Ticket!! >:0

[Lord Blackadder]

F***.

I made a vow last summer not to speed on the freeway, and I've been not so good at keeping it. Today was the day - going around a couple slow trucks I immediately downshifted and let off the gas but it was too late! Cop!

Got clocked at 91mph , and it's a mandatory court appearance!

The worst part isn't the court appearance - I'm pissed because I was going to go out and get a nice LCD for my PowerMac this weekend, but this is going to eat up most of that cash.

Cruise control for me from now on, I swear here and now. I wish I could take the bus home.

 

[XNine]

That's rough, man. My worst ticket ever, I was doing 94 in a 65...well, when the cop caught me, at least. BEfor ethat I was doing 125+. It was pretty intense!

IF he caught me doing on more mile an hour over that, I would have lost my license.

 

[blackpeter]

Fight it. Cops (especially Highway Patrol) hate going to court. This is actually the best time to do it, being that your court date is so close to the holidays. The chances that the officer will be busy/preoccupied is even more likely.

I got clocked going 85 in a 65. Decided to fight it. Showed up at court, the officer wasn't there and I walked out a free man. No $250 fine. No points. It's worth a shot... Good luck!

 

[Lord Blackadder]

That's rough, man. My worst ticket ever, I was doing 94 in a 65...well, when the cop caught me, at least. BEfor ethat I was doing 125+. It was pretty intense!

IF he caught me doing on more mile an hour over that, I would have lost my license.

See, I'm wondering whether the policeman made it 91 in a 6o (rather than 90)just so I'd be 31 over, allowing my license to be suspended....sh*t that is a scary thought!

 

[lopresmb]

that sucks dude, but yeah, your chances in court are always better than any other alternative. By doing anyhing else you are automatically admitting guilt.

 

[Chundles]

Serves you both right.

No sympathy from me, you come back one year!!

 

[SpaceMagic]

I agree, serves you right.

Speed Kills! THINK!

 

[iGav]

I got caught on a mobile camera for doing 83 in a 70 back in June, 3 points and a £60 quid fine.

The irony is, had the fuzz been behind me at the time, they'd have pulled the silly cow who tried putting me in the central reservation barriers that caused me to punch the throttle to avoid gaining an extra appendage (I ALWAYS set cruise at 75 on duals and motorways).

So yeah, you're in good company.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

blech. Live and learn I suppose. I hope the error factor of the laser they used precludes them charging me with 30 over.

 

[Sdashiki]

The law states:

It is not whether you were aware you were speeding, or even that you meant to speed, its that you were driving a vehicle going too fast for the speed limit.

Dont admit anything, dont say anything, just try to go and hope he dont show. IN the end the burden of proof ALWAYS lies with the cops, bullshiite i know but its the way it works.

Who is to say any cop on the street isnt "crooked"? thats my question.

When I went to court for speeding once, without a lawyer, they made me listen to all this crap.

Judge asks cop "do you check your radar everyday"

yes

"did you check it the day of the incident"

yes

"did you clock the defendant at X miles an hour"

yes

How the hell is that the gospel truth? His word against mine, but hes a cop so its not mine against his, its his against NO ONE.

I tried to ask how can I be able to know his machine was working properly just because he said so? Yeah I know i WAS speeding, I didnt deny that, but I wasnt going 92, because he pulled TWO cars over at once, me and the car I was following.

He clocked the 1st car (1 car length in front of me) at 87 and me at 92, how the hell does physics allow a following car to be going faster?

 

[eva01]

I agree, serves you right.
Speed Kills! THINK!

so does going 60 on the highway when some other guy looses control and slams into you and you go off a bridge and die.

or when you are going 30 in a 40 and it is wet outside and a car can't slow down enough and T-bones you out of an intersection.

Cancer kills too.....

 

[gwuMACaddict]

bummer... but you were going pretty fast... i keep it under 80mph at ALL times on I-95 (speed limit 65)

 

[devilot]

Fight it. Cops (especially Highway Patrol) hate going to court. This is actually the best time to do it, being that your court date is so close to the holidays. The chances that the officer will be busy/preoccupied is even more likely.

I got clocked going 85 in a 65. Decided to fight it. Showed up at court, the officer wasn't there and I walked out a free man. No $250 fine. No points. It's worth a shot... Good luck!

But on the other hand, if you choose to fight it and the cop does show up.....

*Note, I'm not sure how Ohio's laws work, but in California--
If you are still eligible to take traffic school and have the point waived from your recored, than do it. Saving $250 (or less if the cop DOES show up and you only get a reduced fee ticket) upfront is nothing compared to having your insurance premium go up and having a point on your record.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

bummer... but you were going pretty fast... i keep it under 80mph at ALL times on I-95 (speed limit 65)

Yeah, it was stupid... I only accelerated long enough to pass a couple semis in the right lane and the cop was parked right on my exit ramp - in the 6 years I've been commuting this way to work they've never had a speed trap within a couple miles of my exit, so I guessed the risk was minimal. But as you can see, there is always a chance...

But on the other hand, if you choose to fight it and the cop does show up.....

*Note, I'm not sure how Ohio's laws work, but in California--
If you are still eligible to take traffic school and have the point waived from your recored, than do it. Saving $250 (or less if the cop DOES show up and you only get a reduced fee ticket) upfront is nothing compared to having your insurance premium go up and having a point on your record.

I'm not a betting man, so I won't fight a ticket - I'll take my medicine and be done with it. And yes, I can do a remedial course and get a 2-point credit.

 

[robbieduncan]

I agree, serves you right.

Speed Kills! THINK!

Please tell me you are joking. Even the terrible government we have in this country has been forced to admit that speed is not the primary cause of most accidents.

 

[evoluzione]

sorry for the ticket dude

i recently got stopped for speeding, doing 50 in a 35 zone, AND my registration had just expired...but i'm a nice guy, i guess, the cop let off!


it's amazing how bad most people are at driving though, yeah sure speed kills, but it's in no way the biggest factor in my opinion. it's really scary watching some people drive, every day i see something shocking.

 

[ibook30]

See, I'm wondering whether the policeman made it 91 in a 6o (rather than 90)just so I'd be 31 over, allowing my license to be suspended....sh*t that is a scary thought!

I have had the same suspicion!

I have one speeding ticket and the cop cited me for going 16 miles over the speed limit. Turns out there was a big difference between 15 miles and 16 miles over the limit. My "instrument panel" had me at 13 miles over the limit, at my fastest... (I ended up eating it and doing the defensive driving thing.)

When I related this story to a co worker, whose husband worked for a different police department, she said it wouldn't surprise her. Maybe she was just being nice - this is by no means hard evidence of police corruption, but it makes me say damn the man!

EDIT: It's wrong to speed, and not so safe. Of course.

 

[Whyren]

I've come close to getting a few more, but the only one I ever received was thrown out.

My alternator was in the process of dying at night so my car had shut down on the highway. My father came by and soon after a state trooper happened upon us. We talked to the trooper and he said just drive the car back our house. We jumped my car and my father followed me closely back to the house (since the alternator was going bad, my taillights weren't working). Now, I'm going the speed limit and praying that the car doesn't die again on the way back when flashing lights appear behind us. I pull over to the side and my car, of course, dies. Turns out it's a local cop and he starts asking why I'm driving around without taillights. My father, who pulled over behind me, comes up to explain to the officer and the cop starts yelling at him saying "Sir! I'm talking to your son right now, get back to your car!" I explain the situation and he gives me a ticket, despite the fact that the trooper told us to drive back, despite the fact that my father was tailing me so I could be seen from the rear, despite the fact that I couldn't get my taillights to work.

We take it to court, explain the situation and show the judge the $800 repair bill for the alternator/electrics, ticket is dimissed.

Another close time, I was driving in the middle of the night and pulled over to rest...and fell asleep. I woke up to a trooper banging on my window. He had me get into his patrol car, ran my license and asked what I was doing and if I had weapons or drugs in my car. I'm not sure what he thought, but I had a clear license he didn't bother me anymore and I went on my way, thoroughly shaken (that was not a pleasant way to wake up).

Oh, and one time I was pulled over for my license plate light being too dim...

 

[Sdashiki]

Highway cops have a huge hard-on for doing their job.

SuperTroopers I have never met.

Show me a highway trooper who doesnt act like a total high and mighty jackass, holding their chest out and acting like they are a principal in middle school. Makes me sick.

 

[mouchoir]

Please tell me you are joking. Even the terrible government we have in this country has been forced to admit that speed is not the primary cause of most accidents.

tell that to the people that get run over every day

 

[Thanatoast]

Speeding tickets are stupid. Reckless driving is much more dangerous than mere speed. Inattention and poor driving skills kill more than speed.

I'd prefer they pull over people for poor driving, like pulling out into quick-moving traffic, or cutting across four lanes to make an exit, or NOT SIGNALING <--pet peeve.

I got pulled over for doing 92 in a 65 a couple of years ago. Mind you, traffic itself was doing 80-85. Clear day, dry roads, light traffic. In that circumstance, doing 92 was entirely reasonable.

They made me take a class where we talked about our feelings, and why we thought we needed to speed. It was roundly decided that we speed because we like to, we can, it's not any more dangerous than the moron drivers that never get pulled over, and that speed limits are more politically based than anything else.

Go to court. If the cop shows up you're no worse off than you were, it's not like they'll tack on extra points.

 

[Sdashiki]

Go to court outcomes:

cop is a no show = nothing happens

cop shows = pay the ticket
cop shows = pay the ticket + court costs
cop shows = pay the ticket + court costs + driving school
cop shows = pay the ticket + court costs + driving school + points on license.
cop shows = pay the ticket AND court costs OR driving school OR points

so you are possibly getting in deeper than you would if you just paid it.
but most likely possibility is the last one, where you will pay the ticket at the very least, but might have $30-50 of court costs tacked on, plus being send to driving school and getting points (though if you goto school you might not get the points)

 

[Johnny Rico]

Once I got pulled over for doing 95 in a 60, and the only form of identification I had at the time was my AAA card (I had just lost my drivers license to a forgetful bank drive-thru teller, and I don't know where my insurance was at the time.. luckily my vehicle registration was adhered to my windshield otherwise i wouldn't have had that either). Also I didn't want to get pulled over on the freeway so I drove several miles to an exit and got off. THAT pissed the cop off even more than no id/insurance. I was particularly unhappy about this because I had a lot of pot in the car at the time, as well as a baggy of Heroin and a sheet of lsd in my pocket (I was on my way to a party to make some $$). At least i wasn't tripping at that exact moment! For some really bizarre reason I got let off for all the traffic violations with several warnings and never got searched, so the narcotics got left alone and I made a couple of grand that night.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Go to court outcomes:

cop is a no show = nothing happens

cop shows = pay the ticket
cop shows = pay the ticket + court costs
cop shows = pay the ticket + court costs + driving school
cop shows = pay the ticket + court costs + driving school + points on license.
cop shows = pay the ticket AND court costs OR driving school OR points

so you are possibly getting in deeper than you would if you just paid it.
but most likely possibility is the last one, where you will pay the ticket at the very least, but might have $30-50 of court costs tacked on, plus being send to driving school and getting points (though if you goto school you might not get the points)

Unfortunatly it is a mandatory court appearance - I will never go to court if I can avoid it by spending a few bucks!

Court costs = $70, plus healthy fine. I'll probably do the class for the 2-point credit. Plus it's a Mayor's court, which is about as corrupt as they get. It isn't actually a court but functions as one - there is pretty much no hope to fight it unless you were rich and had a crack legal team.

 

[MattG]

Speed doesn't kill, it's the morons simultaneously smoking, talking on their cell phones and changing the station on their radios. If anything, the people speeding are paying more attention to the road than the aforementioned.