Flirting with the Hypo last night....

...and he didn't like it! I was out at the bro's and SiL's last night planting some garden stuff, doing some scrap stuff that's harder to do at my house, and hanging with them. I ended up finishing watching a movie with them so didn't get back on the road to home (they live about 30 miles away from me) until around 10:30.



South Dakota has a 80 mph speed limit on the Interstate highways outside of "urban" zones which are 65. I usually don't even push my old Buick Regal 75 but prefer around 72 or so. I had entered the "urban" zone and was doing exactly 70 as I passed someone and drove past a SD Highway Patrol car waiting in the area between the east and west bound lanes of I-90. I've driven past numerous Hypos dong 5 over the limit but as I passed this guy, I see him pull out. Now its about 10:50.

He didn't lite me up right away but waited until he had caught up with me which took about a mile or so. Man, their spotlights are bright nowadays!! So he stopped me for going 5 over as well as the popular "light over license plate burnt out". The guy ended up being pretty cool. Gave me a warning for both infractions and didn't ask 50+ questions although he did ask a few like the standard, "what are you doing tonight?", "where are you coming from?", "where do they live?", and he asked me if I had been "target practicing lately?" (still have a few 12 gauge shells in the back window from earlier in the year). He didn't ask me why I had an old computer monitor in the back seat (from my stash out there to scrap at home) and if I had been drinking at all. Really surprised about that one because I had consumed 2 beers over the little over 3 hours I had been out at their place.

So we both went on our merry ways, he with another metric or two to show he had been working and me with a bit of a humbled nature not to push the speed limit on the freeway. Who says Tuesday evenings are boring...??

You know what they say about opinions ..... ( maybe take this with a grain of salt ?)

It just seems like there ought to be a better way of doing the job. They're putting themselves and the public at risk with late night traffic stops.

It would be a lot simpler to sit in the U-turn areas and just light them up at random intervals if they're not out on a call. I've seen a variation on that done on I-95 when the average speed was starting to get to a point that's unsafe. The eighteen wheelers take the cue, bunch up, then gradually bring the speeds down to safer levels.

With a ratio of eight to ten thousand people per one law enforcement officer there's no way he can effectively perform his function without the support of the public.

Originally Posted by Scrappah

You know what they say about opinions ..... ( maybe take this with a grain of salt ?)

It just seems like there ought to be a better way of doing the job. They're putting themselves and the public at risk with late night traffic stops.

It would be a lot simpler to sit in the U-turn areas and just light them up at random intervals if they're not out on a call. I've seen a variation on that done on I-95 when the average speed was starting to get to a point that's unsafe. The eighteen wheelers take the cue, bunch up, then gradually bring the speeds down to safer levels.

With a ratio of eight to ten thousand people per one law enforcement officer there's no way he can effectively perform his function without the support of the public.

Most laws are more for revenue collection than safety. Red light cameras make once safe intersections into crash areas that generate money for the gov't.

PS... What is a Hypo? I mean, I get that it is a cop, but why do you call it a hypo?

Richmond RCMP pull over couple having sex while driving - British Columbia - CBC News

pjost- Nah, I can't do beer pounding anymore even if I wanted to. I'm almost as bad as many ladies, I look at an extra 300-400 calories and put on a couple of pounds...

Calling the Highway Patrol "Hypos" must be a regional thing. Some people know exactly what I mean and others don't. Scrapph probably has the origins right, "HighwaY POlice".

Scrapph- I think you, and some of the folks over on one of my trapping forums, have put too much thought into why he pulled me over. The 5 mph over especially when a driver is coming out of a 80 mph zone to 65 (I never drive the Regal much over 70) is all he needed. The light out over the plate was just icing on the cake. I'm sure he was angling for more, such as a DWI, but he was actually pretty cool about things. I've had law enforcement act much more aggressive in checking me out during traffic violation stops. There is absolutely nothing I could file against him even if he didn't write me up and I felt so inclined. I have no "privacy" not to get stopped if they've clocked me over the speed limit. What happens after the stop has more structure but unless its flagrant abuse of power, the LEOs hold all the cards...

But I do agree with Scrapph and t00....'s that traffic stops generally are all in the eye of the beholder and interpretation of the individual officers and the governmental (local politicians/law enforcement/judicial) apparatus for various reasons. The average person just tries to stay out of its way...

Thanks alloy2 for the entertaining story!! Ask any long service OVR trucker or "Highway patrol" officer and they'll have stories of the crazy stuff people do while driving!

Originally Posted by hobo finds

Bet your goat can't do this.

Originally Posted by hobo finds

( grins ) Duly goated.

Sorry ....can't help it .... just have to see if i can get your goat.

Rog - I didn't realize life in the "Dakotas" could be so exciting, be careful "life in the fast lane" can catch up with you faster than you and your Buick want to go!

Originally Posted by hobo finds

Sigh... For the lonely nights, Hobo, when the Mrs. is out of town....

Originally Posted by pjost

It's a South Dakota thing to call HP's HYPOs. I moved to SD from North Dakota. We never said "HYPO" in ND. Also in SD they call Beef Tips "Chislick". Never heard of Chislick until I moved here. And one more thing about SD vs. ND: They don't throw down as much salt on the roads in the wintertime as ND does. ND is also much more "business friendly" than SD. On the other hand, SD does not have state income tax. ND does.

You know your stuff about the differences between ND and SD. It's obvious that you've lived both sides so you understand.

Ummm ... it's good, but it's almost too much information to take in all in one post. Maybe break it up into a number of smaller bite sized pieces over a number of posts ?

Seems there was a thread on it somewhere last year but i've forgotten the details.

Something about a Goat, a boot on it's two hind legs, a piece of rope around it's neck, and attempting to push it off a cliff ?

Or was that a sheep ?

pjost- Yep, similar climate and environment, similar immigrants who settled it, and similar Native American folks but different states. Funny how that works out, geography matters but so does history.

My dad grew up in the epicenter of "chislic" so even though I never lived in Hutchinson County, I've known chislic all my life. I've ate a lot of deer and antelope venison cubed up and cooked as chislic but pan fried is never as good as deep-fat fried. My bedroom town steakhouse and the racing sports bar both make some pretty mean beef chislic. Stop by sometime and I'll treat!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chislic

Yep, bigburt, I pretty much keep my mouth shut when getting stopped for going a wee bit too fast. The ticket price for 1-10 over the speed limit is $125!! I can keep my mouth shut for that, a warning can go to a full citation in a hurry if I guy wants to have an attitude...

Originally Posted by Scrappah

Or was that a sheep ?

Sheep = Velcro gloves....

Originally Posted by Scrappah

I had to think about it but i think it's short for HIghway POlice ?

Just an opinion but the cop probably thought there was something suspicious about Rog. Maybe it's cause he was driving an old car. He followed him for awhile and ran Rog's plates for any outstanding warrants or prior offenses. After he had a better idea of what he might be dealing with he turned on the blues. A license plate light out, and five miles over the speed limit,gave him probable cause to make the stop.

Turns out he didn't find anything of interest.

Writing him up with a warning establishes probable cause and covers his ass later in case Rog files a lawsuit against the state for invasion of privacy.

Now that I see it, it makes perfect sense. Thanks.