Will Following the Oklahoma Police While They Speed Get You A Ticket?

There's currently a pity-party thread in one of the Oklahoma subreddits about getting a speeding ticket "even though (they were) following a state trooper." The original poster (OP) was asking for legal help to fight the ticket only to realize there's nothing they can do about it.

It should be clear, even if a police officer is speeding, it doesn't mean you can too. Is it wrong? Yeah... but it's the way things are.

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Here's the rub, in the thread the state trooper said he was responding to an emergency situation. That was his excuse to speed. The ticketed driver made the assumption that it was kosher since the emergency lights were on, and that's just not how things work. I mean, that's how it would work in an ideal situation... but they don't and there's really no recourse, especially since the ticket was issued by the most professional police force in the state, Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

Here's the fact... If you're sticking to a highway patrol officer rolling down the road, all he has to do is look at his own speedometer to know if you're speeding or not. If you're both speeding, you're in the wrong.

I actually ran into this exact situation here in Lawton last year. I was headed home from a cookout on the east side. I'll normally hop on I-44 at Lee and go up to Rogers Lane to make my way back home, but that night I ended up behind an OHP state trooper.

He set the pace at 75 MPH by the time we drove past the Gore Boulevard exit. I figured I'd tag along, but by the time we made it to the Cache Road exit, he slowed down, popped behind me, and pulled me over for speeding even though I was flowing with the traffic speed he set.

We chit-chatted for a few minutes about it on the side of the road and I received a warning, but all in all, especially with OHP Troopers, if you're cool with them they're usually cool with you.

Here's My Most Successful Skip-The-Ticket Pro-Tip

I could sense I was going to get a ticket from the conversation we were having, so when he asked for my license and insurance verification, I handed over my license and insinuated that I didn't have my insurance card on me... which was true - it was in the glove box, not on my person...

Nine times out of ten, since insurance is the bigger ticket, they'll usually write you a summons for that and let the rest go with warnings. Most police officers aren't monsters, they don't want to bankrupt you with fines but still want to show they're doing their job...

I got a ticket for no insurance and a warning for following too closely. I just had to take time out of my day to pop into the courthouse to show that I actually had insurance at the time, at which point the ticket was cleared.

Since the current ticket costs are beyond ridiculous, it's worth losing the thirty minutes of your day it'll take you to clear things up at the courthouse.

Moral of the story... Don't assume something is legal just because a cop is doing it too.