FL - Highway Patrol using old law to catch sportbike speeder

March 11, 2007

Highway Patrol using old law to catch sportbike speeders
By SETH ROBBINS
Staff Writer

It happens so fast. A sportbike hurtles past a trooper waiting along the interstate. The trooper flicks on his lights, but before the first whine of the siren the motorcyclist has hit the throttle and sped away.

Troopers have strict laws governing when they can chase, and sportbike riders who know this and have bikes that can reach speeds of 170 mph try to avoid speeding tickets by taking off. Now, however, troopers are using an old law to stop this new breed of motorcyclist.

"We had to get creative to stop these motorcyclists from being so dangerous on our roadways," said Trooper Kim Miller, spokeswoman for the Florida Highway Patrol.

"Once a trooper turns the lights on and the motorcyclist accelerates, we can seize their vehicle because it's being used in the commission of a felony," she said.

Using information from the license plate, the trooper rides to the house or apartment where the bike is stashed and takes the vehicle. The FHP has seized about six to 10 bikes in Volusia County, Miller said. And troopers do not need to identify the driver to seize the bike, because under Florida forfeiture law all that is necessary to take the bike is for the trooper to prove that it was used in a felony, in this case aggravated fleeing and eluding.

"Don't put your life at risk," Miller said. "And risk your bike being seized all for a speeding ticket. Stop and take your medicine and go on."

But some bike enthusiasts say they are not being reckless when they race through traffic on the interstate.

"My bike's traveling so fast that by the time they see me, I'm just a distant memory to them," said Jason Tassinari, owner of Speedfreakinc.com, a Web site that provides a window into the underground scene of sportbikes. "Anybody doing 195 mph," he said, "knows what they're doing or they're a mental patient."

Still, troopers are going to continue to crack down on the sportbikers until they slow down.

"We might not get you that day," Miller said. "But we'll get you down the road and, hopefully, we'll get you before you kill yourself or someone else."

seth.robbins@news-jrnl.com

Yeah, I'd like to see them get the plate of a bike that goes by their stopped patrol car in the night at 100MPH.

lol, I'd zip tie my plate on the back so at highway speeds, it lifts, and you can no longer read it.

Just register the motorcycle like I register my cars -- to a business name with a general delivery address.

i.e.

Registered Owner: Lucky225
Address: GENERAL DELIVERY, MIAMI, FL 33101-9999

What are they going to do, 1) the business is not a person, and if it's a ficticious business name ($40 at city hall) and not an actual business that deals with the public and is used only for registration purposes, good luck finding out who owns the business. And with a General Delivery address what are they gonna do, wait at the post office until you go to check the mail? lawl

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lucky225

Just register the motorcycle like I register my cars -- to a business name with a general delivery address.

i.e.

Registered Owner: Lucky225
Address: GENERAL DELIVERY, MIAMI, FL 33101-9999

What are they going to do, 1) the business is not a person, and if it's a fictitious business name ($40 at city hall) and not an actual business that deals with the public and is used only for registration purposes, good luck finding out who owns the business. And with a General Delivery address what are they gonna do, wait at the post office until you go to check the mail? lawl

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Well there are a few problems with that. Like insurance for one. Also, they will just run your name and it will show your address.

If they haven't stopped you and you've gotten away how are they going to know your name? the only name they have is the business name you used on your license plate's registration, again the address you gave for your registration would be GENERAL DELIVERY(a free annonymous service offered by the post office, where you go in and have the lady at the window get your mail by saying "general delivery mail for my business, Lucky225") So what address are they going to go to -- the post office?

As for insurance, I haven't had any problems getting insurance, i use progressive and they have general delivery listed as my address as well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lucky225

If they haven't stopped you and you've gotten away how are they going to know your name? the only name they have is the business name you used on your license plate's registration, again the address you gave for your registration would be GENERAL DELIVERY(a free annonymous service offered by the post office, where you go in and have the lady at the window get your mail by saying "general delivery mail for my business, Lucky225") So what address are they going to go to -- the post office?

As for insurance, I haven't had any problems getting insurance, i use progressive and they have general delivery listed as my address as well.

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Well for insurance, most will charge you more if it's a business vehicle. Also, finding the name of the owner is very easy. At least in this state, all that information is available to the public online. I could give you the name of my business and with this site (www.sos.mo.gov), you could have my name and address within a few minutes.

It's kinda the same thing with vehicles that are leased or financed. The police will still figure out who really owns the car and where they live.

Well it just depends on if the police can run your insurance electronically or not, but where I live they can't. Insurance is personal insurance, you don't have to insure it to your 'business' just because it's registered to a business. As for the Business lookup, I'm not talking about LLC or corporations -- you can get a ficticious business name from the county or city you live in and use that to register your car to that business name, and there's not gonna be an llc or corporation record for the ficticious name to lookup.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by maxima lover

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lucky225

If they haven't stopped you and you've gotten away how are they going to know your name? the only name they have is the business name you used on your license plate's registration, again the address you gave for your registration would be GENERAL DELIVERY(a free annonymous service offered by the post office, where you go in and have the lady at the window get your mail by saying "general delivery mail for my business, Lucky225") So what address are they going to go to -- the post office?

As for insurance, I haven't had any problems getting insurance, i use progressive and they have general delivery listed as my address as well.

---

Well for insurance, most will charge you more if it's a business vehicle. Also, finding the name of the owner is very easy. At least in this state, all that information is available to the public online. I could give you the name of my business and with this site (www.sos.mo.gov), you could have my name and address within a few minutes.

It's kinda the same thing with vehicles that are leased or financed. The police will still figure out who really owns the car and where they live.

---

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lucky225

Well it just depends on if the police can run your insurance electronically or not, but where I live they can't. Insurance is personal insurance, you don't have to insure it to your 'business' just because it's registered to a business. As for the Business lookup, I'm not talking about LLC or corporations -- you can get a ficticious business name from the county or city you live in and use that to register your car to that business name, and there's not gonna be an llc or corporation record for the ficticious name to lookup.

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Well I meant, most insurance companies charge more if you use your car for business work.

Also, my business just uses a ficticious business name thru the state as well and that is availible online in Missouri.

But maybe our states are different.

I guess the real question is if this would work in florida then :D

Well if you just register as General Business no, but if you register as a fictitious business you can search for it here, for the state of FL

http://businessrec.dos.state.fl.us/search.html

How in the world is FHP going to get your plate #? They will need to get within a few car lengths of your bike to read your plate.
Maybe they have high power zooming cameras I'm not aware of.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by maxima lover

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lucky225

Just register the motorcycle like I register my cars -- to a business name with a general delivery address.

i.e.

Registered Owner: Lucky225
Address: GENERAL DELIVERY, MIAMI, FL 33101-9999

What are they going to do, 1) the business is not a person, and if it's a fictitious business name ($40 at city hall) and not an actual business that deals with the public and is used only for registration purposes, good luck finding out who owns the business. And with a General Delivery address what are they gonna do, wait at the post office until you go to check the mail? lawl

---

Well there are a few problems with that. Like insurance for one. Also, they will just run your name and it will show your address.

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Try living on a boat. Your mail goes to a PO Box you will probably only check once a week and your residence required on your license is the street name of the marina. If they get crafty enought to check your name with the marina office they will may get your Pier and slip number but then discover how complicated it is finding the dock numbers on a marina with 600 boats and really bad signage. You should see how hard it is for people I want to find me to find me much less the ones I don't. And you don't have to pay property taxes. Plus the marina is full of bikes with bike covers and no assigned parking. I think it would take your average LEO a fulll day to uncover every bike and check it's tags.