I was really tempted not to get in the middle of this flame war, but the little message above tells me I haven't posted in awhile, so what the heck?
I can't load the video for whatever reason, but I know the general deal going on here.
(Disclaimer.. I am not a cop hater. They have a very hard job to do, but like was said before, there are bad apples, and being human, no one is perfect.)
Question..? Do these cars they are using carry dash cams? Video backup? Any means of providing proof of the act? Radar guns even? At least if they had a radar gun, and you had a detector, you would know its more likely to be legit.
If not, then it goes back to your word against the cop. Thats a lot to lose based on just someones word. Like someone pointed out, maybe the cop likes your car... its a case of "I want that one". "I'll bait him". Because he/she wears a badge, their word is 100% proof you were doing what he said, and you lose your car.
Reading this whole thread reminds me of the ending in "I, Robot" I was watching last night. The robots declare that logically, they have to protect you from yourself. So, every human is only as trustworthy, honest, smart, etc as your lowest common denominator. Kinda like warning labels on coffee cups that read "Caution, Contents May be Hot". Because some idiot sued McDonalds when she spilled her coffee. DUH!
So if you are like me, 30 years old, have plenty of time behind the wheel, learned your lessons young (2 speeding tix at 18), you are still as dumb and reckless as the next kid who passes his road test. Why? Because the gov't has to protect you from yourself. Nevermind that you're older and wiser now, that you've lived awhile longer and learned your lessons. You are still as dumb as the next guy. :-/
Case in point: My friend was arrested for DWI. He wasn't even on a public road. He was in the parking garage. It was the middle of winter, about 5 degrees out, and the bars closed their doors. He lives 20 miles from the bar. He calls a friend, says, I'm too drunk to drive, can you come pick me up? Meantime, hes freezing to death. In that part of town nothing is open. Not even the gas stations. What does he do? He got in his car, turns it on to run the heater. Lays down in the backseat. Hindsight is 20/20, put yourself in his place.
Another person I know, was arrested for DWI. She was driving down residential streets, music blaring, blowing stop signs, drove out of town towards home and she gets pulled over. Even hit part of the parking garage on the way out putting a huge dent in her car.
Both cases, same punishment. Fair?
Some kid pulls up and revs at you, youre in an industrial park, swamp road, middle of cow country, whatever. Its 2am. You nail it up to the speed limit then let off. Fun huh? You just lost your ride, because that "kid" was a cop. Hes seen your car around, and thinks he can get it for himself.
Some kids line up on a residential street, at 9pm, nail it, get to 80 and keep on going past 100. One loses control and hits a tree. The other gets arrested after a homeowner called 911 and reported it. He loses his ride.
Laws are anti-freedom by definition. The question is, how much freedom are you willing to give up to have the gov't protect you?
Making a fake cop car is easier than you think. Trust me. Older caprices are getting harder to get, but are still available. Lights are nothing. One of my volunteer friends had a crown vic with a light inside on the dash. He even had a light bar on top before that. He could have easily turned that light on and pulled anyone he wanted over. Now, replace that crown vic with a Mustang. Makes you think a bit more about pulling over. Replace said Mustang with a tinted window, F&F style 350Z. You honestly can tell me youre gonna pull over for that? Not me. I dont care what lights are on it. I've recently seen some Subaru 2.5 RS cars with the lights hidden in the hood scoop. Gimme a break. I can take my Cruiser, go to autozone and buy wig wags to hide in the grille. Hell, theres red leds for show in there right now. If I switched out one side to blue, and came up behind you with them going, are you pulling over? If you say yes, then I got some property with a beautiful ocean view here in upstate NY I wanna sell ya.
Theres all sorts of reasons for a cop to pull you over. When I daily drove my Regal, I heard them all.
-Matched description of some car they are looking for... riiight. You followed me for 15 miles and thats the best you could come up with?
-Your license plate light was out. Now its back on. Must be a short, you oughta have that looked at.
-I saw something fall off your car back there, you might want to get that looked at.
-You were swerving all over the road back there ("There was a dead animal in the road") Thats odd, I didn't see anything. Let me check you out.
1. I just see way too much potential for abuse of power here.
2. Time and money could be better spent elsewhere.
3. Its a drive for those that do it. Its a need for a rush. Like football, basketball, whatever. Those are all legal, and you can readily find a place to fulfill that drive to compete. Humans are competitive in nature. Laws, fines, jail are only ways to suppress the drive. Build tracks. Hold legal drags, sponsor the tracks, don't punish the crimes once committed, prevent them from happening. My last time at a track, I drove 2 hours to an eighth mile. Waited 4 hours to run. Got one run in. Drove 2 hours home. Had to take the day off work to get there in time to run, spent $30 entry to run once. Waste of time, money, energy, effort. On the way home, I blasted past some kid in a riced up civic like he was standing still. Even without going over the limit. Drive satisfied. For the time being.
Adrenaline is an addiction. Some people get it from sports, football, skydiving, some from racing. Other legal addictions... lotto, alcohol, smoking, horse racing, casinos (in some places). All bad for you in varying degrees. Shouldn't we ban them all, you know, to save us from ourselves?
The key is education. Young drivers think they are immortal. Give them one of those test cars and tracks that can simulate conditions while still being safe. Show them what "beer goggle driving" looks and feels like. Show them what it feels like to lose control of a car going 80mph. Make them try and talk on their cell phones and navigate a course. Make them stay up for 48 hours and try to drive sleepy. Scare them straight while they are still impressionable. 5 hour courses are a joke, the road test is a joke. anyone with half a brain can get their license. (and cute girls with only a 1/4 of one as well). Kids are too used to playing need for speed, and running into crap like nothing happens. Put them in a real world test car, and you get scared like no video game can scare you. Experienced drivers respect the power and responsibilty of a car. But we learn that over years of seat time. Spend the money and teach the young ones what took us years to learn. Mandatory defensive driving is a start, but not enough. Kids need to be scared out of their sense of immortality before they are given a set of keys on their own.
(P.S. If you ever heard of the Discovery show "Mythbusters", they did a special on the ideas of various impairments on driving, cell phone, alcohol, sleeplessness, etc. Pretty interesting. They did the test with the local PD watching over, and a stunt driver coordinating the tests. The results aren't what you would think.
I also saw a TV show about how to drive on snowy and icy roads. They have a car with what amounts to a 4 wheel lift on wheels under it, to simulate traction loss at varying amounts. Great real-world experience. )