speeding ticket

[Cheeky]

I received a speeding ticket (wrongly accused) almost a year ago, and I have my court date tomorrow.

I was entering a 55mph 2 lane road, and was up to about 48mph when I saw flashing lights behind me. I pulled over and the state trooper went through the whole routine, "license and registration." I asked him what this was in reference to and he said I was exceeding the 45mph speed limit (from a road about 2 miles back which turned into the 55mph road I was on).

I was just coming from the dry cleaners and had a time/dated receipt, but he didn't seem to care, and became extremely perturbed and subsequently rude (impossible for me to be where he said I was).

That night, I sent in my not guilty plea with a statement explaining this to the judge and the receipt from the dry cleaners. So now I have to give up an evening to go to court (never been).

All of my friends and family seem perplexed by this, as I am often the butt of their jokes for how slow I drive (I adhere to the speed limit or ~5mph over).

Has anybody here ever wrongly been ticketed? If so, do you have any advice that may not be so obvious?

Thanks,
Pete

[Warren]

I'm a retired cop, who never made a mistake. Kidding! Just go to court, suit and tie or at least a jacket and tie suggested as judges like to see a little respect for the system. Leave the personalities out of your testimony. Tell your side of the event. Present your evidence, the receipt. Sit back and let the officer present his. No heavy sighing or rolling of the eyes. Ask any questions which arise in a respectful manner, no confrontations.

Then let the judge make his ruling.

Best advice I can give. I only lost two in court in many years as a traffic law enforcer. The judge sometimes sees things differently than the officer or the person who got the ticket.

[Knottscott]

I've been wrongly accused of a parking ticket....I spent 15 minutes in a one hour zone to go into the bank, but came back to find a ticket. I caved and paid it because it was just simpler and was a matter of $15. You've got data on your side....I'd likely hold my ground in your case, though the path of least resistance is to accept their offer. Be polite and state your case clearly...I wish you the best!

[sacherjj]

A co-worker had the same type of defense and the judge didn't care. It was foggy and they officer couldn't possibly know which car he hit with the radar. She had a timed receipt from CVS and had to travel so many miles to that location. It would have been impossible for her to be going that fast. In court, the judge didn't care what she said and the officer lied, stating that she was passing people. Sometimes you just get screwed.

[Ed62]

I'd have to go with Warren. State your side of the story, present your evidence, and hope the judge sees it your way. Remember to be polite to everyone. Good luck!

Ed

[MilDoc]

Warren has it right ... Good Luck!

[eezlock]

speeding ticket....

I received a speeding ticket (wrongly accused) almost a year ago, and I have my court date tomorrow.

I was entering a 55mph 2 lane road, and was up to about 48mph when I saw flashing lights behind me. I pulled over and the state trooper went through the whole routine, "license and registration." I asked him what this was in reference to and he said I was exceeding the 45mph speed limit (from a road about 2 miles back which turned into the 55mph road I was on).

I was just coming from the dry cleaners and had a time/dated receipt, but he didn't seem to care, and became extremely perturbed and subsequently rude (impossible for me to be where he said I was).

That night, I sent in my not guilty plea with a statement explaining this to the judge and the receipt from the dry cleaners. So now I have to give up an evening to go to court (never been).

All of my friends and family seem perplexed by this, as I am often the butt of their jokes for how slow I drive (I adhere to the speed limit or ~5mph over).

Has anybody here ever wrongly been ticketed? If so, do you have any advice that may not be so obvious?

Thanks,
Pete

Hey Pete, I know how that feels for sure, been there and had that done!
( screwed by ill-tempered cop with his drawers in a wad!)
I had a N.C. state trooper pull me over one time in Gaston county N.C.
on I-85 going up hill. He had a car pulled over on the side of the road and was ticketing them.I saw him from 1/3 mile away ...clear view of everything, I was in the right lane when approaching the stopped car, about 600 yards before getting up to the stopped car I moved to the left lane because the cop was standing beside the driver's door and shoving the ticket to the driver,low and behold a 1/4 mile down the road this smart***hole cop runs me down and says that I'm speeding....don't think so...I was driving an old company truck that struggled to run 55 mph. I told him that I moved to left lane as courtesy to him, he said " your still speeding 'cause I said you were speeding" in a very hateful, stern manner and gave the **** ticket anyway.
eezlock

[TheRic]

Cheeky, lots of luck!! I do know that a "He said, She said" type of thing the judge will side with the cop.

Warren is correct on what to do, dress, act. It's your best chance.

[maxparot]

Having lived in NY and having had my fair share of tickets in my younger days. I can say to you with great deal of certainty that there are only 2 ways you beat a ticket in NY.

1) You get a judge in a real good mood (unlikely they hear garbage every day)

2) You hire an attorney.

Good Luck!

[Warren]

The he said- she said thing works both ways. In my career I saw a few coppers who had destroyed thier credibility before the bench. The were usually assigned to the rubber gun squad after a bit.

Also, in many jurisdictions the low level judges who hear traffic cases would look askance at a defendant who brought an attorney into traffic court.

One other way to look at it, particularly if you lose in court and you still believe the citation to be unwarranted, is to remember all of the violations you've gotten away with over the years.

[drumpriest]

I have been wrongly ticketed. I'm sure everyone who has gone to traffic court has different experiences. Certainly that's true among my friends and family. In a small town when everyone knows everyone else, it's a lot easier to have the judge believe and/or care what you have to say.

I challenged a seriously incorrect ticket once in college, and it was an extreme waste of time. The fact that I was 22 in a college town was enough to be guilty before anything was said. I've also had the wonderful bull ticket from police trolling for out-of-towners, assuming that they won't come in for a court date.

On the other hand, I've also been pulled over by police who have been very nice people and were reasonable. People are just people. Be honest, be kind, and see what happens. The best is they change the ticket, the worst is that you completely loose all faith in the criminal justice system. Sadly, though I have many friends who are police, or work in criminology, I'm among those who have no faith in it at all. I would MUCH rather they ticket the guys who continuously drive in an unsafe manner every day of the week here in Pittsburgh, even though they arn't speeding.

[Kristofor]

It's too late either way a year later, but I've read a number of stories about newer automobiles logging telemetery data, and that data being used against the driver... I would guess that may work for an innocent person who's wrongly accused too.

I have no idea how new a car would need to be, how common those systems are, how long they store data etc. but it would seem like folks will eventually have access to some evidence that could confirm or place radar data in doubt.

Not that I'm a fan of the idea of trying to "get away with" anything, but our legal system isn't really built on the idea of "you might not be guilty this time, but you probably were at some other time so it's okay if convict you now" and I'm generally glad it's not...

[fiasco]

You have to realize that this is not about right or wrong. This is about revenue.

Once you realize that it is easy to fix your traffic ticket. Any time my wife or myself gets a ticket I immediately contact the district attorneys office in the county in which the ticket was issued. I explain that I am a good ticket free driver and am concerned about my driving record (for the purposes of inflated insurance rates). In exchange for a guilty plea, a little cash and no-court hassles, 95% of the time I have been able to get my speeding ticket reduced to a non-moving violation or reduced to "court supervision" which drops of your driving record in 3-6 months. Often, the fee for doing this is less then the fine on the ticket!

The key being keeping a clean driving record for insurance purposes.

Another tactic I have employed:

If the cop isn't in court and you plead innocent the ticket will be thrown out.

When the police officer writes your ticket the court date is a scheduled date for him to be in court. He will write all his tickets as to limit his time spent in court.

That one time calling the DA as mentioned above that didn't work, I went to court and paged the ticketing officer to the clerks office from a pay phone. I hid meekly in the corner and waited to see if he was there. If he isn't, plead innocent. If he is, ask for a contuance. The judge will ask the officer for a day to resume the proceeding. The officer will suggest a date he is already scheduled to be in court. Object to that date and state that it is impossible to be in court on that day. The judge when then schedule his own date. The officer probably will not show up if he has to come to court just for your ticket.



The last defense I used to beat a ticket was inaccuracy. Check your ticket. Is the date right? Sex? My wife was caught in a speed trap in Springfield IL ten or so years ago and the officer wrote down the wrong date. The wife brought a timesheet with her at work at that time on that date... oops.

There were 100 or so people caught up in the speed trap and all with the same court date and time. I gleefully got everyones attention and asked if anyone had the same ticketing officer as us. A little over a dozen people did. I pointed out the date error and all of our tickets were thrown out.

[leehljp]

I have had two interesting "Ticket" situations. One was wrongfully issued; the other was not. Both were when I was in college in the late 60's.

I stopped about 10 feet from the road entrance from a side street, actually behind the sidewalk to let someone cross, which was 10 feet from/parallel to the road. I started up and turned left as a MS HP topped a hill about a 300 yards away. He said I did not stop. He actually didn't see my stop, just my pulling onto the highway from the side street. I had 3 witnesses in the car. I went to court but being a college student, I was wrong.

The next one is funny. I ran a 4 way stop sign in that college town. It was a setup but it backfired on the local police.
It was on the edge of town and on a smaller road that I was unfamiliar with. The sign was dirty, weeds were tall and I did not see it until I was even with it. It scared me to death when I realized that I was running the 4 way stop. I pulled over to the side of the road within 50 to 60 feet past the intersection.

As soon as I stopped, a police car pulled from the side road with its lights flashing. They passed me, went about a 100 yards and turned around. They came back, stopped on the street, rolled the window down and asked me if I was the one that ran the 4 ways stop. I said yes. They asked why I stopped where I did? I said: "The weeds covered the sign and you couldn't see it until you got even with it. I also said, that was a very dangerous intersection. Someone could get killed."

They looked at each other like they had been caught in their setup. They motioned for me to go on. I was really aggrivated about that. It was a dangerous game they were playing just to get some revenue.

[jwaterdawg]

Its been 10+ years since I've had a speeding ticket (as I am writing this I realize I will probably get one on the way to work today, thanks). I was in the wrong each time.

The only success I had in getting one "adjusted" in court was when I asked for "prayer for judgement". This was in NC back in early 90's. Not sure if every state has such a thing, but basically it is a type of probation. If you don't get another moving violation within a certain time frame (1 year, 3years, can't remember) the offense never shows up on your driving record. However, if you do get another ticket within that period you get hit with both when you go back to court.

Luckily, I calmed down my driving and haven't had one since.