.

 

[lowwall]

Skyline GTR, shopping centre, taxi rank, defect notice... My guess is Australia.

Arete, a Skyline GTR is about the worst choice for road use for someone who has trouble staying within speed limits. The car is so capable that moderate speeds are going to make you feel like you are crawling. And if you speed up, everybody is going to notice you. Of course, if that's the point of the exercise then you are going to have to live with the constant police attention.

But if the point is to have fun, you ought to leave the GTR for for track days and cruising and buy/build something that at least looks innocuous for everyday use. It's amazing how much fun you can have at relatively low speeds in a light car with a proper suspension and modest tires.

 

[Arete]

Lowwal has it right, Australia.

The car generally is stock in appearance, with the addition of a front mount, adjustable suspension, a few electronic ECU tweaks and an exhaust, all of which are within the Australian Guidelines and supported by the required documentation. There's no silly wings, chrome, lights or cannon exhausts.

The point was to have fun, My parents supported me driving motorkhana and rally events in my teens as my dad is an active rally and track driver, but I decided I wanted a car I could try a bit of track racing in, and use every day for financial reasons. However I am in two minds lately about letting it go and buying another rally beater until I can actually afford a dedicated track car as the cost of running a track/road car is higher than I expected anyway. My dad wasn't exceptionally pleased to see me in the Skyline, and has been pointing out rally car ads since I got it.

I have a bad record with speeding and don't expect to get out of tickets generally, but it's never hurt to ask politely. That said I've only ever recieved tickets in the 0-15km/h exceeding bracket, otherwise the state would have removed my driving privlidges. I'm not in the habit of blasting about vastly in excess of the posted limit, but I do obviously drive a bit quick.

On the day I was arrested, I most definitely have rather strong emotions regarding the day, I was scared as all hell. As such my description of the event may differ from the officers description in terms of force used. I fully understand that when dealing with people an officer has to be mindful of his own safety and make sure whoever they are dealing with can't harm them, but the experience of being rapidly approached, lain down and cuffed by the police for a person who is unaccustomed to the procedure is pretty upsetting.

I'm almost certain something other than my VIN was the culprit, it was simply the excuse I was given when I was released, and I was arrested on suspicion of car theft. To this day I have no idea apart from the supposedly incorrect assumption that my car was stolen as to the reason I was taken into custody. I was asked a lot of questions about my car and how it came to be mine, who I was with that day, my general background, then I was let go. The questioning probably took all of 20 minutes at the most, then 10 minutes of wetting my pants on my own in the station.
I was mostly worried that I'd bought a re-birthed car and was going to be charged with its theft.
I guess overall it was just a very unpleasant experience, and the way it was handled when they let me go left a bad taste in my mouth. I felt like I'd been given a BS excuse by the work experience kid and shown the door.

All that said, general police are great. I've been assisted a few times after burglaries and the like, but the Highway patrol around here aren't my favourite thing to see in the rear view.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[lowwall]

Arete,

Regarding the ticky-tack speeding tickets (I'm not going to comment on your arrest since there's no way for me to know what precipated it)... Every profession has its arseholes (let's see if that gets by the filter), the difference of course is that arsehole cops have the authority to interfere with you if you give them a chance. Your choice of vehicle is getting the attention of these guys and your inability to stay within the limits is giving them the chance.

So you've got two choices if you want this to change. Drive within the limits, which if Australia is like the US, means running 10-15k slower than the rest of the traffic on most roads. Or trade in the car for something a lot less conspicuous. BTW, even if your Skyline GT-R looks stock, it's still a Skyline GTR - do you really think the cops don't know what that means?

Maybe two cheaper cars would be a better choice. Something inconspicuous for everyday use and something like an Impreza you can use for both rally and track with a couple sets of wheels. Your Skyline car must be worth quite a bit, but even if you can't swing both, I bet you can wrangle at least part of the purchase of a rally/track car out of your father. Just tell him you've decided he was right about the GT-R and you wonder if he has any suggestions for a rally car you can also use on track days.

 

[RonDawg]

Skyline GTR, shopping centre, taxi rank, defect notice... My guess is Australia.

Down Under, or New Zealand, were my guesses, along with the UK or Ireland.

I don't agree though that a young kid in a nice car necessarily attracts attention from the police to the point of enforcement. A young kid in a nice car driving aggressively with (c)rap music blaring from the ridiculously overpowered stereo is a different story...

Every profession has its arseholes, the difference of course is that arsehole cops have the authority to interfere with you if you give them a chance.

The difference too is that in many places, not only are there laws that deal with the complaint process against police officers, but here in CA in particular, PRIOR complaints against an officer can be revealed in open court as a defense attorney tactic. Because even unfounded complaints can have dire consequences against an officer, not only are there civil laws against making intentionally false complaints (basically, the complainant can be sued for it), but in CA there is a law that was recently affirmed by US Supreme Court that allows CRIMINAL sanctions against someone who makes a false complaint. Our complaint forms explicitly point out the consequences of intentionally making a false complaint, and some department unions will go as far as funding the legal fees of an officer who became the victim of one, on the condition that any financial awards go back to the union (Calgary, Alberta's police union is particularly known for this).

 

[lowwall]

RonDawg,

You left off an important part of what I said. To wit, "your inability to stay within the limits is giving them the chance." Nobody is accusing the officers of giving unfounded tickets, but we all know there's a gray zone where tickets can be given but usually aren't.

IMHO, arsehole is a pretty good description for an officer who consistently tickets only certain classes of people in that gray zone.

 

[Juls64]

Where can I get real handcuffs? I just have the velcro ones now and my husband says I get out of them too easily.

 

[RonDawg]

You left off an important part of what I said. To wit, "your inability to stay within the limits is giving them the chance." Nobody is accusing the officers of giving unfounded tickets, but we all know there's a gray zone where tickets can be given but usually aren't.

IMHO, arsehole is a pretty good description for an officer who consistently tickets only certain classes of people in that gray zone.

You are correct, it is wrong to focus solely on a specific group for enforcement action. But then again, I have yet to encounter any grandmothers doing burnouts with their riced-out Honda's either. If/when I do so, they will be dealt with as if the driver was their grandson.

I wasn't clear in my last post, but I should have mentioned that the complaint process is the best way to handle such officers. BUT, do so truthfully, and don't embellish the facts, and don't do it simply because you felt you didn't deserve the ticket. Complaint processes are to deal with officers who violate department policy; arguing whether or not you deserved a ticket is the job of a court. Too many people though are unable to make the distinction.

 

[TJcop]

Where can I get real handcuffs? I just have the velcro ones now and my husband says I get out of them too easily.

Even though I know you are joking :lol: , you can actually win a real set of handcuffs this month at my podcast!