jerryrice

Nope not a troll, I was friggin dumbfounded by the entire thing . Guess I could fight it, but its a gigantic pain to go to court and all the BS, actually first ticket other than a parking ticket in years. Like I said no one one was on the road, he was a small town cop, maybe he had a quota to meet.

SYMA

Fight it!!!!!! But please use an attorney, no I'm not an attorney. But I just fought an 85 in a 65 in NC and got what they call a "Prayer for Judgement". Had I used an attorney I bet I would have beat it completely.

9000RPMan

I agree with most of the posters on here when they say that you should fight the ticket. Here in the Peoples' Republic of New Jersey, there is a case which states that the driver is given a few miles per hour over the speed limit to compensate for speedometer error. Oh, I would definitely get an attorney. Then again, I would say that as I am an attorney!

Marv

I have seen tickets for 1 mph over the limit. I have also seen a ticket "for about to exceed the speed limit" in another town. Yes, you read it correctly. about to exceed the speed limit.

The guy went to court and the judge upheld the ticket!

One town near me was notorious for this behavior to the point that the businesses in the town complained to their mayor. Apparently, their complaints worked, because at midnight he went over to the police station and padlocked the door and fired the whole department.

The town now uses the local sherif for their police support and they raised the town speed limit from 25 mph to 35 mph.

If it happened to me I would fight it. The whole point of the law is for safety. I would bang on them to prove that 2 mph over the limit on an empty road constitutes a danger. Show me the data that supports the law. Where is the engineering survey for the road that shows the speed limit should be 40 mph?

This is the same thing as about to exceed the limit. That is not provable and pure speculation. You might want to examine his record for tickets to see if he has a track record of doing this, too.

SrfCity

It sounds like they're trying to crank up the revenue machine. They know that most people will just pay this so the odds are in their favor no matter how petty the ticket is.

USCHANDPOD

Okay I give up. What state was this in? I may consider moving there because clearly the police are bored and have nothing else to do.

Was this in Mayberry?

soc_fans

I had a worse experience than you. I was cruising at 38mph at 35 mph zone (at cruise control). A cop pulled me over (a female cop) and claimed that i was doing 50mph!?!?!? I was driving my bmw 530i then.

I had no choice but to attend traffic school for this ridiculous cop.

DennisVR

sounds like a power hungry cop, if you ask me.

"oh, someone in a Porsche, lets show him who's the boss"

jerryrice

It was Mass. The town is dry, no liquer is served in restaurants (as I recall awhile ago) and no liquer stores allowed, guess that should have a been a clue the local gestapo would be heavy handed, I usually avoid driving through it

amfp

Remember exactly what you said to the cop when you fight the ticket. You say in first post "think going 45 MPH the most", and get ticket for 42. If accelerating for 10 seconds 42 MPH may be conservative, in your/cops view.

Coochas

Jerry...
Now that I realize you're in MA, I can tell you about two tickets that were dismissed this past year - one for me and one for my wife.
I had never contested a ticket frankly because those very rare times that I get ticketed, I am always doing something wrong (i.e. speeding). I received a ticket about 1-2 years ago in Boston for going through a stop sign at which I absafriggintively stopped,...I even had eye contact with the cop! Nonetheless, he was a dick and gave me a ticket while grinning at me (my old Audi, not my p-car). I went to a "Magistrate Hearing" which is the first step in my area....this was actually rescheduled at my request to work around my schedule. Cops do not go to these hearings. I confirmed who, where, when and what and the Magistrate through the ticket out citing that the officer was out of his jurisdiction. I never even had to mount a defense! My point is that there are things that we don't know that sometimes can work for you. Most importantly, if you weren't doing anything wrong, then you MUST fight the ticket simply out of principle.
My wife (who never gets tickets) was recently cited in Brookline for an illegal left turn (no clear sign anywhere). She scheduled a court date and she and the dozen or so people in front of her were all dismissed one after another in five minute intervals because the officers had not shown up.

It also strikes me as a ridiculous fine from a legal perspective in that most speedometers are most likely +/- a few mph error and so are radar guns; hence, a ticket for 2-3 mph over a posted limit seems sort of worthless.

Now, go out there and fight this damn thing man !!!!!

fast1

hence, a ticket for 2-3 mph over a posted limit seems sort of worthless.

Of course it is, but some people take delight in making others miserable, and the cop in this post obviously falls into that category. Chances are the sob won't even show up at the hearing, but he knows that you have to in order to get it dismissed. So he accomplished his mission.

RonCT

CT operates this way - if you plea not-guilty and have a good reason, chances are you will never have to leave home to have the ticket dismissed. You guys keep saying you have to spend the day in court, but I've never heard of a reasonable situation like this getting that far. I think that as soon as the prosecutor sees it and reads that you would be happy to go to court to discuss this it will end.

PAULSPEED

Hi,
I agree. Go to court and plead not guilty. Ask
the officer what day, time, and temperture did
he calibrate his radar.
Paul

jerryrice

Apreciate all the advice guys, but in the end , I think Ill just blow it off, its more of hassle for me to go the court route, even if I win, I wasted a lot of my own time and frustration, rather not dwell on the absurd. Of course if I could get reimbursed for the hours spent fighting it, migh be different. The hours I would spend in court, decided to spend them cruising the open roads , and definately avoid that town. I might send the ticket to Ripley's believe it or not.