GRGGOODSPEED

BIG NO NO!!!
If your in the passing lane, and do not pass,
The cop will stop you!
I KNOW!

Don '85S3

Warren:

Sounds very similar to an experience I had when going to college in the mid 70's. I passed a guy on my motorcycle doing about 40 in a 35 mph zone (leaving a party about 4:00 AM), no big deal right. The guy I passed got right on my *** and I sped up a bit to gain some distance. This continued for some time where eventually I thought this guy was some maniac trying to run me over! To make a long story short, "this guy" turned out to be a off duty cop in an unmarked car without lights or a siren. ONE of the five tickets I got was 85 in a 35! I should have got a lawyer and went for entrapment, but I couldn't afford it being a poor college kid. I lost my license for 2 months and received a very interesting call from my father after he read about the fiasco in the paper a few days later, ouch. Get a lawyer no matter what the cost. You'll come out better in the long run rather than winging it on your own. Plus, it'll feel damn good having him on your side.

Warren928

I contacted a lawyer, the first one quoted $1500 flat fee for this kind of traffic offense, does that sound about right? I have heard others charge $250 per hour. What have you rennlister paid?

Gregg K

Life sucks. And I hope you get out of it. Because chances are there was no threat to society done by you. Having said that, a Porsche (esp. red), 100 mph, et al. would seem to collectively ad up to "guilty". I hope not. Why not use the "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" plea?

I can be flippant. I grew up in a town where suddenly there were cops walking the streets with radar guns. Hiding in the bushes with radar guns. Im not kidding. And without even knowing they had caught you (often for going one phucking mph over the limit) they'd radio ahead to the mob of waiting cops in their cruisers. I got 8 tickets in one month from that "trap". It just wasn't fair. And when, years later, the whole town had enough of the BS, they determined that it wasn't even legal.
And so, some years later, when I had decided to off my turbo and go for a 1961 Rambler American convertible. Yep. Really. And lots of stories about that and it's mechanical nightmares, usually at night, in the rain. I took my handfulls of multicolored, shredded tickets and with convertible top down, flung them into the wind like a ticker tape parade.
Life is wonderful!!!!!!

Drewster67

My advice - correct the items listed on the ticket. Ask for a trail date. At trial, show proof that the items were fixed. Pleade guilty to speeding and apologize - don't BS the judge - they smell it a mile away. In my experience, if your honest and forthcoming, you have a better chance of reduced fines.

I say ask for a trial because the cop has to show - If he doesn't - charges dropped, no fines.

Warren928

Drew,

I respect your opinion but I am going to disagree with admitting to "knowingly speeding", its a technical defect with my speedometer and that there was an unsafe driver behind me. I have heard of sountless stories wher peopel have sped up to avoid an unsafe or dangerous driver, and it would seem like entrapment to do that in an unmarked car. How did I NOT know if it was some road rage jerk in a suburban?

bcdavis

I would definitely admit to "slightly" speeding, but say that you were being tailgated,
and you did not know it was a cop... That you sped up to get ahead,
then pulled back to the other lane. If you were really speeding, you would
have stayed over in the left, or kept going. The fact that you slowed down
shows that you were not just wildly speeding all over the place.

Don't use the spedo excuse.
That just sounds lame.
If you admit to speeding up, but not as fast as 100,
and admit you tried to get him off your bumper, that sounds a lot better...
That way you are telling the judge you are sorry if you may have sped, but it was not up to 100,
and it was because the cop was tailgating.

But yes, if you can afford it, have an attorney do it for you.
They will know all the legal loopholes.
But if you do it yourself, that's my advice...

DoubleNutz

"in the doubt for the accused"

Lovely words!

Ron_H

You're telling ME about traffic tickets.

First, I appreciate Drewster's honesty, but let me tell you that naivette is not the most effective attitude. Do NOT admit it...period. Unless you have already admitted it to the officer at the scene. That is a bit more of a problem.

The response that advises fixing the fix-it tickets is good; do that first.

The belief that if you are in the right and the Constitution will and should be respected by all involved falls into the category of "lock me up anyway"
because someone forgot to include a course in Constitutional law in many law schools, or so it seems. If the officer doesn't show at the trial, and you believe in Santa Claus, your case will be dismissed....but we all know that fairy tale. I had one dismissed two days ago for the same reason. In court yesterday, another judge spoke of continuing one because the officer was on vacation
which is the first time I had heard of that and would trigger an appeal in my book. So don't believe in the tooth fairy and that the good guys always win; get real.

The next thing you need to do is GET PREPARED. You have already been to National Motorists Assn site which is a good beginning. Start writing down all you can remember about the bust and go VISIT THE BUST SITE. Write down all you can remember about the incident and take a tape measure. One handy fact: 60 mph=88 fps; remember that one and apply it in your defense. Also take a camera and document the site and conditions for later use in your trial, if it goes to trial. Also investigate the officer's vacation schedule and history.

Then email me and I will put you in touch with someone who can give you some effective advice.

As for cost, I am involved in an appeal of a speed violation case in a state that is consciously breaking the law throughout the whole statel by setting speed limits illegally and in violation of federal law. They know they are doing it. They know the limits are set arbitrarily. They know their limits are causing unsafe conditions at best. And they don't care. Probably, they need the income it is generating. And just to get to the appeal stage, I have spent over $1500 to $2000 plus innumerable hours of non-billable time. Be advised that this is not about safety. It is about denying you your rights and also about money. And no, I will not divulge the state, but it doesn't matter does it, if it is done maliciously and willfully and illegally. And it is not confined to one or two states. And it will become worse before it ever gets better. Look for speed sensors in the pavement in your neighborhood soon.

Fight back. Remember Smokeys says: Only you can prevent forest fires!

Thom1

You can do a search on speeding tickets. Some guy wrote a book on how he got out of many tickets. He asked for all kinds of documentation to appear in court. The DA would not have all the paperwork together.

There is prayer for judgment in some states, like NC. The ticket does not go on your insurance. If you get another ticket in the next year, you are guilty of both. However, if you are found guilty of more than one charge, it may hit your insurance anyhow.

In NC, the judge will usually reduce the speeding charge enough to have your first strike not appear on your insurance,... I think under 15 over the speed limit. However, if you are found guilty of more than one charge, it may hit your insurance anyhow.

Provide evidence that you have fixed the registration and turn signal. The judge will probably dismiss those charges.

Get a lawyer.

Good Luck.

memorexedbs

Ok Ron_H, I agree with you in principle but not to such an extreme. When I was visiting Germany earlier this summer I did enjoy the safe and high speeds of the autobahn but I also noticed the speed limits and radar traps (all they are are radars with cameras, you get the ticket in the mail). Yes, even the holy of holys of fast driving has speed limits and even on the autobahn near large citys where there can be traffic during rush hour. While driving fast can be safer under certain conditions, it is not at all an infringement of your rights to impose limitations on your speed. Remember driving is only a privilege granted by the state not a right; anyone who has had their license revoked can attest to this!

N.Masco

There is right, and then there is the cop's word. In traffic court you are guilty until proven innocent. I have fought tickets in Florida where the cop did not show and I won. However I have a co-worker here, in Califunny, who recently got a ticket in a small town and the cop did not make the court date. The jusdge made him wait while they called all over town to find the ticketing officer and got him to court. The same guy very often gets cited and as a matter of routine will postpone court dates as much as possible. By the time the court date roll around, nobody remembers anything and the case is often dismissed.

Knowing the way cops and traffic courts are unfair out here, my wife (got to love her) is pushing for a couple of new valentine one's.

I agree that an attorney is probably the best way to fight a ticket, but I have heard about what is basically an attorney insurance to cover legal cost from traffic tickets to minor criminal infractions. Has anybody had experience with this?

Sab

$1500 seems way out there. I paid $65 or $95 for my last ticket.

http://www.ticketclinic.com/

Warren928

I thought $1500 was out there too. I was going to do the officers ticket discovery myself, fix everything, provide all receipts and a statement describing the incident, I would imagine this will take no more than 1 hour at court and if this guy knows what he is doing he may get called first and it will be a 1/2 hours work plus a consultation of another 1/2 hour. I think $250-350 would be upper limits.
Its true your guilty until proven innocent, but a lawyer brings a certain amount of mutual respect to the situation. I had five tickets on other time and I walked into court, the judge wished the prosecutor a happy b-day and all was dismissed except for a registration for $30. No Sh*tting!!

Ron_H

Memorexedbs:

I think you misunderstood my statements. I did not say there was no justification for regulation of speed under certain conditions. I said there was a state that was setting speed limits illegally. I did not say that this or any other state has no right to set speed limits. The manner in which the limits are set must be legal, reasonable and based on sound engineering practice, and in no case should they be set arbitrarily. California and Oregon both have a "basic speed law" which is commonly ignored and misunderstood by even more. The speed limit is then advisory.
Stop to consider what I said.

But there are those that have a vested interest in persistence of certain kinds of criminal behavior. There are also those that refuse to take responsibility for their own actions. Put these two factors together and you will find abuse of power and also disregard for safety. When speed limits are deliberately set low with the knowledge that more accidents and more violations will occur because of it, it is criminal
on the part of those responsible, but is done all the time. It is a conscious act that puts us all at risk.

I also beg to differ with your assertion that driving is a privilege; it is a right. A right that if truly abused may be forfeit, but still a right. Don't bother to scream that I am wrong because I won't respond. We have been told that it is not a right. Bear in mind that many of our rights carry with them the obligation of exercising them responsibly and even under regulation of some sort. That doesn't change them into "privilege" as opposed to "right". Call it semantics but it is more than that. Erosion of rights by tyrants over passively submissive citizens results in redefinition, just as calling people deprived of liberty "detainees" rather than arrested offer those authorized to exert power over others broader expansion of that power. More erosion of rights.