This is a tough call for me, and it depends on the situation..

When I was arrested, the trooper was very friendly, but he bluntly told me I should have ran instead of pulling over... I ride with a few police officers as well and they've told me the same thing, so unfortunately it's sort of a mixed message and goes against everything I've always been about on the motorcycle. In my head, I want to be the man and face the consequences of my actions... I did that, and it bit me in the ass. It didn't help my situation that I pulled over. The only thing I did was decide not to take two important risks: felony eluding, and death. To me, that was worth it, but I'm paying for it now.

It's that much harder for me having everyone, including law enforcement officers, a judge, two attorneys, etc tell me that I should have ran and none of it would have ever happened... The two officers I ride with said they would never bother trying to chase a bike. Mixed messages, in a bad way.

With the new laws, boy... that's a tough call. It certainly gives you more motivation to take a risk you shouldn't take.

 

To each his own, and each rider ride their ride. As for your comment on using your brakes, last time I checked, semi trucks freqently range between 3 and 7 cars in length. if one begins to come into your lane and (mind you, you ARENT in his blind spot) you are to the side of the semi with traffic behind you and to your other side, im not going to risk getting on the brakes hard and hope he either hears me blaring my horn and jumps back into his lane, or the car behind me not paying attentiong to my brake light and running me down. im going to accelerate while hitting my horn. this may not be a viable solution for you, as you say you have a slow bike, but to 90% of the sportbikes out there, its a better approach IMO.

and as with your other stance that someone should slow down and be patient and wait for another hole in traffic to make an exit, that too can and more often than not is more hazardous. chances are, if traffic is heavy enough that you cant get over to your right, the traffic behind you is just as heavy. accelerating momentarily, given enough space and short enough distance to cover to a open spot is availible without hitting your brakes once again hoping people see you is all the better

. im not saying that bikers should or that even I need to accelerate to irresponsible speeds on the highway to make an exit, but simply put, it has been proven time and time again, that travelling slower than all the traffic around you is more dangerous than going with it or faster. Ask anyone who is a commuter. and my point was this, if you MOMENTARILY adjust your speed to accomodate traffic conditions and interactions with other motorists, it would suck to be pulled over and fined that unreasonable amount of money for doing that. Im not talking about people who choose to pull wheelies for miles at a time down 64 at night.

Also, your "holier than thou" attitude wont get you much support. just because you enjoy tooling around town on your 800 gives you the feeling you are looking for being on 2 wheels, doesnt mean its for everyone. There is a time and a place for everything, especially the variances in peoples PERSONAL riding styles.

In addition, jail time is a serious concern in Va beach as reckless can land you there anyways. I personally believe it is ludacris that the lawmakers have upped the fines for these things to such an awful price. to alot of people, 4k IS life for them. If anything, the fines for DUI and possession should be upgraded. and if you dont have the money to pay, what then? your credit score goes in the shitter and they garnish your wadges.. and once again IM NOT TALKING ABOUT RIDERS WHO ARE IN GENERAL IRRESPONSIBLE. im speaking about the average joe sport/cruiser/whatever rider who makes a concious decision based on traffic conditions to accelerate to accomodate.

I also specified in my post that if the rider knew the area well as well as the traffic patterns there. I.E. stop signs and traffic signals. We ALL know that running is dangerous, can get you in BIG trouble, and maybe most importantly WRONG, but that doesnt stop people from doing most ANYTHING nowadays. and with the laws being put in place such as these fines, its not surprising that more people would want to gamble on the side of getting away than bending over and being raped out of their money.

in closing, I also specified that reckless charges are at an officers discretion. whether or not what you were ACTUALLY doing was a reckless act or not has almost nothing to do with it. how do I know? Ive been there. And yes, I had my charges dropped because we had to go through all the hassle of taking photos, and recreating the scene for the judge, it was alot of time and heartache and money spent just to prove myself innocent. either better laws on the definition of reckless driving need to be created, or you are going to have exactly what this thread/ poll shows. more and more usually law abiding citizens seriously considering/ going through with breaking more laws to recieve the lesser of two evils.

stop willingly = fines and jail (va beach)
run and get caught = fines and jail
run and get away = guilty concience and a wakeup call
run and wreck = possible death and or dismemberment

the odds are against you (you being everyone reading this) but inevitably it is left on the shoulders of each and every rider (in this case) to personally asess their situation, what caused the blue lights to come after you, and what you choose to do next.

 

since everyone is entitled to their own opinion i will not comment on that first part. however for the others here is a response:
1) You get rear ended buy the motorist behind you that is barely paying attention to you and has shoddy brakes.

2)right. I will slow down in Va traffic that is backed up for miles on the exit lane to get to a hole that is 50 cars back. Not to mention every car is damn near going 3 over. no thanks

3)Not that i have ever run but on a side not they do need to fix those freakin stop lights so i am not sitting in the sun for5 hours waiting for it to change. Or i will have to take that ticket, again

4)Haven ridden with tiki several times in the past i know he does not ride irresponsibly. He goes out of his way to make new riders or those new to the area feel somewhat safe. It is not a disservice to bring up what alot of people are thinking about. hell i had not even thought about it until i read this thread.
This is a motorcycle forum right? well at least sub section in a car forum where alot of the drivers need to worry alot more about July 1st then us.
But what do i know? I just live here for now...
Come on orders!

 

haha, well i just noticed tiki rides a busa, and if i had a 1300 i would have a very hard time staying under the limit too, its hard enough for me as it is, with 600's, 750's, or 900's to stay under the limit. But i have never run from the police, i've been pulled over probably 5 times on my bike and never really gotten fucked over *knock on wood* so for me it would take a serious evaluation (as fast as my mind can think in about one second to assess the risks) to decide whether or not to run, but based on previous experience, it would take quite a lot to get me to run.

 

i was actually thinking about this the other day, and decided that more than likely i'm gonna run, mainly because i can cruise around at 85 mph and be in perfect control but have it considered reckless, which means i'm gonna be paying close to $4000, on the other hand if i run, i should be able to get through traffic rather easily, i do have a sport bike, not hard to weave in and out of traffic and use the shoulders, which will put me far outta the cop's line of sight, then take the exit ramp at a much slower speed get about 3 minutes into town, park the bike, hide out for a bit, home free, easy

 

Ride as you will, but I will you no harm. a wise man once said that to me and I say it to you layz. ride your ride and please be careful with the innocents.

 

true, but a lot of cops know that basic strategy as well, and if you get caught, then ur fucked. this one girl i know used to be a 911 call center person/dispatcher(whatever its called), and everytime she got a report of a chase from one cop, all the cops in the vicinity would try to accept the call to catch the speeder, so they would try their hardest to catch you....not just a couple, but a lot of em, sure plenty of people get away, but plenty of people get caught too, plus you can easily get a wreckless goin 85/90mph with a lawyer lowered to a smaller speeding infraction, or even failure to obey a highway sign or improper driving

not arguing with you or anything, just giving a little extra reasoning.

edit: plus look at that biker in md....he didn't do shit, just ran from a cop and if he gets caught, he'll have vehicular manslaughter charges and a load of other bs put on him

 

mmm. i don't like this. I don't really care how confident or fantastically amazing you are at riding(or driving for that matter). it's not up to you to risk my or anyone elses safety. I'm sure you can get away with it, and i'm sure that it'll probably be ok. but it is an unnecessary risk, and if it effects anyone else in the slightest, it is not your risk to take.

 

Anyone has a good website where one would be able to read all these rules? Thank you.

 

http://www.courts.state.va.us/publications/hb_3202.pdf



I'm leaving the state.. in about 6-8 months so i just have to be good till then........