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Trouble with the police while driving RC!

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Trouble with the police while driving RC!

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Old 09-20-2007, 10:21 PM
  #1  
sheograth
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Default Trouble with the police while driving RC!

Anyone ever have police issues due to RC car usage?

I ask because today I was driving my Bandit XL-5 (not a loud, large, or particularly destructive car at all) in a local park that was pretty empty. A police car pulled into the parking lot, I didnt even think anything of it because I figured its just a small electric car, but apparently its not legal in the park.

The officer asked me if I knew the laws regarding RC usage in public, and I had to admit that I didnt really - I just always thought if it wasnt too loud or bothersome its not a big deal. Apparently theres a city ordinace banning all RC vehicles from all public parks, and this includes smallish electric ones.

He was pretty upset for some reason, almost gave me a $64 ticket :| I managed to get out of it though. Thank god he didnt catch me with my FGMT, otherwise I'd be posting from the jail library :|


Just got me thinking, has any of your RC car driving ever attracted unwanted attention from fuzz?
Old 09-20-2007, 10:33 PM
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Crash_Course
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!

I live close to a Canadian Naval Base , So sometimes I use their huge Parking lot which is completely empty on weekends.
Their have been a few occasions where I have been looked at my military police as they drive by in their trucks.

I don't want to push my luck so I leave, after one sees me
Old 09-20-2007, 10:37 PM
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ENR_Kyle
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!

that really sucks.. your not hurting anything by doing it.. thats crazy..


A few months ago I moved to a new house and didnt have alot of room to drive my truck, luckly there is a big socker field just threw some woods behind my house. so I took it out there a few times thinking it was all good.. and all was cool for 2 days, then on the third day I got a big suprise.. I got 4 cops, a few teachers and the principal questioning me.. they were all very rude.. the all assumed I was trying to attrack a kid over by the woods so I could take them.. they couldnt understand why a grown man would be playing with a toy car.. I got banned from the school grounds and my name on record about it.. they honestly thought I was trying to.. you know.. I am embarsed to be part of that situation.. now that I cooled off about it, I see now that it was a little suspicious -- I went there three days in a row at the same time right when I woke up at like noon, wich I later learned that there were kids having recess on the other side of the school on the playground that I could not see, or hear over the sound of the engine - since I started it at home and drove it threw the woods.. I guess its good to see the little bit of protection they have in place for sickos that do that suck stuff.. I am a little angry that I wont be able to pick my niece up from school when she starts..
Old 09-20-2007, 10:39 PM
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!

Thats horrific
Old 09-21-2007, 10:02 AM
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!

ORIGINAL: ENR_Kyle
.. they couldnt understand why a grown man would be playing with a toy car..
bleh I hate when that happends

There must be some reason why they banned RC cars in parks
It'd be interesting to find out why

I went to a park and there was a cop watching speeders at the park I go to, I was very hesitant to start up my nitro buggy but I did and luckly he didnt say anything about it, of course I avoided him as much as possible

ORIGINAL: sheograth
Just got me thinking, has any of your RC car driving ever attracted unwanted attention from fuzz?
No
Old 09-21-2007, 10:39 AM
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!


ORIGINAL: ENR_Kyle

that really sucks.. your not hurting anything by doing it.. thats crazy..


A few months ago I moved to a new house and didnt have alot of room to drive my truck, luckly there is a big socker field just threw some woods behind my house. so I took it out there a few times thinking it was all good.. and all was cool for 2 days, then on the third day I got a big suprise.. I got 4 cops, a few teachers and the principal questioning me.. they were all very rude.. the all assumed I was trying to attrack a kid over by the woods so I could take them.. they couldnt understand why a grown man would be playing with a toy car.. I got banned from the school grounds and my name on record about it.. they honestly thought I was trying to.. you know.. I am embarsed to be part of that situation.. now that I cooled off about it, I see now that it was a little suspicious -- I went there three days in a row at the same time right when I woke up at like noon, wich I later learned that there were kids having recess on the other side of the school on the playground that I could not see, or hear over the sound of the engine - since I started it at home and drove it threw the woods.. I guess its good to see the little bit of protection they have in place for sickos that do that suck stuff.. I am a little angry that I wont be able to pick my niece up from school when she starts..
I completely understand the idea behind what the school officials were trying to do, but I seriously think that is a little overkill. They could have said that you couldn't run your R/C there anymore, and then if you showed up again sneaking around or what-not I would say a ban would be in order.
Old 09-21-2007, 10:41 AM
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!

Every municipality has it's own ordinances, and R/C enthusiasts should be aware of any that might apply to them. There are no regulations regarding RC where I live, so as long as one does not do something stupid all the police will do here is watch. Or maybe come over and ask a few questions.

I am curious as to what specifically the ticket would have been written for, and more importantly how it is you got out of it. This could be useful info for all here.
Old 09-21-2007, 10:47 AM
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!

there is a park clsoe to my house where the city has tryed to ban RC'S for a while they once did a potetion and we actually got all the signatures needed in order to keep our right to use RC at the park.......


the did tho complety BAN boat raceing at the lake that was in park......... and with that i do agree since some stupid guy that didnt know what he was doing lost control of his boat and his boat ran across a huge lake a WOT and hit and killed a small young child............(this was a HUGE LAKE ) the chanced of actually hitnig someone was on in a million but it happen and was very sad.......


if RC'S r banned at ur local parks u can sure blame it on someone who screwed up and hit someone else........havent u ever seen the video of the tmaxx hit the gurl on a bike??? im sure something like that happen in one of ur county parks
Old 09-21-2007, 11:46 AM
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!

ORIGINAL: ENR Kyle

A few months ago I moved to a new house and didnt have alot of room to drive my truck, luckly there is a big socker field just threw some woods behind my house. so I took it out there a few times thinking it was all good.. and all was cool for 2 days, then on the third day I got a big suprise.. I got 4 cops, a few teachers and the principal questioning me.. they were all very rude.. the all assumed I was trying to attrack a kid over by the woods so I could take them.. they couldnt understand why a grown man would be playing with a toy car.. I got banned from the school grounds and my name on record about it.. they honestly thought I was trying to.. you know.. I am embarsed to be part of that situation.. now that I cooled off about it, I see now that it was a little suspicious -- I went there three days in a row at the same time right when I woke up at like noon, wich I later learned that there were kids having recess on the other side of the school on the playground that I could not see, or hear over the sound of the engine - since I started it at home and drove it threw the woods.. I guess its good to see the little bit of protection they have in place for sickos that do that suck stuff.. I am a little angry that I wont be able to pick my niece up from school when she starts..
no. now that suxs. i couldnt imagine being like Mike.

so is Kyle your first or last name.

EDIT: guess that was a bad joke. Mike did that $@#%. you obviously did nothing.
Old 09-21-2007, 12:55 PM
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!

Contact your attorney general, California has adopted equal protection laws, you may be able to make the city build a track.
Old 09-21-2007, 12:56 PM
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!

Check your municipal laws. In some cities it is illegal to be on the grounds of any school while it is in session, unless you are a registered student or the parent of registered student. This is to protect against pedophiles and abductions. Given their reaction I'm pretty sure RC's just like pets, have been used as a lure in the past.


ORIGINAL: ENR_Kyle

that really sucks.. your not hurting anything by doing it.. thats crazy..


A few months ago I moved to a new house and didnt have alot of room to drive my truck, luckly there is a big socker field just threw some woods behind my house. so I took it out there a few times thinking it was all good.. and all was cool for 2 days, then on the third day I got a big suprise.. I got 4 cops, a few teachers and the principal questioning me.. they were all very rude.. the all assumed I was trying to attrack a kid over by the woods so I could take them.. they couldnt understand why a grown man would be playing with a toy car.. I got banned from the school grounds and my name on record about it.. they honestly thought I was trying to.. you know.. I am embarsed to be part of that situation.. now that I cooled off about it, I see now that it was a little suspicious -- I went there three days in a row at the same time right when I woke up at like noon, wich I later learned that there were kids having recess on the other side of the school on the playground that I could not see, or hear over the sound of the engine - since I started it at home and drove it threw the woods.. I guess its good to see the little bit of protection they have in place for sickos that do that suck stuff.. I am a little angry that I wont be able to pick my niece up from school when she starts..
Old 09-21-2007, 01:40 PM
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!


ORIGINAL: J.D.T

Contact your attorney general, California has adopted equal protection laws, you may be able to make the city build a track.

That is the best idea and solution. I know in my town that the Parks and Rec board is helping us get a track together, and all we did was ask. They are going to privide us with the land and some materials, hopefully our track will be up and running next spring.
Old 09-21-2007, 02:11 PM
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!

I never had trouble personally but when I got into 1/8 on road nitro in 1983 we were having our first club race which wasn't totally organized. It was on a dead end street in front of a school in Brooklyn, NY. There were spectators there too. Anyway some lady tells the cops there's "drag racing" going on there. So a couple of cops pulled up and saw our activities. They certainly had never seen anything like it before. They asked questions of curiosity and didn't give us any problem and we continued to race the rest of the day. I won that day too.
Old 09-21-2007, 02:48 PM
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!

i would have definately backed myself up and explained its not a toy and it has a real motor that you really tune and runs with fuel. If that didnt work i would go to the PD. I would NOT Tolerate this.
If you dont do anything, dont worry about being banned, my brother stole something from best buy and is banned, we always go there, they think when they say your banned it will scare you and you wont come back.
Old 09-21-2007, 02:58 PM
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!

ORIGINAL: traxxas_man_05
i would have definately backed myself up and explained its not a toy and it has a real motor that you really tune and runs with fuel. If that didnt work i would go to the PD. I would NOT Tolerate this.
That's not going to get you anywhere. In reality these things are toys. If the people who run a certain park don't want you running them on the property there really isn't much you can do about it. It's just like if they said they didn't want skate boards or bikes in the park.

Best thing to do is find another spot to run in.
Old 09-21-2007, 04:12 PM
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!

I got out of it simply by saying I wouldnt do it again and had no idea about the law (which was true),for some reason he let me off. The ticket would have been writen as a violation of a specific ordinance that deals with RC vehicles.
Old 09-21-2007, 04:21 PM
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!


ORIGINAL: sheograth

I got out of it simply by saying I wouldnt do it again and had no idea about the law (which was true),for some reason he let me off. The ticket would have been writen as a violation of a specific ordinance that deals with RC vehicles.
It's pretty scary when they have an ordinance specific to R/C vehicles. These politicians have way too much time on their hands and will do anything to make everyone else's lives miserable. The cop who busted your chops should be ashamed of himself as well. (assuming nobody called them)
Old 09-21-2007, 04:33 PM
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!

Most laws like this have been struck down, before I just looked and saw CA, now I noticed its Berkeley...no wonder, the college mindset there has turned totally tree hugger so maybe they were able to get this ordinance past on some enviromental malarky but the main point is once they tell you something can't be done then they darn well better provide a place to do it, thats why we now have skateparks in most cities of size, they used to be able to claim bike trails could be used by skateboarders so they got away with it for a while but now its a sport, twice submitted as a new sport for the olympics at this point, people are allready getting gold medals and making piles of cash from it
We had my city ready to let us build a track but they wanted us to pay for dirt work and materials at a place that sometime in the next 2-5 years will be closed for a year or more when they rebuild a bridge (six lanes wide=probably two years lol, we passed on that deal needless to say.
Old 09-21-2007, 05:35 PM
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!

I've never gotten in trouble with the copers but me and a couple of friends were told not to drive in this one parking lot we were in, however the guy was very nice and actully took intrest in our cars, he just calmly told us not to drive in that area.
Old 09-21-2007, 06:25 PM
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ENR_Kyle
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!

I let it go, I actually moved again, it was just a temp appartment to get me from selling one house to buying another.. I just bought a house last month and am all moved it.. I have room to run here..
Old 09-21-2007, 07:07 PM
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!

I was asked by a park services guy to not run my Savage X in a local regional park. He said that if a police unit were to find me they could give me a ticket.
Old 09-21-2007, 07:17 PM
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!

We run ours at the parks around here and have no problems . Actually there is a big track in a park near Peoria .
Old 09-21-2007, 07:24 PM
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!

that sinks, never had an issue with RC and police, ran revo 3.3 at field near my house and friends house, no issues, try talking to them next time[]
Old 09-21-2007, 10:15 PM
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!

i did, it was a night before a race, i was in walmart around 1, big empty parking lot, Lowe's next door, and so on, i thought i would have a little fun by running my dirt demon, i was doing a few speed runs, the cop comes in, mom walks over, and then 2 more come up start yelling at me that i was not allowed to run the truck is the parking lot, they took the truck downtown, i could not get it back till next morning, i went down, they striped my radio and receive form the truck cause they said it was in violation with the air space freq. The day after the race, mom talk to the governor of the county, no rules, nothing was worn they had no right to do that or to that existent, went down there got my radio back, all 3 officers were suspended with out pay, for false accusing or something like that. the officers answer was when they saw me was they thought i had a gun and the car was a bomb cause it was smoking and screaming, cause they never saw a toy with a motor on it before.

Good old Florida cops.[&:]
Old 09-21-2007, 10:27 PM
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Default RE: Trouble with the police while driving RC!

LOL, wow, those cops has some sorry excuses, a bomb LMAO.


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