orion981

iTrader: (2)

Wow,

Thanks for all the good advice guys. As for traffic school, I think it works differently out here on the east coast. I am originally from Cali, and went to traffic school for my one ticket out there. The one I got in CT I paid for, and I guess here if you pay for it they don't put any points on your record (which is nice.) By the way, I appreciate the response from the police officer. I'll PM you with a scan of the ticket. Thanks for your help!

James

NAICHE

was he using radar or laser? fight it by yourself.....pm me and i can give ya some more advice or pm 509Evo.............

AUSS1E

iTrader: (15)

There is a book out about fighting tickets....I dont have it so im not sure of the name...But some points I picked up were.
1. ALWAYS fight the ticket
2. Go the the judge on the day and request the radar guns calibration log(it is supposed to be calibrated daily). Also request a jury trial (at this point the judge normally will say get out of here). But if he doesnt be prepared for a trial that could get expensive.
3. Get a lawyer. It will be cheaper than the ticket and the increase in insurance.

BTW they will be able to find your ticket anywhere.
I got pulled over in KC one time, after I had just arrived from Australia. So I gave him my Aussie licence and he comes back and said "do you have a Missouri licence?", So they can find anything in the puter.

The above is off the top of my head....go look for the book at borders or something....in the automotive section.

bahamut

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...light=speeding

Follow the link.


If you didn't admit anything after being pulled over, fight it in court. Make the cop prove that you were speeding. Don't mention anything about your speed.

Also, you said the cop asked you to follow him around 90 mph . . . thus breaking the law again.

If you do want to go to court, appear in court many weeks before your date to feel out how the system works.

"Knowing is half the battle." Remember it's a money generating machinery. What are the percentage that people pony up the money before any court date? Therefore, the state has won the percentage game already.

No, I'm not pimping the guy's site. I was lucky that the cop didn't show up. Fortunately, I was the only duffus to have any defense strategy, rather than folding.



EDIT:
I don't recommend a jury trail. The court system will be PO'ed against you.

WildRice

Take it to court and also submit a formal complaint to the PD about the officer's conduct.

johnnysixer

iTrader: (1)

Definitely fight that. I had a similar situation happen to me, except the other guy got off, and I get stuck with the ticket. Conduct like that is absolutely ludicrous, the cop is just trying to get more cash for the town/state. Rather interesting how the courts are more of a medium of income rather than a place of justice.

bahamut

submit a formal complaint to the PD about the officer's conduct.
============================

That might not work. I have read few articles that the front desk people just throw it away. It does not bode well for corruption. Have enough complaints, IA will start looking into the matter. How does the fraternity of police officers cover each other butt, even the corrupt ones? Yup, tossing the complaint in the garbage when no one is looking. Logically, sad but true.

Only once that I've read that the cop started to harass the complaint lodger's home by patrolling near his neighborhood, ready to hand out another ticket to the individual. Again, what of the odds of that happening?

evo8oz

you say you dont live around the area you got the ticket. If so i would fight it.

Here in australia i have fought the cops but with not much success. They lie to save there asses. When i was in court they told the judge i came out swinging with my fists and using profanity and that they had to restrain me just to discredit my character !!!
One time i wouldnt let them touch my car coz the cop pulled me over for absolutly no reason and wanted to do a tinting check on my car so i wanted a witness. (i dont trust cops)well not the ones round my area. They ended up calling 3 other cops car and then took me down coz they thought a was drug trafficing.
When they relized i didnt have anything in my car coz my witness showed up they unarrested me. And just as i was leaving the news crew rocks up!! but just got away in time.

In some parts of Australia cops can get very jelous of what you drive. And i have a lot more stories of cop harassment. This all happens within a 10km radius of where i live. Though it has stopped now i took them to court coz they know im serious now. Though i didnt win.

PoorBoys

iTrader: (1)

He probably clocked you doing 85 when he told you to follow him and he was doing 90. Bastard.

movieman

I have fought tickets before and won. I've also seen many people lose right before I go before the judge. Here's my advice:
- dress well, but not too well
- be able to explain the facts so that any idiot can understand them
- a diagram has been helpful for me - makes everything very clear and let's 'em know you're serious about fighting this ticket
- always give the judge and the cop respect - even if the cop isn't there
- if someone was in the car with you, use them as a witness
- explain that you didn't fight the ticket right there because that was neither the time nor the place to fight the ticket - it would put the cop in danger to fight it as traffic wizzed by

That's all I can think of for now. Good luck. Tickets stink.

Rally_Red_Bmore

iTrader: (4)

unless he got u on laser, theres no way he can tell u were doing 85. the fog alone disputes the fact that he can pace you. just some general info for you guys, radar is very wonky. it can not be used in the rain, and i doubt the fog (im in training to become a MD state trooper by the way). also, radar is... guessing basically. u aim at traffic and shoot, and whichever car is going faster is the one that gets pulled over.

if i follow u correct, there was probably no way he could have paced you, and theres no way he got BOTH of you with laser, as u can only do one at a time with laser .

id fight it, most def, just plead not guilty and let the cop try to say he paced you, u can prove him wrong there, as in the fog he most likely didnt have a point of refrence. also, i would just like to say, that a radar detector is a very good investment. if u didnt have one, or if u did and the cop says he got u on radar, kindly tell him A. thats not possible since the gt was going faster then you, thus he was speeding and u werent, and B. tell him ur detector never went off, u cant cheat the detector, as far as i know

509EVO

Well to go off what Rally Red Bmore said, will only get you into a bind.

1)Radar WILL work in fog and rain. Fog and rain sometimes makes if harder but does not mess with the speed reading. If the radar returns a speed measurement from the vehicle the reading is correct. (there is some things that make the reading incorrect but fog and rain is not one of them)

2)Radar does not alway only return the speed of the faster moving vehicle. The size, speed and distance all play a factor for which vehicle the radar will track. If the officer was in the stationary mode with the radar then the only way he could get you both is if he waited a couple secs after the frist car passed him. This would give the radar time to bring up the second vehicles speed. If the officer pulled out and was moving when the radar was still in the stationary mode and then received the speed of the second vehicle, it would be incorrect. The speed returned would show the officers speed plus the target vehicles speed combined for a higher speed than what the target was really going. << could be why the officer got 85?

3)Dont mention you have a radar detector. This does not help your case as it will not be able to be used as evidence anyways.

4)In reference to the weather, fog and or rain. This will only hurt your case. Weather can be used to say your speed was unreasonable for the conditions. So even if you prove your speed was only 65, the officer might be able to prove that 65 was still too fast for the conditions?

Anyways, get me a copy of that ticket and I will try my best to help you. AZ law might be diff than yours but overall they should be close to the same.

orion981

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the advice 509Evo. I do not have a radar detector and would not have mentioned it if I had one. As for the weather, I'm not sure if I should mention it or not. If you say not too, I won't. I only wanted to mention it to justify why I was near the 3000gt to begin with (to stick with someone in the fog). After the fog cleraed up a bit (where I got the ticket) kept my speed at its current pace (probalby around 65-70) while the gt speed up a bit. It was right around this bend that I saw the cop.

As mentioned before, he was off and running as soon as he saw the gt, and pulled out in front of me. This leads me to believe he maybe tagged the gt, but decided he'd get me in the bargain. Question though: just because I was following the gt, the cop can't give me a ticket, right? I was far enough behind the gt to allow for the cop to pull in front of me, so there's no way he could match my speed to the gt's. And beside, a cop can't do that anyway, right? Just because you clock one car going a certain speed, you couldn't asusme the car behind him was going that same exact speed, right?

Anyway, I'll scan a copy of the ticket tonight and email it to you. I'm guessin that AZ is as strict as MA.

509EVO

Since you had enough room between you and the gt to let the officer pull out, that should be a good defense as to weither or not you both were racing each other and or the officer assuming you both were going the same speed. With that much of a gap between cars you can not assume that both vehicles are traveling at the same speed unless you have other proof like radar.

If you can, try to get a copy of the police report of the incident and see if it says in it how exactly he came up with 85 as your speed? We can sit here all day assuming the officer did this or that but with out knowing for sure we are throwing out what if's and not giving you the correct answers.

orion981

iTrader: (2)

Sorry for the delay in response guys. I had a look at the ticket and it said he clocked me using LIDAR. I'm assuming this means radar. But then, right next to this he checked a box which said "estimated." If you're using laser, what's there to estimate???

Still debating whether to go or not. I'll likely draw up a diagram and try to figure out the mathematics of the problem (i.e. showing that, based on the published acceleration figures of a standard cop car, it would have been impossible for him to pull in front of me if I was going 85mph, etc.)