Ticket/s

Received a call from one of the members yesterday and he told me about getting a traffic ticket. I forgot to ask if he was in his MG but it did get me to thinking which ya'll already know is bad when I do ;)

I received my first ticket ever on my birthday last year and I was driving one of the MGBs. Clocked me doing 77MPH in a 45 zone. I was near Richmond, Virginia returning home from visiting my Son. I didn't tell the hubby until about two months later when he was up that way and called and said he had just been pulled over by a trooper. I asked where he was at and it was the exact spot. I laughed and told him that I also got one there. The laugh was on me because they didn't give him one (he is a Mason and the trooper was and ya'll know how that goes). Needless to say I had egg on my face when the hubby returned home :(

I'm sure others have received tickets when driving their MGBs and it would be fun hearing of your experience.

Your turn,



Post Edited (03-05-05 10:55)

Recieved two in one night, 40 miles apart, in the we hours of the morning, after a nite of catfishing. One was speeding on a desolate section of the road where the speedlimit dropped from 60 to 35 for only one mile. No houses, no traffic, no intersection within miles. The second was for not coming to a complete stop at a flashing red light. Once again, there was no traffic. Cop was parked in a parking lot with his lights out just waiting for someone to roll through the light without stopping. La is a right turn on red after stop state, and I did not get completely stopped before turning.

Bored cop fishing for drunks. You presented probable cause (no matter how lame). Cheap pinch for the red light one/speed trap for the other.

Actually I've never gotten a ticket in my B. But have got pulled in my other vehicles for other things.

1) No front plates. Got this while driving up PCH in California but a local cop on my way up the coast in my new truck. Cop said as he walked up to the window that I hadn�t done anything wrong driving-wise but that he had to issue a ticket for not having a front license plate. How else are they going to enforce those red-light cameras if folks don't have front plates ;) Fine: Fix-it ticket + $10 admin fee, no points.
2) Passing on the shoulder. My bad - traffic was at a stand still on the freeway, and as the exit I wanted was just around the bend I figured I'd take the chance. Well as it turns out the cop was sitting there waiting for me and had about 5 other violators lined up waiting for their tickets. Fine $180 - 2 points.
3) 30 in a 25MPG zone. Again my bad. Right at the bottom of an off ramp that I'd never taken before was a 25 MPH "SCHOOL ZONE". Granted it was 9AM and there weren�t any children around at the time but I was �defiantly� in the wrong. Fines are doubled in school zones so I shelled out $260 for Traffic School - no points.
4) 74MPH in a 55MPH zone. This was issued in the middle of Kansas on Interstate 70 back in when the speed limit was ridiculously set to 55. Caught me using the �Spy in the Sky� and pulled over by state troopers waiting down the road. Fine a laughable $25.

All & all a very boring record compared to some of my friends. Oh well.

Glad your back kid.

Back in 68 (before breathylizers were invented) I got one for having four in my bugeye at 3 AM. Wish I thought of saving a copy of that one. Those were good times.

Bill

hello naomi glad to see you back

I ran around a roadblock one time and paid bigtime for it. Coming off the interstate at Hammond, La, there was a black car accross the offramp. Saw a couple of suits out standing by the car. Saw an orange p/u ahead of me pass on the shoulder so I did the same. When I got along side the car, there was a state trooper parked behind the black car, out of site from the interstate. Around the curve I saw a log truck with it's load spread out on the road. so I stopped. About that time, a woman trooper had come after me with lights and siren(gee, I had no place to go). When she pulled behind me she jumped out with pistol drawn, threw me up against my car, kicked my feet out as far as they could go and had handcuffs on me with my face against the top on my car. Ticket was failure to obay a police officer and cost me over $400 and two days work in some little hick parish seat, Amite, La. Had to pay it in person, cash money, but no one could tell me how much the fine was. The black car was a unmarked cop car. The orange truck was La state highway department truck. Neither cop car had flashers on. The woman trooper was standing behind her car out of view until I passed her car. Though about trying to fight it in court but I had already missed work trying to find out how bad it was going to hurt so I just gave up. BTW, La troopers weah navy blue or black uniforms so you cannot tell what they are until you get within grabbing distance. Impossible to see in the dark, too, when they are working a night time accident with lots of lights shining in your eyes;o)

My buddy and I got pulled over in 1984 for having 4 people in his Healy 3000.My friend was so insistent that it was a 4-seater due to the 2 seats in the back,we almost went to jail.Not good for 2 17 year olds!

The last ticket I got was in 1965 in my 64 B. I was crossing a viaduct over the railroad and a couple of other streets in downtown Birmingham and the city had lowered the speed limit to 20mph due to a fire under the viaduct a few days before. I crossed the viaduct over 70mph and stopped at a traffic light at the end of the viaduct, been sitting there what seemed to be about a minute when a cop pulled up behind me with his lights flashing. He said that he didn't know how fast I was going but it was certainly over 20mph and that he was going to give me a ticket for going 40 in a 20 zone. I said yes sir, and paid my $30 fine the next day. He said that he probably wouldn't have noticed me if it hadn't have been for the loud exhaust. :) :) :)

Wow, ya should have called in all favors to Sam C. and taken em to court. That's the kind of stuff one sees on TV :)

Had more tickets in all my sports cars than there is bandwidth on this site to tell about. Funniest was pobably leaving a bar at 1:30 in the morning when it closed in my Jensen, traffic slower than crap so I decided to pass in no passing zone. First car was Camero or something and second car was sheriff, he didn't throw on the lights or chase me so I kept it hammered. Thought he figured he couldn't catch me. Next car I came up on about 1/4 mile down the road was another sheriff car. Just pulled over and waited for the first sheriff to pull over behind me. Improper passing was all I got , because I pulled over without the lights coming on. Deputy was laughing like crazy when he wrote the ticket. Probably knew I'd had too many but let me go home. Jeff



Post Edited (03-05-05 17:41)

this will end my lucky streak....I have never received a traffic ticket in the B, because, 1. I did not challenge the cop, 2. the ones that tagged me never saw a car like the MG-B 3. I told them that if they decide to give me a ticket it will be the first one in 53 years and they should be proud. 4. I agreed to my speed and told them that the air and scenery and clear road got to me and my speedo just rolled on up. Result a warning and have a good day. Also I always make sure someone is passing me.

While it wasn't in the B (a '64 at that time), I too was stopped on a midwest freeway during the 55 mph speed limit. I was going 57 (airborne mountie got me) on I-80 near Kimball, Nebraska - that's way out west near the Wyoming line. In the middle of the day, with very few other cars around.

Only got a warning though.
Jim D

More tickets in my B than I can remember! I also got one for four people in a 2-seater in my B. No getting out of that one. I did try to argue to the judge that right there in the owner's manual it said the rear shelf was suitable for two people (this was before the seatbelt law). He said, "Maybe in England but not here!".

I cruised through the town of French Settlement in 1975 in my BGT. FS had a short streach of the road that the limit dropped to 25 from 50. Mayberry type town had a Mayberry type cop car as well, a 1956 Ford. Local cop was under a gas station cover, saw me, got in his car in hot persuit. About the time he got on the road, his car started smoking bigtime. He did not catch me. I came through later that day about dark, his car was still on the side of the road! Must have broke down when he tried to push it to catch me!

1969 in my Renault R10 (about 25hp I think) I was pulling out from a stop sign onto a main road. At the same time a guy in a Vet took off a block down ... he really took off, rubber, smoke, noise, and he was gone. I'm driving along and see a cop, lights & siren coming on fast in my rear view mirror, ha ha, the Vet got caught! I pulled over, out of the officer's way, and he pulled over right behind me. I got the Corvette's ticket " Improper start from a stopped position"! I tried to argue my case, he told me to save it for the judge and I did. The judge shocked me (a 19 year old kid) by believing my story and understanding that the cop must have been mistaken when he saw me, in my Renault R10 "fishtailing" all over the road (of course the judge had to blow the respect I'd given him by adding that if I got ticketed for it again he'd throw the book at me). Two weeks later I sold the Renault and bought my first B, a pull handle 64, red with red leather, white piping, red top & tonneau.

Pulled over one time in the B, dead headlight. Two minutes to tell me what was wrong and check me for wants & warrants, and ten minutes talking about old cars in general and old British cars (MGB and AH, his dad had had one) in particular. No ticket, just get it fixed. Very polite and pleasant officer.

A few years ago I was cruising between two small towns just west of Ottawa. The sun was out, there was no one on the road and my van was running well. The OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) car was coming at me and as he got closer I saw his arm come out the window and wave me over to the side.

He turned around and came up behind me (I had stopped) and was not pleasant at all. I apologized and said I hadn't realized I was going so fast (121 in an 80 Kph) since it was a nice day. He didn't knock it down at all.
$301.00 and 3 points. Ouch.

Two days later... I was caught going a little too fast in a school zone. The cop asked what I was snickering about and I told him about the previous ticket. He took pity and knocked it down to 10 Kph over and a $40.00 fine with no points.

Those were my last tickets. Probably about 6 years ago now.

This year the B might be running well enough to get a couple. :) (They never caught me last year.)

Bill.