[RandallNeighbour]

Whenever I see a cruiser behind me tracking along to find speeders, I just take my foot off the gas and coast down to the speed limit and hold it. In Houston, there's always a kid flying down the road faster than me when I spot a cop and every single time he sees the flagrant violator and zooms around me to catch him. I bet this has happened to you as well.

While we always think cops are on the prowl to give someone a ticket like their next meal depended upon it, I don't think this is entirely true. I've asked friends in law enforcement about this and they say that if you slowly reduce your speed and abide by the law, quite often they'll leave you alone and move on to blatant law breakers who are not paying attention to the fact that there's a cruiser on the same road headed in the same direction. Their goal, I am told, is not to write tickets, but to provide a presence on the road so drivers will be safe and abide by the law. Yeah, right... I'll believe that about 20% of the time, but no more than that.

Those cops who are trying to make their quota or are out for "the thrill of the hunt" are a different story, and it's impossible to know the difference when you're being tailed.

I do know they like to brag about ticketing Porsche drivers to fellow cops, so we should all be on guard when driving. It's far more fun to write a ticket for a driver of a Boxster than a mother or father in a minivan with kids in the back. Where's the joy in saying "I really stuck it to the poor mother of three this afternoon" compared to "I got me a Porsche today! That rich prick really thought he could drive as fast as he liked, but I taught him an expensive lesson!"

Don't flame me on that last statement... I know most Porsche driver's aren't rich and arrogant, but it is a common stereotype with which we must all live.