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Posted: 7/16/2008 7:35:31 PM EDT
To an 80 year old man for a steady red light violation...got flamed by my Sgt. but I had made up my mind to write the citation before I knew the guy was older than the dirt...
 A check of his driving record revealed this was his first ticket...EVER 
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Posted: 7/16/2008 7:59:52 PM EDT
[#1]
Now he'll have to eat cat food for the rest of the year(if he makes it) because he cant afford to pay the ticket and eat real food on a fixed income of $138 a month.
I'm just givin' ya shit......  Hell if I was 80 and got ticket for anything, I would call the court clerk and tell them to bite my ass, issue a warrant, I'll hollar chest pains. There isnt a jail in this area that would book an 80 y/o man with chest pains. |
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Posted: 7/16/2008 8:11:11 PM EDT
[#2]
I bought my Cadillac from an old man's son who took it away from him because he was stopping at the green lights and driving through the red ones.
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Posted: 7/16/2008 9:01:25 PM EDT
[#3]
In IL we have the option of recommending a driving test at the Secretary of State if we feel that a driver is no longer able to drive safely.
Just sayin'. |
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Posted: 7/16/2008 11:47:21 PM EDT
[#4]
Glad to see not even common sense could make you change your mind  Yep, I would rip my guys if they did that/ |
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Posted: 7/16/2008 11:51:57 PM EDT
[#5]
I've got a soft spot of old guys. Mostly because they all remind me of my dad.
I wonder what kind of insurance discount you get for 80 years of no accidents? |
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Posted: 7/17/2008 12:02:37 AM EDT
[#6]
i don't go for that "make up your mind before you stop them" line of thinking. I'm not saying it's wrong, i'm just saying it's not for me. I'm proud of you for not being afraid to stick to your guns.
The driver's attitude weighs about 70% on whether or not they get a ticket from me. There's 5 things that you are guaranteed to get a ticket for if I stop you: 1) Red Lights/Stop Sign 2) Unrestrained Child 3) those loud mufflers on imports (Exhaust modified to make noise) 4) Making me tap on the window to get you to roll it down 5) not speaking engish
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Posted: 7/17/2008 1:28:53 AM EDT
[#7]
What is a "steady red light violation"?
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Posted: 7/17/2008 1:52:25 AM EDT
[#8]
I gave a written warning to 80 year old woman with a clean driving record once, and she was pissed--I had to explain to her four times that it was just a warning and not a citation. She laughed once she finally figured it out though.
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Posted: 7/17/2008 2:06:27 AM EDT
[#9]
Don't feel bad, I wrote one to a blind girl for crossing a road not at a cross walk. It was an accident situation and our policy is that we have to write a citation. I still get crap from my co-workers about that one
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Posted: 7/17/2008 2:09:45 AM EDT
[#10]
 
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Posted: 7/17/2008 2:14:15 AM EDT
[#11]
They're trying to keep you from smelling the beer and weed. |
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Posted: 7/17/2008 2:15:55 AM EDT
[#12]
I know, I am not that big of an A-hole but there is a department policy that we have to write a citation for an violation of state law when we investigate a crash. The incident happened on a Boulevard. I think what happened is that she crossed one part of the road, walked up on the median, and got confussed when she dropped on the second part of the roadway. She then ran into the path of a vehicle. State Law states that pedestrians have to cross at a crosswalk. I had no choice in this incident.  I told my wife about this, she didn't talk to me for 3 days. This happened about 3 years ago. It never went to court. I really don't know what the disposition was. |
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Posted: 7/17/2008 2:17:20 AM EDT
[#13]
I arrested a 91 year old man once. He had a warrant for a past speeding ticket. I called the issuing agency and asked them if they really wanted to confirm on it since he was 91 years old. They confirmed and he went to jail.
His 70 year old kids came and bonded him out!! |
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Posted: 7/17/2008 2:50:58 AM EDT
[#14]
I've seen more than one elderly driver as a patient in the ER... usually after they've run off the road, passed out behind the wheel, got confused and drove to another city, wrapped their vehicle around a tree, hit a dump truck, or another vehicle, etc.
Then you find that half of them are demented, they have no license, and their family members have been trying to get the car keys away from them for years. They take the keys, they hide the keys... and the elderly driver gets another set made, buys another car, etc and is back on the road. |
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Posted: 7/17/2008 6:21:46 AM EDT
[#15]
You obviously don't work enough crashes involving old people who can no longer drive. We've got them by the boatload. |
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Posted: 7/17/2008 6:24:17 AM EDT
[#16]
Or using spellcheck
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Posted: 7/17/2008 6:28:48 AM EDT
[#17]
July, 07 I arrested a guy for DUI on a riding mower in his back yard. No shit.
He bullied his ex-girlfriend's babysitter (14) to give him his 3 year old son while she was at work. I went with the ex-girlfriend to get the kid and warn him that in Ohio unwed mothers are custodial parents. He was drunk as hell, cutting grass with the kid on his lap. I tried to simply tell him what was wrong with this situation. He hands the kid to the ex-girlfriend, damn near falls as he steps off the mower and tells me to "listen up" as he get in my face. WRONG!!  Operating a vehicle (car, mower, pogo-stick, etc.) "anywhere" in Ohio is DUI. He also got a Endangering Children charge. |
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Posted: 7/17/2008 7:08:48 AM EDT
[#18]
Dude, your right on. I would not only have written him, but I would have sent him to DMV for a retest. 
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Posted: 7/17/2008 7:23:36 AM EDT
[#19]
Yep, me too. Most of the vehicles that run into buildings and people around here almost ALWAYS have an elderly person in the driver seat. They scare the shit outa me 
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Posted: 7/17/2008 9:29:57 AM EDT
[#20]
Yep South Florida is heavens gate. We have more accidents caused by old blue hairs who should not be driving then any other kind of traffic crashes. Itrs like bumper cars. Here is a doozy from my last shift Old man crash |
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Posted: 7/17/2008 11:05:44 AM EDT
[#21]
We use the DMV re-test form and send it through..... yep, we see them here too
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Posted: 7/17/2008 11:16:26 AM EDT
[#22]
[sigh] Would that things would be so easy here.... |
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Posted: 7/17/2008 11:40:24 AM EDT
[#23]
Light had been red for a good amount of time - hadn't just changed. Brian |
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Posted: 7/17/2008 11:42:39 AM EDT
[#24]
I've sent two drivers for retesting - a ~35 y/o Asian female who stated this was the 3rd parked car she'd hit in 1 year and an ~85 y/o white male who I would have bet a weeks pay was DUI based on his driving, had his grand daughter drive the car after the stop. Brian |
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Posted: 7/17/2008 5:23:32 PM EDT
[#25]
I don't write many traffic tickets (NYC Subway cop), but my house has an unofficial policy of having to call a supervisor if we find the need to write someone over 65.
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Posted: 7/17/2008 6:11:36 PM EDT
[#26]
Holy Moses... He's lucky he wasn't decapitated by that railing... you can see it completely impaled the car... right through the hood and out the back window. |
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Posted: 7/17/2008 6:17:40 PM EDT
[#27]
I know its unpopular but some older people who cannot handle driving need to be stopped. I try to say it respectfully but I have been hit and almost killed by a 70 year old person who got mad because I did not move out of his way, he just rammed me and the police officer would do nothing to him, he reeked like alcohol and no BAC was taken and nothing was done. In the report I got he stated "because of his age" they would do nothing to him. I still am livid at that officer, I am sure if I would have died they still would have done nothing.
So please protect the whole population equally, even if it is unpopular. Thanks. |
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Posted: 7/17/2008 7:13:31 PM EDT
[#28]
yeah, I almost arrested a Mentally Handicapped guy for PI the other day. Walking sb down the middle of the NB frontage road. Sounded like he was drunk, walked and talked like he was drunk, and I could not smell a drop on the guy.
Called a buddy to come over and help me figure out what was wrong with the guy... :D Yeah, figured it out, called his sister who he lived with and transported him home. His eyes were all blood shot and watery too. Something just didn't add up. Key work in this was, almost. Feel bad I put him in cuffs upon initially investigating. |
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Posted: 7/17/2008 11:01:29 PM EDT
[#29]
Bullsh*t. Do NOT apologize for taking unsafe drivers off the road... EVER. If you're not in sufficient shape/health/sobriety/whatever to be piloting a 2-3 ton mass of metal down the highway, then you should not be driving. People who insist they're GTG, simply because they've been "driving all my life" do not impress me. I take care of too many of them as patients, and too many people that they (and the drunks, and the road-ragers, and the idiots) injure on the road. Driving tests are not hard to pass, but they are the closest thing we have to an objective standard. It's a low bar... damned low.... and if you can't clear it, you don't need to be driving. |
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Posted: 7/18/2008 2:36:03 AM EDT
[#30]
You did the right thing.
We also have the "re-examine driver" box on our state crash form. I have used it a total of three times. One woman took the test twice and WYDOT decided to restrict her license to Teton County only (kinda like a blind dog I guess, in your house it doesn't bump into stuff but take it somewhere else and its crasharoo). I checked it where a gentlement backed into a construction vehicle after making a six point turn up onto a sidewalk, passing over three non handicap spaces, just to get to a handicap spot. After showing him the evidence and explaining I had three indepenent eye witnesses who saw the crash from three vantage points he insisted he did not hit the truck (damage matched). Upon inspecting his car I found that all four corners had damage of one sort or another. He raised holy hell with the chief about the re-examination. Chief asked me if I would drop it and I explained it wasn't my job to re-examine drivers just to recommend when people can't safely operate MV's. Last was about a month ago. Gentlemen left the roadway, schmucked a stop sign on a vacant lot which in turn schmucked a telephone box. He left the scene and had no idea he ever crashed. When my dad turned 86 I asked him to voluntarily give up his driver's license and he did. It was the hardest conversation I had ever had. Never doubt what you do is for the good of the many. Stay Safe. OH, ya, about a month ago I wrote an 89 year old man for doing 53 in a 40 and driving that fast in the center turn lane....he paid the ticket. His wife was hilarious giving him the "I told you so" look during the whole contact. |
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Posted: 7/18/2008 3:07:09 AM EDT
[#31]
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Posted: 7/18/2008 10:09:59 PM EDT
[#32]
One time our UPS guy came in with a fun story...
He pulled up behind a car that was stopped dead in the middle of the roadway nowhere near a stop sign or signal of any sort. He waits a reasonable amount of time then honks to get the drivers attention. No response. He looks a little closer and the driver is leaning against the window. Now he starts thinking "Wait a minute... this guy's eithe sleeping or DEAD!!!". So he gets out and approaches the car and kncks on the window. The old man at the wheel turns, rolls the window down and says "Sorry, I was on the phone and don't like to drive at the same time..."! I wouldn't so much as bat an eye nor hesitate one second to ticket a senior. |
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Posted: 7/18/2008 10:21:02 PM EDT
[#33]
I wrote a preacher on his way to a sermon that he'd been pre-paid to provide to a church 2 hours south of me. Had him at 104 on the Interstate in his BMW. Same shift a fellow deputy wrote a nun. Much like everything else, not all folks go to hell at the same time. Your age doesn't determine that you're falling apart, but it is something to look at. VJ |
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Posted: 7/19/2008 7:19:35 AM EDT
[#34]
And the folks that would [hesitate] need to get a grip. |
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Posted: 7/19/2008 7:36:19 AM EDT
[#35]
It sounds as if the guy may need to give up driving. My Father who is an ex cop just turned eighty. He nows only drives during the day and that is for local trips.
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Posted: 7/19/2008 7:51:42 AM EDT
[#36]
Like the people that can't leave Fido at home for more than 2 minutes. Everytime I see some jack-ass with a yappy dog running around on their dash or parcel shelf (or laying on the bottom half of the steering wheel.... yes, I've seen it...  ), I hope that Scrappy winds up under thier brake pedal and they around a phone pole. Endangering your OWN safety is your prerogative, but to endanger MINE because you can't bare to spend more than 5 minutes alone is unacceptable and I don't want to share the road with you. |
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Posted: 7/19/2008 7:52:53 AM EDT
[#37]
exactly. Come to Florida parts of Florida and see how dangerous it is. Just the other day I had to do 5 traffic crashes. Between myself and 4 other LEOs, in a small patrol area, we did about 10 crash reports in 12 hours time. The amount of hit and runs are astronomical too. Many older folks bump into everything, and simply leave the scene. Once you start dealing with this crap on a regular basis.. youll have no problem about writing older people tickets. Here is one example just from a few days ago. www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-0715canal,0,3881765.story |
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Posted: 7/19/2008 4:51:07 PM EDT
[#38]
Hehe nice crash..I already have it up ^ |
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Posted: 7/19/2008 5:04:49 PM EDT
[#39]
I drive a taxi for a living. Aside from bicyclists who only obey the laws when it suits them the biggest problems I've had is with elderly drivers.
More near-misses, red light running, sitting through green lights, and innumerable other incidents related to inattentiveness and their inability to judge space or move their heads to see other traffic. If you're in Ann Arbor, MI, hit em' HARD. (Especially on Washtenaw between Stadium and Carpenter. They seem to congregate there.) |
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Posted: 7/19/2008 6:41:00 PM EDT
[#40]
Wow, that's amazing luck. That handrail went in the hood, through the airbag and out the back of the car! 
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Posted: 7/19/2008 8:02:34 PM EDT
[#41]
that would be a call to my Sgt, even if he was in the middle of lunch, no fucking way dude. I feel for you though. |
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Posted: 7/19/2008 10:05:19 PM EDT
[#42]
You also ticket loud harleys and domestic muscle cars, right?
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Posted: 7/19/2008 10:57:14 PM EDT
[#43]
Eh, it's one of the many parts of the job that no one likes to do.
I once arrested a handicapped bike thief--who couldn't ride a bike with one way-short leg, but could sure cut a lock and push one. "Hey, Joe, what's wrong with this picture?" Soon after, I arrested a blind guy for criminal trespass. A bit of a story behind it. Anyway, I had to go *back* to the jail later for evidence when he pulled his weed out of his safe hiding place. You know where. Jailers put him in a drunk tank by himself so no one would take advantage of the blind guy. Blind guy thought he was in private. At least the jailers were cool and field-tested the weed and thermal-sealed test result + weed in a plastic property bag. Thinking back, maybe I should have asked to use that weed for training rookies? Anyway, after those two arrests, the Lt. said he fully expected my next arrestee to be in a wheelchair. -josh |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 4:47:43 AM EDT
[#44]
Without batting an eye say "He will be when I'm done with him...." |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 4:53:03 AM EDT
[#45]
+1 p/s my first car was a hand me down....my grandpa hit 4 or 20 things and my old man took it away from him. |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 4:53:35 AM EDT
[#46]
There is a limit the elderly hit where they should not be driving. They become very dangerous to the folks around them.
When they start crashing into things and blowing red lights and stop signs it is time to start writing them. Many times their families know the person should not be on the road but are powerless to do anything about it. |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 4:59:30 AM EDT
[#47]
You did the right thing, if he is spry enough to drive, he can certainly fight it if he wants to.
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Posted: 7/20/2008 5:20:26 AM EDT
[#48]
In Florida, anyone can just fill out this form and send it in to the HSMV to have them reviewed. Its just most people, including their families that live at least a 1000 miles away from them, dont care enough to simply google or ask about it. www.flhsmv.gov//forms/72190.html |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 8:38:54 PM EDT
[#49]
It's not a bad idea to follow-up on the DMV doc referrals.
Any of y'all recommend self-professed narcoleptics, etc. for DMV doc review? -josh |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 8:59:55 PM EDT
[#50]
we took the keys from my grandmother after she sideswiped a bunch of cars on one of her trips home from wherever. Prior to that, her pals at the DMV would just issue her a new one when her last one got revoked (this was in the late 70's).
had to do the same thing with grandfather about a decade later. he got drunk and plowed into the front of a store in Galveston; my dad put him in one of those golf carts. About a month later, that was taken away after he - get this - plowed into the front of a store in Galveston. There was just as much damage, too, since he hit a glass storefront the second time. They both had been pulled over many times before that day. This is just a long, sad way of asking that if you see old folks running around, write the ticket. Please. My grandparents managed to never kill anyone, fortunately. |
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