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Here's the deal a week ago this past Tuesday I cut down a road I have not been on in about 20 years. Not even sure if it is the way I want to go so I'm driving along looking for familiar sites. I come around a turn and see a police car so naturally I hit the brakes just incase. Then I see he is waving me over. Anyway he proceeds to give me a whole ration of $h!t about speeding on his road. I tell him very calmly that I am being totally honest and that I don't know what the speed limit is and I really didn't think I was going very fast. I also said that I had no idea how fast I was going. He proceeds to tell me that if I was on Rt. 95 I would be speeding ? He tells me I was going 69 mph in a 30 mph zone and I'm obviously getting a ticket a $275 ticket at that. Ok so maybe I was going over the 30 mph but not 39 mph over it? After I left I was completely beside myself knowing I wasn't going that fast. I went back to the road today to see if it was possible that I was going that fast. NO WAY!!! As I said I turned onto a road that I wasn't eve sure was the right road so I'm not flying down the road. The road starts @ 30 mph at about 3/10th's down it drops to 25 mph for a "S" curve then 1-2/10th's it drops again to 25 mph for another "S" turn. Just as you come out of the 2nd "S" you come over a small hill...that is where I saw him and hit my brakes (he was approximately 2-3/10th's of a mile down the road. I would have had to be going 65-70 mph in and coming out of the 25 mph "S" turn for him to be correct. As soon as I crested the hill I saw him and hit the brakes and no way whatsoever was I going anywhere near that fast. Now I have three options: 1. pay the fine and take the points, 2. Go to court and try to fight this a$$ho!e on either a radar or laser (he did not tell me and did not put it on the ticket by the way), 3. Go to court and plead "guilty with explanation" (officer not required to show up) and hope the judge gives me a break.
Should I get a lawyer and try and fight it or take my chances with #3 and hope for a break?
Scott
Scott
2000 Contour SVT #1464
Mustang Dyno: 171.6hp/145.3lb
Dynojet Dyno: 171.1hp/148.9lb
1989 20th Anniversary Turbo T/A "Indy 500 Pace Car"
#1376 of 1550 All Original, 46k with a few mods 
2002 F150 SuperCrew
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Joined: Nov 2003
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Hard-core CEG\'er
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Take it to court, then rescedule your hearing the day before you are to appear. Chances are he won't even show for the reschedule and they'll have to drop the charge.
"Eagles may soar high, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines."
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Joined: Jun 2003
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deffinatly get a laywer, i got my ticket reduced from 81/45 to 61/45....
"Here's a mirror, see your stupid face!"
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Joined: Aug 2004
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Man thats a long story, sounds like you got screwed over by a crooked cop. The same thing happened to me i got screwed so i hired a lawyer. It is going to cost me just over a $1000 with court fees and all that just. In the long run it'll be worth it. Hire one of the best lawyers around!!! Stand up for what you know is right!!!!!!
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is traffic school to avoid points an option? dont get a lawyer, too much money (isnt worth it IMHO) and im not sure you could get representation for this. not a misdemeanor, i dont think. IHMO i would pay the fine and go to traffic school. If you REALLY feel that there is no way you could have been driving anywhere near that fast, then fight it. there are books that discuss ways to fight these tickets. one example is "beat the cops" http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0963464116/qid=1098474749/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/002-0061310-9780009i heard an interview with the author and said that radar/laser guns are required to be calibrated every year and certified. he said you can go to the courthouse (i believe it was) and request a copy of the gun's certificate. if the gun has not been calibrated within its deadline (MOST havent) then you practically have a slam dunk argument. the cop has to be certified every year too! there are more tricks to fight it as well. guilty with an explanation does nothing but says "yeah, i did it, but i have a lame excuse". this usually does not help get your ticket reduced at all. especially if you then say, "but i didnt do it" as your explanation. the judge may just chew you out for entering the wrong plea and tell you to get out of here. i have been to traffic court TOO many times  and seen this all before. ps i dont know about your area, but here in LA, if you fight a ticket and you lose, they slap a 170% penalty fee on top of the ticket for court costs and what not!  kind of sounds like racketeering if you ask me.
Originally posted by Tourgasm:
Sometimes you can mess up a word so bad that spell check doens't know what the hell you're talking about.
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Originally posted by TexasRealtor:
Take it to court, then rescedule your hearing the day before you are to appear. Chances are he won't even show for the reschedule and they'll have to drop the charge.
If he does show up , then request a Drivers Ed course to have the ticket removed. Other than that, a lawyer is your best option.
"Eagles may soar high, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines."
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Joined: May 2002
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I have no life
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I have no life
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Originally posted by scottd60:
I would have had to be going 65-70 mph in and coming out of the 25 mph "S" turn for him to be correct.
Only I do that. 
Chances are he didn't clock you. IF he did, and his equipment is obviously off, he has to prove in court that he had calibrated it in a decent amount of time before that (probably no more than 2 hours, could be a lot less than that, not sure). My guess is he won't have proof in court and you'll have an easy case. If it were me, I wouldn't even hire a lawyer but I don't know how the judges are in your area, you may need one.
98.5 SVT
91 Escort GT (almost sold)
96 ATX Zetec (i brake to watch you swerve)
FS: SVT rear sway bar
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CEG Dragon Run - October 13-15
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Scott, I know you. You know damn well you were speeding that fast!  J/K. Did he radar you, laser, or VASCAR?
2006 Mazdaspeed6
1997 Yamaha YZF1000R Thunderace
1996 Volvo 850-R
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Joined: Sep 2002
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Hard-core CEG'er
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Originally posted by contourGL1996:
deffinatly get a laywer, i got my ticket reduced from 81/45 to 61/45....
Ouch I talked the judge down on my own.
Anyways about the ticket. I am the guru of leds, and better known to my friends/family as the king of Speeding tickets. I have had many tickets in my short driving history. 9 As of alast month. (thats 2 a year). All my tickets were 30+ over the speed limit except my first one which was 23 over. There is many ways you can fight our ticket as menchined in this thread. Some work almost everytime, while others don't work all the time. Need to know what way works depending on the ticket and its situation.
Your best route right now is a Differal. Most US states have them in affect now. You can only use one every 7 years, and may not get a ticket depending on state law 6 months to a 1 yr. after the court case date. Some places like WA its 6 months after the date of the ticket. If you break that time frame you get the old ticket + the new ticket, unless you can beat the ticket. Which isn't hard unless your in DC, those guys are bad about speeders, they don't let up easy. (so i have heard and seen on the news)
Finding out whether the radar was, radar, laser, or vascar is a needed right away, this could end the case early. If its laser or vascar skip to the next step. If its radar ask the court house for the documents for the certification of the tunning fork. Also ask them the serial numbers of the tunning fork, and radar. Make sure they match if they don't ticket goes bye bye. Usually within 6 months the tuner needs to be retuned. Some places its a yearly. Find out and check its last certification date. If this all checks out move down to the next step.
If you can't differ and you got nailed by a recently certified radar, or laser/vascar, you may want to think of a decent story, as this is just as good as a lawyer, as they are paid liers who look up information, nothing you can't do or your friends on CEG can't help you figure out.
Now Making up a storie can be as simple as lying, but you will need to make something up that is close to the truth, feesible (did i spell that right, who cares). Find where you turned on. Write the ST # down, figure out if getting to that speed is possible from that street. Also check for speed limit signs between there and where you were radared. This could help out a lot. Also see how fast you come up to be able to see where the cop was, a video camera helps if you can. That way you can use it as evidence to show entrapment. Make sure to go 5 over, but not show the speedo or go the correct speed and show the speedo. If you go any faster it will be to easy to see your speeding. Also make sure no other cars are on the tape, or anything that could get you in trouble. In case you accidently play it at the wrong spot.
Now if all this just isn't working, you can ask for Drivers ED classes, a reduced fine, since you don't have a job, and trying to already support your family. This usually works decent. I got nailed by a younger judge and told that same story and he dropped the fine all together. I still got the ticket however. 2nd of 5 at the time.
Now, i just had to say now, since the last three para. started with it lol. If you can find any other evidence that may help your case this will be helpful, including making the cop be there. Now Something i didn't post earlier. Most states of a law called the right to a speedy trial (no pun intended, i think), Which gives the court 120 days to schedule your court date. If it fails out of this time frame the ticket will be dropped. even 1 day. its lawy. if they don't you can take them back to court on it, and make sure the cop is there also. most cops can't afford to miss a day on the job so hopefully you land a working day for him as he probably won't show up. If he doesn't show up the ticket is dropped unless he asks the judge to reschedule, if he does, that still has to fit into the 120 speedy trial rule.
As you can see there is many things you can do to beat the system. I don't know them all, and i can' addaquetely say which wants will beat the ticket depending on the situation at hand. Do as much research as you can, this will help you a lot. Also not reporting your tickets to the insurrance companies is illegal however, some states don't report them they require you to. Like WA does. I have yet to get a ticket on my driving history, and now that I am 21. my insurrance went down from 320 a month to 240 a month. If you switch insurrance companies they might pull your record, instead of going off the last companies records. Which could get you caught for insurrance fraud. So make sure your tickets are completely off your record before changing. I still have a while to go before my last ticket is dropped otherwise my insurrance would go down to about 190 at this other company.
good luck with your ticket.
95 SES Sold
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99 SVT T-Red Tan Interior. K&N, Magnecors, 19' Theorys, And some audio stuff.
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Originally posted by auiotour:
most cops can't afford to miss a day on the job so hopefully you land a working day for him as he probably won't show up.
here in LA, and possibly all of Cal, the cops get paid overtime to show up on their day off. this comes out of the 170% fee i mentioned above. if you win, the court, i presume, pays them. out here, it is highly likely theyll show up. hell, i would for the $ they get paid at time and a 1/2. if during a work day, the dept pays them to go, or they reschedule.
everything varies from state to state. in some jurisdictions in Louisiana, I have read that your car can be confiscated for speeding. they still go by napoleanic law and have all sorts of screwy rules (in some parts).
other than that, sounds like good info.
Originally posted by Tourgasm:
Sometimes you can mess up a word so bad that spell check doens't know what the hell you're talking about.
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