well the court date for my other 2 tickets in 2007 might come any day and this one will probably take another 6 months to get to court or longer.

I'm going to try and fight them all as I don't want points on my license which costs you even more money (have to pay insurance for your points example 12 poitns =1000 fine.).

if I do lose my license that will suck as it takes ridiculously long to bus to my university (2.5-3 hours).

I got one more year before I graduate with my BA so lol, it'll suck if I have to bus to school on my last year.

 

and about me speeding, I wasn't speeding all the the time, this was just late at night (12 am) on the freeway with no cars at all in the left lane so I was tempted to go fast. Wasn't expecting to see a cop on the freeway late at night.

 

In true Yoda form, "And that is why you fail."

 

This is understandable, I'm sure everyone here has done this...HOWEVER, you are getting so much crap for this because this is your 3rd ticket in a small time span, and it almost seems like you're bragging about them. So we're all wondering...can't you learn an effing lesson?

 

Around here the local Highway Patrol will sit on the shoulder, hidden behind bushes or just over a crest in the road, day or night, when it's dark he will be sitting totally blacked out, just waiting for speeders.

US 101 between Buellton and Los Alamos is a well known speed trap in this area, as is HWY 154. you always have to expect them just around the next blind spot..

I watch the big rigs, they stay in contact via CB radio and warn other truckers, so when the trucks are runnning the speed limit you know there is a cop nearby.

Another thing to watch for is brakelights ahead as traffic crests a rise, or rounds a bend. lots of people tend to touch the brakes when they see a cop, even if they are only 5 over, and in this area traffic seems to always flow 5-10 over, so for the Highway patrol they can just about pick anybody and hand out a cititation, although they usually go for only the cars running noticably faster that traffic

 

Nearly all the traffic enforcement cars that I have seen from abbotsford to vancouver have front and rear mounted radar units. Look for a black pop can sized cylinder with a white face.




If he had this unit while moving, he could have picked up your speed. At the same time, you would have likely picked up his radar if you had a decent radar detector. If he saw you in his rearview, I assume that it's going to be his driver's side mirror because the windshield in most cop cars are obstructed by the security cage/glass that separates the front occupants from the rear "suspects".

Now for you to dispute this in traffic court, either the cop doesn't show up and you win. I was told that cops can also submit evidence either as a written statement or video conferencing. Problem for the cop is that they better be a really good note taker or have a very good memory as the norm is about 14 months from the time of the offense to the time you go to court. Now you consider how many tickets an average cop writes in a day, then traffic cop writes many more. About 4-5 years ago, BC Provincial Court threw out several thousand traffic tickets because of the extreme delay for getting into court, some were over 2 years since the offense. I knew a guy that got out of of 15 speeding tickets because of that, good thing he's learned to slow down.....

The best thing you can do is dispute the ticket regardless of the outcome as it gives you time. Remember you only have 30 days from the date of the offense.
What I thought was worse than the tickets were the points as you already know, they are in addition to the ticket fines. You get your license revoked depending on how many points you have, not how many tickets you have before the courts; Innocent until proven guilty. Starting this year, tickets will amount to higher insurance rates similar to other provinces and states. A friend of mine over the years accumulated about 50 various traffic offenses and no accidents, so pays less insurance than I do. Accidents used to be the only reason for higher insurance cost in before.

If the officer shows up to present evidence, as I stated earlier, he has to have notes of the offense to present to the judge. He has access to your driving records so he will use that if it helps convince the judge that you are a bad driver. And being that he is under oath, the onus is on you to prove contradictory to the evidence given against you. Cops are known to lie even under oath, but how do you prove that? How do you prove your innocence if it's your word against his? Can you afford a lawyer? Good luck and slow down.

I haven't been to court in some time, but last time none of the 8 cops showed up, while 3 of the 22 disputants showed up. If you don't show up, you lose but you bought yourself some time. If you show up and the cop doesn't nor leaves a statement, you win. Traffic cops tend to show up to traffic court more often than normal cops.

I think you just were unlucky as Fraser Valley Traffic Service (RCMP highway patrol from Port Mann Bridge to Coquihalla Toll booth based out of chilliwack) normally have about 3-4 cars at any one time, same goes for Port Mann Highway patrol. They are quite undermanned and underfunded.

 

He very well may not have caught you with a gun, but saw you slow down with the brake lights lite up. He pulled you over, checked your license and saw the old tickets, two in a week, I'm sure thats what got you the ticket, he just assumed you were based on your previous record.

I hope they do ban you as it seems to be the only way you will learn your lesson. I was banned for a month for going 26 miles an hour over the limit in NH on I93. It cost me $1200 in fines and I had to move in with a friend to get to work. It caused huge headaches in my life. I haven't been stopped since.

Time to grow up and SLOW DOWN!!! You will kill yourself, or worse, someone else!!!

 

OT: Jstand22 I love the looks of that S in your engine bay ... if anything ever happens I'll be glad to take it off your hands...

 

OK, if you want to speed and get away with it you really need to get better at spotting police. Don't speed around bends you can't see around, if you see other people going slow in the right lane, evne if your lane is open, slow down until you pass them slowly, there might be a reason they are going slow. If you cant tell if a car is a police car, or cant tell if there is a police car in a line of other cars, don't speed (or very little) until you pass them and are sure.

The situation you described doesn't sound like you really thought it out.

 

Can't do that as those to tickets are before the court. Like I said, Innocent until proven guilty. They won't show on his record until he loses the dispute. Some departments will start making their own file on you if they issue you many tickets and you win disputing them.

And not even cops are immune from getting tickets. A couple of years ago 8 marked Kelowna RCMP patrol cruisers were on the Coquihalla highway going to Kamloops for training. They were all speeding, and a Coquihalla highway patrol pulled all 8 of them over and handed them tickets. Marked RCMP patrol cars all look the same across the country, so it's not that you can tell if it's richmond RCMP or Surrey RCMP. Someone did asked why they didn't just active their emergency lights while speeding, they probably didn't think about that. RCMP also have nationwide jurisdiction.

 

Lane was empty, it was late, and all the other cars were going slow in the right lane. That makes you stick out like a sore thumb. Others are right, you speeding up the road then slamming on your brakes is what got you caught. Locking up is a dead give away, not that speeding that much isn't.

i almost hope you loose your license, because tickets sure aren't teaching you anything. Only took one ticket for me to learn.

 

It's ok that it's off topic...it's a MUCH better topic than what this thread's about. Thank you for the compliment, and the adoption offer haha, but hopefully after I do this headgasket/timing belt/wp.etc job she will last for a while. BTW, I'm sorry to see the RIP M3 in your profile, the E36 M3's have always been a personal favorite.

 

well hopefully I get at least one of the tickets dropped. I actually have 5 tickets now. the first cop gave me 3 tickets in one (expired drivers licens / no N sign).

yes there is a very long delay until you get a court date, my previous tickets were disputed I think in october or november and I haven't received a letter yet for a court date.

the tickts total to 900 bucks I think, and I would just pay for them to get it over with but I don't want 12 or whatever point on my license which would mean I'd have to pay the insurance company another 1000 or more in penalty points plus lose your license.

 

Losing your license here means 4 tickets in a rolling 12 month so it doesn't matter if you get them in 07 or 08. I am not sure how they work up there though. Just out of curiousity, how many accidents have you been in in the past?

 

well zero "real accidents" . Only accident I had was in my 944 backing up in the snowy parking lot and didn't see some guy in my blind spot and hit his bumper and put a dent in my quarter panel.

other than that I've been driving for 5 years now and no accidents. Not saying I'm a great driver and will never have an accident and I know speeding can be dangerous, but I'm generally a pretty good driver. Right now I have 25 percent off from my insurance because I haven't had any accidents.