How to Get out of a Las Vegas Speeding Ticket
Metro police officers and the Nevada Highway Patrol have heard it all…
“I’m late for a funeral.”
“My child is in the hospital.”
“I didn’t see the posted sign because I just got on the highway.”
“I have to use the bathroom really bad. I’m on my period.”
Even if your reason for speeding is legitimate (your wife is in the back seat about to give birth,) officers reserve the right to ticket you anyway because, plain and simple, you broke the law. We’ve all heard stories of unforgiving officers with no sympathy for the very real & urgent problems we are facing when they pull us over for speeding. But we can’t always blame the officers; for every truth they’re told by an apologetic speeder, they’re also told 29,847 lies by other drivers looking to get off the hook.
On a personal note, I recently purchased a new car. Its color? Brilliant Red. Before making this purchase, many people warned me, “you’re going to get pulled over all the time in that thing.” “Red sticks out like a sore thumb.” “That’s the worst color you could buy.” I was warned against this purchase with so much passion, I actually considered ditching my dream car and buying a car in a more muted tone. The last thing I wanted was a collection of Las Vegas Traffic Tickets and all the fines that came with them. Even when I called my insurance agent to inquire about the cost of coverage for my potential new ride, she took a very long pause after I told her the color, then she began, “You know what they say…”
I scoured the Internet for actual information about speeding and red cars, to determine if there was substantial evidence or if it was just a myth. I found several articles claiming it was true, but that it was more indicative of the type of person who drove a red car, rather than the car’s color itself. For example, Camaros, Mustangs, Audis, and Porches come in fire-engine red and other ‘fast’ colors. Manufacturers don’t make Buicks and Cadillacs in these colors because the typical drivers of those cars (hi Grandma) don’t usually want red. People who buy brightly colored cars want to drive fast, so it makes sense that they would get more speeding tickets. Bottom line: it’s not the car, it’s the driver.
Las Vegas metro officers claim they do not target any particular color, model, or style of car—nor do they target any specific ‘type’ of driver. They pull over people who are driving above the legal limit or disobeying other traffic laws, and that’s that!
So I went ahead and purchased my dream car, in brilliant red. And because I am one of those people who enjoys the thrill of driving fast in a nice car, I couldn’t help myself from speeding on the open road. Have I received a traffic ticket in these first four months since owning my new car? Nope. Quite the contrary. While hightailing it up the 95 one afternoon towards Mount Charleston—listening to the radio and enjoying the afternoon light and wind through my sunroof—I noticed someone waving at me out of the corner of my eye. I was in such a blissful, dreamy state, I simply waved back and continued to drive.
Oddly, the motorcyclist did not leave my window. He continued to ride beside me as I sang along with one of favorite songs. It wasn’t until a moment later that it set in; this was a highway patrol officer beside me, waving me down because I was nearing 90 miles per hour. I took my foot off the pedal and my heart skipped a beat. That’s it, I thought. The fun is over now.
But something miraculous happened then. As I gazed out the driver’s side window of my brilliant red, turbo-charged car, the officer lifted one of his gloved hands and opened and closed it twice while mouthing, “Fifty-five.” Then, he rode away.
In my sixteen years of driving, I’ve never been let off the hook like that. I see no explanation for it other than one of these two possibilities: 1) the officer was in an exceptionally generous mood and didn’t want to ruin anyone’s day, or 2) he liked my red car.
~ Jaclyn Costello
If you and your car—whether it’s red, black, white, or grey—were not as lucky as the author and have received a Las Vegas Speeding Ticket, please call Mark Coburn’s office at (702) 382-2000.
