FW: [V8] Pep talk

[TM]

Forwarded per Bart's permission:

Where is Petersburg, VA, anyway? I don't usually get down South,
so I guess I shouldn't worry. But those NY State Troopers are nasty.

Taka

-----Original Message-----

I got tailed by a VA State Trooper in an unmarked little chebby on I-295
bypass around Richmond, Va in August, '98.  I was in my (now ex-Frau's)
Pearl '91 V8Q5.

Now, this road is mostly 4 to 6 lanes in each direction, with a very wide,
often forested, separating median.  I was running with a knot of traffic,
patiently awaiting a lane to open up; and when one did, I'd drop it into
third (85 mph) and nail it, running up to the next knot of traffic, shifting
up at about 115, and then hitting the binders to blend back into the knot.

This trooper had tailed me for over 20 miles, trying to get me in a fixed
trap on the side of the road, but because I was being wary, he failed and
finally just pulled me over and wrote me for 90 mph.  Unfortunately, the
limit is 65 there, and in VA, anything 20 or more over the limit is defacto
"reckless driving."

The bad news is that the judge of the district court in Petersburg, VA, is
the judge that governs the area of highway in which I was nailed.  And this
particular judge puts people in jail for reckless driving - including 20
over!  It cost me a grand to the lawyer to keep me out of jail, 265 for the
fine, and $3K/year for 3 years in *added* insurance premiums.  The result of
over 40 years of one or two tickets a year...