Is it legal for a state trooper to speed when they are not responding to a call?

Was it Vermont?

Sucker if it was. They will pick you up, any speed over the limit.

How do you know the officer wasn’t responding to a call? They don’t alway put their lights on when the respond to a call.

I’m not necessarily defending the behavior. Police should obey the law too. When I used to work downtown and would go out for a smoke on the sidewalk in front of the building, I would frequently see cops parking in the handicapped spots right in front of the bank next door to my office. They can park just about anywhere if they want to, loading zones, no parkings zones, etc. ... who’s going to ticket them? But they would park in the handicapped spaces to do their personal banking. I was pretty sure it wasn’t police business because when a bank is robbed there’s a much larger police presence than a single car and it happened too frequently for it to be a police matter, I think. How many times do police get called to single bank? I doubt it’s 10–15 times a week. It used to tick me off. It’s illegal and doesn’t set a very good example for the general public.

Tropical Willie: This was in Washington State.

Lily Coyote: You are right, I don’t know beyond a shadow of doubt that the cop wasn’t responding to a call but if they were it wasn’t nearly as important as pulling me over.

I was just trying to see if it could be a way for me to get out of the ticket.
I realize I should consult an attorney on the issue but I was wondering if anybody had a similar experience.

@pieceofapuzzle I have to apologize! I didn’t read your details. Sometimes I don’t and then my answers are just stupid. :-)

Whenever there is a trooper anywhere near me on the highway, a freeway or turnpike, I slow down to 55 if I’m not sure what the speed limit is. That’s generally safe unless the speed limit has been reduced in a work zone. Also, there are not that many places where the speed limit is 70 mph, maybe 65, but 70mph zones are relatively few and far between, more in the western states and on parts of the Ohio Turnpike the speed limit is 70, I think, e.g., so setting your cruise at 70 was probably not a good choice, nor was keeping up with the trooper probably a good choice. I live in the mid-atlantic, near the coast, so there aren’t too many of them around me. Maybe there are more where you live. If they are going 70mph and you are going 55mph they will be far ahead of you in a very short time and is generally better, in my opinion, to have the police ahead of you rather than next to you or behind you. What was the speed limit there anyway?

The bottom line is that, I believe that in many places it is illegal for police and other emergency vehicles to speed without their lights flashing, when not responding to a call, but who’s going to pull them over and ticket them? It may not be fair or right but it’s kind of the way it is. Had the officer been involved in an accident while speeding, without her lights flashing, not responding to a call, she might have had liability in the accident because it would have possibly been illegal for her to speed but the cops aren’t going to pull over other cops for speeding and without someone enforcing the law, they can drive as fast as they want.

Don’t play with the cops, they love it too much.

No, they are not allowed to speed—but who’s going to stop them? And as any judge will tell you, their speeding is not a legal defense for your speeding. It’s ridiculous, of course, but that’s how it is.

Personally, I think that if you can catch a police officer breaking the law on camera, you should be able to use that recording as a defense in court against a similar charge. Catch an officer speeding? You’re off the hook for your next speeding ticket. Catch him running a stop sign or failing to yield the right of way? That’s a moving violation you don’t have to worry about. Maybe it would make the police accountable for once.

Woodcutter: I don’t play with cops- they always insist on bringing a gun to the game.

You in LA?

Woodcutter: No.

I meant Los Angeles. I hear those guys have no sense of humor.
If a cop blows by me like I’m tied to a post I really don’t pay it any mind. I mean, it isn’t like I envy that perk because I don’t like to go fast anyway. If they cause a wreck and someone gets hurt it might be a nice payday for their victim assuming they survive. It’s a tough way to earn a windfall though.

Woodcutter: For some reason I assumed you meant Los Angeles. It didn’t even occur to me, until recently. that you might have meant Louisiana.

That sucks.

If a cop is behind me, I assume they are clocking me, and running my plate.

I understand you did not know the speed limit, and assumed the cop had been going the speed limit, but in my experience most cops (not all) don’t heed the speed limits, especially on highways; or signal before turning or changing lanes; sometimes fail to put their lights on in the rain, and all sorts of stuff. I don’t rely on them to be an example of safety and abiding the law on the road. In my opinion there are two types of cops, those who love law and order and helping people, and those who love power and being able to behave in way that is a little outside of the law or rules that most of us adhere to.

Unfortunately you learned the hard way you can’t rely on a cop’s speed to indicate a speed limit. If this is your first ticket in a long time, I would go to court and tell your story, that your intention was to go the speed limit, and see if they will reduce the ticket and wave points.

Yeah, unless they in pursuit or responding to a call, they are not supposed to speed (creating an unmerited and dangerous situation).

No, but like some have said, they’re pretty much ticket proof.

Thing is, how can we know for sure they aren’t in a hurry for a reason. We could all get police receivers to keep tabs on them to know but I hear their radio communications are encrypted so its useless and who has the time to do this? If not a life or death emergency but maybe they have to be at a place for a meeting and were held up and have gotten behind. I only see them doing this out on the freeway never in the city where the traffic light system dictates the speed of the flow.

Quick story: a few years ago I was out on the highway and a statie just missed the back of my truck by swerving at the last second. No lights or sirens so I didn’t see him coming. He must have been going about 100 because when he blew by me the wind cushion jolted my truck hard to the side and I saw him turn his head to look at me as if he couldn’t believe he almost killed us. A second or so before, I checked the rear view and nothing ,and suddenly Dudly Do-right was almost superimposed with me. Shit that would have been bad. The guy was probably doing something that didn’t involve looking ahead. They’re regular people when you talk to them out of uniform pretty much. A few of them come out to our club’s pistol matches to shoot and they’re cool.

@woodcutter Because half the time you see them pull into McDonald’s. But it doesn’t matter: no one’s allowed to speed just because they’re in a hurry. Imagine if that excuse held up in court! Even the police require a legal reason for speeding, and they don’t have one if they are not responding to a call.

I don’t see many stories of them causing wrecks but I can only guess it happens. They know high speed driving with cars that have bigger engines and better race engineered suspensions than most of us. It is part of their job description. But go ahead and complain, I doubt it would go far unless the same guy gets many complaints over and over.

“Because half the time you see them pull into McDonald’s” Not sure what that means concerning this topic but to each their own.

@woodcutter You asked how we can know for sure they aren’t in a hurry for a reason. My response was that half the time you see them pull into McDonald’s. A lunch break is not a legitimate reason for speeding, no matter how hungry the cops are.

@Patton How fast can anyone drive into a parking lot? That’d be like threading a needle.
Micky Dees has donuts now?

@woodcutter They don’t speed into the parking lot, they speed down the road to get to where they have to turn into the parking lot. And I’m sure that police officers eat more than just donuts. McDonald’s is even the fast food of choice for police officers of the future.