get out of a speeding ticket?

[Will]

He was probably a detective, not a patrolman. You did something blatant in front of him. He didn't want to give you a ticket but wanted to tell you something that might hit home.

Around here the troopers and deputies are encouraged to drive their patrol cars when off duty for extra presence. It's common to see them in civilian clothes and I wonder how much it would take to get a ticket from a trooper with his family in the car?

But give the guy some respect. He lives in a totally different world than you. He is guided by his job to all of the worst things in life where most of us rarely see them at all.

 

[Skid Vicious]

DO NOT EVER JUST PAY A TICKET!


Do you know the ramifications of paying this ticket? Points? Suspension? Fines?

Points can and will increase insurance costs, if you get enough points you can lose your license.

Some states have mandatory suspension for speeding over a set limit (in PA it's 30mph over).

Always plea not guilty and request a hearing. You can not come out of the hearing any worse than you went in, and you might get it tossed completely. (some courts have a minimal court cost)

When you go in just ask the judge if there is an alternate disposition that will not carry points. Most of the time this is all that is needed to get the speeding amount dropped to something less (5 or 10 over are common violations)

You also have a chance on the officer not showing for your court date. In most states if the officer does not show the ticket is dismissed. It is happening more and more in a tighter economy, the officers usually get paid for overtime and when a county is tight on cash they don't want to pay overtime for traffic tickets. You never know unless you request the hearing.

Another fun story.....I was in court one day when there was a officer set up just like you described. He had about 20 people in court that day for his speed trap. One of the first people to go hired an expensive lawyer and they had the gun he used for radar disqualified. So the other 19 or so people all had their tickets dismissed and got off scott free! That can't happen to you unless you request a hearing. The people who just paid the ticket never even knew about the problem with the gun...they all remained convicted.

Take it from someone who does this for a living....it pays to fight every ticket! (see signature)

quoted for truth and brilliance.
man, I can't believe how many people here are so quick to point fingers. "if you can't pay the fine, don't speed." Like everyone here is a perfect driver. gimme a break.
And if they're not lookin down their nose at you, they've got this lemming mentality of "man up and just pay the fine".
What a load of crap.
Road sections become known as speed traps where police have a reputation for writing an unusually high number of traffic tickets, especially speeding tickets. Sometimes the posted speed limits are not easily seen; in other places, the limits are set such that many vehicles are caught. In many of these uses, the term speed trap connotes speed limit enforcement for purposes of ticket revenue or traffic deterrence instead of safety.
The system of tickets and fines is not to ensure our safety. It's to generate revenue for the state under the guise of safety.

Here's just a few of my court experiences for those that say just take the points and fines. I wound up with 11 pts on my license at one point because I was young and stupid and I just "manned up" and paid the tickets. Of course, that sent my insurance thru the roof, but thats another story.

85 in a 65 in MD. $150ish fine. Went to court, plead down to probation before judgement. So, if I didn't get any other ticket within a yr, it would be like it never happened. Only had to pay $30 court costs.

95 in a 65 in NJ.(paced) possible loss of license, $400 fines, 5 pts. Lawyered up, plead to 72 in a 65, $180, 2 pts.

70 in a 50, no ins card, unclear plate in NJ. I was able to plead 70 in a 50, 4 pts. $205 fine down to 64, 2 pts, and $105 fine. No ins card $180 fine was thrown out. Unclear plate $60 fine I paid as part of the deal.

I've even gone so far as to file for motion of discovery to see when the radar unit was calibrated and how long ago the cop was certified to use the thing.
I've been to court on occaissions where the prosecutor will announce that anyone who got a ticket on "X" street for "X" offense is offering everyone the same plea deal. He doesn't even want to hear any excuses, he just wants people in and out as quickly as possible.

But you fellas go ahead and pay your tickets in full. Thats not "manning up" in my opinion. thats pussing out. don't be a sheep. you are not serfs of the state. fight every ticket. become familiar with the legal system and the courts.

 

[Skid Vicious]

here are some interesting things i dug up on the subject.

Wells, TX
The town has been widely criticized as a speed trap. The speed limit on Highway 69 is 70 miles per hour, but undergoes an abrupt and drastic reduction in town. Police officers often lie in wait, hiding behind trees and buildings, hoping to catch out-of-town drivers by surprise. Fines from traffic tickets are a significant source of revenue for the town.

Local law enforcement have been accused of over-zealous enforcement of the speed limit and traffic laws, and local government officials have been accused of corruption. There have been reports of motorists receiving speeding tickets when they were driving well within the speed limit. The victims of this abuse are usually from out of town. It is usually cost-prohibitive for a motorist to return to fight their ticket in court, so usually the motorist just pays the fine.


California vehicle code:

A "speed trap" is ... a particular section of a highway measured as to distance and with boundaries marked, designated, or otherwise determined in order that the speed of a vehicle may be calculated by securing the time it takes the vehicle to travel the known distance.
The prohibition of this kind of "speed traps" followed after a series of successful defenses that argued inadmissible error margin in human timing.

Subsequently, the second clause was added to the "speed trap" definition to cover inadmissible usage of "radar or other electronic devices". It considers multiple factors, such as the operation standards of devices, training of police officers, and whether the enforced speed limits were properly justified.

Iowa Colony, Texas
Iowa Colony was once known as a major speed trap along State Highway 288, as it has five short areas (fingers) of its city limits that cross over 288. This allowed the Iowa Colony Police to consider speeders crossing through these fingers as ticketable. Iowa Colony is now patrolled by the Brazoria County Sherriff's Office.

New Rome, Ohio
New Rome had long been the target of scorn and criticism from Central Ohio residents, state officials, and even national media, due to decades of harassing motorists in one of the worst speed traps in the United States and the internal corruption of its local government. In 2004, the village was ordered legally dissolved by a Franklin County Common Pleas Court judge, and its residents, land and assets were made part of Prairie Township.

New Rome police had systematically taken advantage of the village's sudden drop (from 45 MPH to 35 MPH) in posted speed along the busy thoroughfare of West Broad Street to pull over thousands of motorists, raising nearly $400,000 gross annually from speeding tickets, as well as citations for more trivial offenses such as dusty taillights and improperly tinted windows. Nearly all of this money was funneled back into the police force, which almost exclusively dealt with traffic violations and so essentially existed to fund itself. The 60-resident village had as many as 14 policemen (all part-time), with the Village Council wanting more.

France;
Speed limit enforcement in France is widespread by the use of static manned police speed traps. In the case of offenders who do not have an address in France, French police and Gendarmes have the power to demand a deposit from the driver against the payment of the fine, which in practice is 100% of the amount of the fine for the offence. French police and Gendarmes target static locations where it is easy for them to trap large numbers of drivers exceeding the speed limit. These locations often include motorway sliproads, where speed limits that descend every 100 metres are common
Radar detectors are illegal in France. The mere existence of a radar detector in a vehicle, even if switched off or packed in luggage, attracts a fine of up to €3000, confiscation of the device, potentially also of the vehicle, and in some cases a prison sentence.

 

[Beanmachine7000]

The small town of Coopertown, TN is a terrible speed trap over here, speed limit goes from 55-35 and they are always writing someone a ticket... It's insane...

 

[JoeCanada]

DO NOT EVER JUST PAY A TICKET!

Couldn't have said it better myself. I've never just ponied up the cash for a ticket, I fight every single one. I haven't yet gotten off free and clear, but I always end up paying less, and in one case I hired a traffic agent to represent me, and although I still had to pay a fine, no points were added to my licence.

The worst thing around here is photo radar traps. These piss me off because they are nothing more than a driving tax, and have nothing to do with safety. I fight those too. Every time the Crown offers a reduced fine as soon as you walk in the door. They don't care what you pay, as long as they get their money.

The whole system is designed to intimidate people into just paying the fine, and not fighting. And so it is a vicious cycle, more people pay, more radar guns are bought, more speed traps are set up, more tickets issued, and so on. DO NOT be intimidated, fight your ticket!

If everyone fought their ticket, the courts would be so backlogged, that perhaps cops would be forced to use more discretion when ticketing people, and not just writing books full of tickets to make 'quota'.

So, absolutely fight your ticket! You have nothing to lose, and much to gain.

 

[valleyvinyl84]

Just man up and pay the ticket!
Just kidding, fight it go to court and I guarantee you will be better off. You will probably get a lower fine and less points. Less points= no raise in insurance costs. Everybody speeds, if someone says they don't either their lying or they are actually telling the truth and cause more of a traffic problem since 90% of the drivers out there follow the 5-10 over rule. I love the drivers who go the speed limit in the passing lane on the highway. It just happens there was a cop there when you were speeding. Were you a severe danger to society as a whole? I highly doubt it.

Good luck in traffic court!

 

[Mark_88]

But give the guy some respect. He lives in a totally different world than you. He is guided by his job to all of the worst things in life where most of us rarely see them at all.

I don't have a problem with police officers doing their jobs...he just seemed like he wanted to get in my face about how serious driving is...which kinda threw me off a bit because I've been driving for longer than he's been alive and am an extremely careful driver (most of the time...except that little out of control incident recently)...

I was rushed, I messed up...and that's how accidents usually happen...but this wasn't a high-speed idiot trick and that's probably why he just let me off with a tongue lashing...

 

[darkspork]

In California if you go to court and the cop does not show up the traffic citation is dropped. There are California laws regarding "illegal speed traps" but that is something you'd be better off leaving to a lawyer. One thing that also has to be taken into account is when the radar (if laser speed detector was not used) was last calibrated, but that might have been something to have taken into account when you were stopped. The easiest time to talk your way out of a ticket or into a reduced citation is before the officer issues you the citation. If your time is worth anything to you (it is to me) you might be better off just paying the ticket, see if you can go to traffic school so that you don't have to receive points in your license. I think anything more than 15mph over they won't let you do traffic school thoug. The last/only ticket I got in CA was near Oakland, clocked at 48 (I was probably doing 65+, very stupid, I deserved a ticket) in a 25 zone. I talked the officer down to 40 so that I could go to traffic school, $180 fine, $30 to be able to go to traffic school, $30 for traffic school. $240 not so well spent, but I learned a lesson.