Did my STi let me down or was I scammed?
I have been using my new STi happily since last summer and it has saved my butt a few times. A few days ago I got a ticket.
I was driving on a 2 lane, 80 km/hr limit, highway in Eastern Ontario. I saw an OPP car coming around the bend and instinctively braked. Not too hard but there might have been a bit of nose dive. Seconds after I did so he lit up the lightbar, passed me and turned around to pull me over. My RD, set on AutoScan, didn't even squeak. I pocketed the RD and pulled over.
When he came up to the window he asked me if the vehicle was registered to me. I replied yes and then asked how fast I was going. He replied 110. He asked where I was headed to and then asked for my licence and registration. He took them back to his car for at least 10 minutes.
When he returned to my window he told me that he was going to give me a ticket but that he would only write me up for 95 in an 80 and that it would only cost me only $50 and no demerit points. I took the paper and went on my way.
The tickets states that I was speeding at 95 in an 80 and that the fine is $37.50 with a total payable of $52.50. The total payable is said to include "costs and applicable victim surcharge" whatever that means. Nowhere on the ticket does it say how my speed was calibrated.
I have used the STi since and it happily indicated X and K in the usual spots. I have not run into LE again.
When I was pulled over I initially thought, as I had no RD warning, that the OPP could now detect the STi. That was obviously not the case. My second thought was that the RD failed. I now doubt this as it has worked since on X and K. I am down to my third thought, that the OPP officer pulled me over for another reason (possible stolen car etc.) and then wrote me up because he thought I was speeding. I do not know how fast I was going at the time. It could have been anywhere between 100 and 125. The officer's 110 reply to my question seems too round a number to be plausible.
Any thoughts on this?
