wanabe

on the way to work i often take a road behind the airport (radar does not work there, and its a nice open road... long road with only one entrance to it and several lanes).
well over 100 as i approached the only overpass and entrance, backed off and slowed to 80 at the overpass. just as i glanced over to the one entrance to the road i fortunately noticed the nose of a local police car pulling onto the road... downshifted and promptly slowed without brakes (i thought that it would be too obvious to take speed off the car too quickly) to 55 as he pulled right next to me. i realized that i was going faster than him still and did not know the speed limit! so i continued slowing...
he ignored me (my lucky day)!

question- do you brake or just downshift when slowing for your local police?

Insomniak

i've stealth braked several times.. using the e-brake so that the brake lights don't light up.. i don't yank it just pull up enough to slow down w/ out smashing the brakes. keeping your finger on the button so it doesn't lock there.

baked

If he's that close I don't even slow down. It's too late anyway.

Anything else just draws attention to you.

firsts2k

I try not to use the brakes whenever possible. I downshift into 5th or 4th ASAP depending on how many mph over the limit I am running. Usually I have a "rabbit" (another vehicle) in front of me when I am running 20+ over and the rabbit usually gets the ticket. This worked for me on my last trip from south GA back to north AL. Definitely saved my butt from a local police.

hpalmer

If my Valentine goes off and I'm significantly above the limit, I brake no matter where the officer is. In the end what matters most is not having that high reading on his radar(especialy if a citation goes to court). It isn't illegal to brake just to speed. It might attract a little more attention but then so does a radar reading of 30 plus MPH over.


Hugh

Insomniak

doesn't downshifting also draw attention.. the high rpm's roaring.. i think thats what caught one cops attention to me.. crusing by at about 5 or so over.. doing a lil over 60.. but in 3rd gear.

wanabe

yeah, i wondered about that... i was definitely high-revving, and especially under the overpass the sound was louder.

interesting idea, insomniak, to use the e-brake. never tried it- does it do the same thing that the footbrake does in terms of rear vs. front brakes? (i assume that it does not prefer the front over the rear?)-

mingster

i just don't take my car 10MPH over the speed limit (wimp!)

jws626

Just last night an acquaintance of mine was driving home late (going about 80) and came to a car that braked suddenly in front of him. My friend downshifted and the car that braked (an undercover cop) heard his engine and pulled him over. The engine noise was the whole reason the cop pulled him over (the cop told him this).

Luckily he didn't get ticketed. I should also add that the engine/exhaust noise was a little more suspicious than a normal car because my friend is running straight pipes.

On another car I've seen a setup where the guy had a switch to disable the brake lights. I don't think I would go that far myself though.

MarkS2K

Hey Mike,

I forgot to ask you what gear you downshifted into. Going from 80 to 55, I figure you either used 3rd or 4th. If ou used 3rd, you definitely would've been in VTEC.