Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests [sigh...] Well, the inevitable has arrived.

I know y'all have seen this thousands of times before, but I finally got nailed a little while ago. I was on my way home from downtown. A friend and I had decided to go Midnight Bowling, but then reconsidered and decided that we would save our money.

On the way home, a cop grabbed us for 66 in a 55. Eleven over. 11. ELEVEN.

I thought he would've said faster, honestly. I was just going with the flow of traffic, but I didn't believe that traffic was moving faster than the limit. Being in the left lane at the time didn't help much. BTW, I don't have a radar detector...yet.

He also flamed me for not having my Class C (unrestricted hours) license. By law I was out "past driving curfew" since I still have my class D license. It was 12:30 at the time and we were on our way home. The officer was stern about pointing this out. I commend him for doing his job, and I guess there really wasn't a way for him to tell if I was being truthful or not, but honestly an 18 yr old kid like me is not going to have much to do past 12:30 unless it's shooting screwdriver vodkas and chasing them with three dozen pancakes. I've never done that either.

So I had to sit there on the side of the road until my not too pleased mother arrived quite some time later. The cop said that we were to wait there until my mum came, and in that time frame, my bud and I sat there in the car and watched him tackle down three more cars, likely for speeding. However, one car did pass with one blown out light and another very dim light, perhaps a parking light, and he seemed to pay it no mind. It makes me wonder if eleven over is more dangerous than driving without my headlights. Maybe next time I'll go carouse the neighborhood without my headlights and say that our local SPD officer didn't pull me over for that, but he nailed me for 66.

I guess I'm just frustrated. It's a natural reaction though, I wouldn't expect anybody to be happy after being ticketed not once, but twice. The officer was doing his job, though I wonder why they couldn't be a little happier about writing tickets, because this is valuable Christmas money I'm spending on myself now. My insurance is going to go up now too. Again. He did tell me to have a nice evening, however...

I had the question as to going to court or just paying the fine ($215 total). But I noticed that he wrote on both citations that my car is a '98 Ford Mustang. Hardly. If I accomplish nothing else in court, I will be sure to point out that my citating officer can not differentiate between Mustangs and Escorts, especially considering that he had to call in my license/registration. Not to mention "ESCORT ZX2" is blatantly stamped directly in the middle of the back bumper of my car.

Does this mistake of his change anything? Can I use this as a foothold against him?

I've never been pulled over or gone to court for anything in my life before so this is a new experience to me. Advice? Tips? It's all welcome here, unless you're going to talk down on me, in which case there will be some moderators taking a walk through this thread.

Thanks again for reading. Wish it was a better story though [sigh...]

-SAV

-The fact that he wrote Mustang on the ticket shouldn't change anything, after all the drive is getting the ticket, not the car.
-Someone will probably come in and crap on you saying "well you broke the law, blah blah"
-Get a Valentine 1, its not perfect and I have been ticketed with it, but every bit helps.
-Even if it means borrowing money from mom or putting it on a credit card I would suggest hiring a lawyer, it shouldn't cost that much and in the end it could save your neck, and insurance money.

you broke the law and DESERVE what you got you little punk! stop trying to get out of it and just be a man and own up to it! i hope you thanked the officer for pointing out the error of your ways.


ps just kidding. since no one had come in and bashed you yet i thought id break the ice.

Dude I have bee in your shoes many times unfortunately My advice to you would be this: First of all take it to court no matter what! Its always better to try and get it knocked down or "fixed" than not at all. I know the laws in every state are different as far as reporting goes but here in MN if you get a ticket between 56-64 mph it will not go on your reccord. Also some insurance companies wont even find out if its less than 10mph over the limit.

If I would have known this whenI got my first ticket this year I would have fought my 66 in a 55 so that it wouldnt have gone on my reccord. Go to court and talk to the Prosecuter and see if you can work something out. 66 in a 55 is about the easiest violation to get out of concerning speed and im sure you could get it knocked down to under 10mph or an arrangement that if you dont get another ticket in the next 6 monthes it wont go on your reccord(that was another plea bargin my buddy took in HS.)

Your really not out all that much if you go try and bargin over it. The court will likely not want to waste their time and money over something as minor as this and youll be able to save some $$ and your insurance!

Yeah you should have been driving slower at an earlier time but oh well thats life. Its not like you were doing this in a residential neighborhood and its not like your going unpunished. I'm sure your parents laid into you pretty good and if they were like mine made sure I would never do it again.

It was your first offense and the court will likely go easy on you. Im sure your not going to be tearing around the streets after this incident so theres no loss for them to lessen the charges or let you off.

Insurance for an 18y/o male with a coupe is outrageous and you need to do everythig you can to keep your reccord clean. Its just unfair how they take such advantage of younger drivers. I know their not the best drivers but I have sceen too many poor, older & especially elderly drivers out there and their rates dont get jacked up as high as yours will if you dont get this taken care of. So go to court and Git-R-Done!

for the trial you go before the district magistrate. sometimes they will drop the points and let you take a driving class. if they dont you have the option of appealing at a higher court.

thursday i go to a magistrate for my most recent ticket, drifting through a stopsign. im trying to get the points dropped, the fine for the ticket is meaningless compared to the cost of insurance rate increase. if they do not let me drop the points, i will not be getting a spec flywheel, but instead appealing and hiring a lawyer. i dont want a lawyer if i dont have to get one. respond "not guilty" to teh ticket fast. after 10 day you get a warrent for your arrest and impending license suspension. (i know this too well, happened to me for my last 3 citations)

Yeah I forgot to state that in my other post. If its like MN at all you can go in to the prosecuter yourself without a lawyer, which is wha tI reccomend. Its not a DUI its a 11mph violation! Only get a lawyer if the prosecuter makes you go through a court in which they would have to reschedul a court date and you could find one in the time between.

Why dont you go into court say " I was braking the law and dont want to suffer any consequences".
Take some responbility here god damn, you broke the law now pay the ticket.

That is nothing. I got rolled for 100 in a 70 in the left lane. He was outside of his car gunning. He had written me up 90/70. He gunned me at 91, but at the time I thought I was going 100. Nice conditions, left lane, leading the pack.
BTW I was told to get out of the car, searched, cuffed, sat in the back of a cop car, while he searched my car. Found NOTHING. Because I don't smoke pot! But he insisted that he saw pieces of mary jane on the seats and floor (I cut lawns). So he finds nothing and continues to accuse me of smoking the reefer. Not at the time, but that I had before.
So finally he lets me off with a 90/70 ticket. I had a sweet deal going...I was going to get off with no points and just a fine! Well...I didn't have a clean record. I got it down to one point 80 / 70. I had an attorney for this.

What really bugged me was he seemed to stereotype me as the rich suburban college kid who smokes pot. "So you're headin back to the suburbs."

In the end I worked it out in court(kinda), but it's not worth it. Don't speed!

Take it to court, if the cop doesn't show up the ticket gets dropped so you have got nothing to lose. If they write the wrong info on the ticket then the judge will usually dismiss the ticket or make you pay a fine and no points.

Aaron