Last week on my way to work I pulled onto the freeway like I do every day. The first several miles of that freeway is loaded with cops pretty much every day, a lot of them on motorcycles. I know better than to speed.
I saw a motorcycle officer as soon as I pulled on in my rear view mirror. Speed limit is 55 through a construction zone, so I made sure I stayed below 60 keeping my eye on him the whole time. I know for a fact my speedometer is spot on. After a few minutes, he rides up next to me and signals me to pull over.
He said he "pace clocked" me at 70 mph. Not having picked up on that, I said I'm going to need to see that because I know I wasn't going that fast. He then reminded me it was pace clocking and explained to me what it was. I never knew they could do this. I told him I saw him the whole time and know I stayed below 60. He said my speedometer must not be working correctly.
In the times I've been pulled over before, I've never done anything other than yes sir, no sir. And while I didn't argue with him, I was very clearly not happy as I was pretty certain I was being taken advantage of. Florida cops are notorious for pulling over out of state vehicles with all the tourists down here. I was going to be changing over from MN to FL next month when mine expires. I'm pretty sure that's exactly what happened. Of course, in typical fashion he told me he was going to do me a favor and cite me for 64 only and not in a construction zone.
My question is should this even be allowed? I've never been more certain of anything as I am that this guy was totally lying his head off and writing me up simply because he could. What can I say in response? He had no radar that was time stamped with the reading on it. It was simply because he said so. I know there's a lot of reverence given police officers in our culture and I understand the nature of their jobs, but I also know many of them love the power and authority that comes with their badge and allowing a person to basically give someone a traffic ticket in this manner is too much power in the hands of these guys.
Has anyone ever gotten "pace clocked" and given a ticket before?