speeding ticket

[jerrye]

[QUOTE=drumpriest;228367]
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.

Very true. Have many friends that are cops, and BIL was a cop. They have bad days too, although most people think they shouldn't be allowed to.

What waterdawg is describing is Prayer for Judgment Continuance, or PJC. In NC it is a three year continuance; after that the case is dropped. One per household in a three year span. If at any time in those three years anyone else in your household gets ticketed, the PJC is applied along with the new ticket. Had a judge stop court to explain this one time I went, because people were wasting theirs. NC has many counties that now have expedited traffic court in which if you plead guilty the DA automatically gives you the best deal you'll get, usually enough reduction to avoid insurance points. Have had two reduced this way, in two different counties.

[cabinetman]

It may be too late for this, but taking your chances and dressing for the occasion and being the nice guy works if you are in court. I've had two cases dismissed in court for speeding by getting continuances for as long as possible. The officer that wrote the ticket has to appear, and the court tries to bulk the cases that way.

In one case, the delay went on long enough, the cop was no longer on that force, and on another case, which was an air patrol officer and a ground officer, the air officer didn't show, and the paperwork was not there.

If you can still get a continuance, use a believable reason, it may not be too late.



"I'M NEVER WRONG - BUT I'M NOT ALWAYS RIGHT"

[parnelli]

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

In my county, you don't even need to call anybody or even show up to court for court supervision. Pay an extra 20 on the ticket and you've got 90 days court supervision. If you don't get another ticket in those 90 days, it disappears. And we don't have points here, so it's like it never existed.

One certainly does get the impression it's about the money.

[radhak]

Too late for you anyway, but still -

I used to get traffic-tickets very frequently years ago ( ) , and on my own could never manage to 'reduce' its impact in points/fines once it went to court.

There was a time I exceeded some limit (of tickets/points at any given time) and was 'on probation' for a year. Of course was stopped twice during that year, but I talked my way out serious points by appealing to the cop - look, if you ticket me, i lose my license, can't get to work and have to starve; he - okay, you can have a 'seat belt not worn' ticket

Last year, I got another for turning on red at a 'no turn on red'; I paid $79 to an attorney, and she sends me an email in a few months to tell me the case was dismissed.

This year I get another for a 'rolling stop' at an all-way; being in an 'lemme try this' mood, went with another attorney (cheaper at $49). Again, she tells me not to worry, and I get a letter weeks later to tell me the case just went away. Even my wife does not know about this 2nd time!

For the record, other than the 'no turn on red' ticket, I was guilty every other time.

Maybe it's just south florida, but looking at my batting average, my advice to anybody who'd listen is to lawyer-up. Worth more than the money/points saved.

While I am curious to know how the lawyer thing works, am happy that it just does

[25]

I think I can say that any traffic ticket I have recieved was well earned. I think I could even say that I owe a few for the number I have been giving warnings for. I won't say that since I don't want to press my luck.

As far as beating a ticket, I have never really tried once it was written. Best ways of not getting the ticket written, be polite, don't look like a kid, and only get pulled over in the town you live in.

[Cheeky]

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

That is hilarious. I can't thank you guys enough, Warren and crew.....thanks for calming my nerves.

I have faith in the justice system, and hope my belief will hold true after tonight....once again, thank you very much to all that contributed with valuable insight.

Best,
Pete

[Mrs. Wallnut]

Now I have been lucky and have only been pulled over three times since I have had my liscense. One was because I was speeding and didn't have a seatbelt on, only got the ticket for no seatbelt as the pick up was borrowed because I was moving a friend and didn't realize that the speedometer was off by five miles an hour. I just paid the ticket at the time that was only 47.00.

And this last time was funny. I was on a two lane highway and was in my own little world and thinking of something else and when I looked up coming the other way was a sherriff's car and when I saw him slow down and pull to the side to do a u-turn I looked down and notice that I am doing , I think 7 over the 50 mph limit, well knowing that he was after me I pulled over to the side of the road and grabbed all the paperwork that he would need and had it ready and he asked me how fast I was going, I told him the truth an he checked everything out and then came back and explained they were doing a patrol on the road for speeders and to just watch it next time, so I went on my way after he told me that he liked our GMC Yukon, "Well have a good day and nice rig by the way" was what he said to me.

And I didn't even have to cry to get out of that one .

[Warren]

Little to do with the original post, just a couple of observations on the state of traffic enforcement.

It's interesting how the attitude of traffic enforcement changes from state to state, and even county to county. When I was a copper we didn't have quotas, they didn't want to slow us down. I was allowed to issue warnings or citations, as many as I wanted.

I knew of a county in Georgia where the justice of the peace often accompanied the officers. A citation would be issued and the JP would issue a finding and fine at the same time. If I remember correctly the State of Georgia had signs placed at the edge of the county warning travelers of the "speed trap" mentality. I remember that as a young airman stationed in VA that we were warned to avoid the area. Most of the irregularities and heavy handedness in traffic enforcement stems from the desire of the local government to increase revenue. They use the cops as a source of revenue,

When I was a patrol officer I might make two or three traffic stops during a shift. As a traffic officer I made that many in an hour if I didn't have accidents to investigate. My objective was the reduction of accidents and I took it seriously. I also advised violators that I was not a member of the bar and therefore couldn't hear testimony . . . so they should save their stories for the court.

I never issued a citation when I was mad, if I heard a novel and funny excuse, I might issue a warning instead of a citation. Did I let people talked themselves into a citation when I was intending to issue a warning? More than once. Did I ever make a mistake? Not as far as I was concerned. Did I ever lose a citation in court? Twice a judge found the violator not guilty. More than a few times the judge would find the violator guilty, but would then reduce the points, fine or both. I think the judges do this in an effort to placate the officer and the violator.

I did not have a vested interest in the disposition of a citation. I did my job and the judge could do whatever he thought was necessary. Judges have to take many things into consideration, economic situations, remorse, etc. I only had to determine if a violation occurred and issue a citation. While I had the latitude to ignore a violation, issue a warning or issue a citation I tried to be as even handed as possible and leave the nuances up to the court.

[ironhat]

A short story in favor of the officer; I rolled up on a guy who thought was poking along, looked down and I had already *slowed* to 65 in a 55 zone. Moments pass and there's a blue light (unmarked car) behind me. He says, "Do you know why...", I said, "Yes, I know I was way over because...", He asked me to repeat it and I did (knowing full well that common 'wisdom' says not to offer anything. He then stated that I was going 19mph over. In short, because of honesty, I hope, he saved me from large fines, points and mandatory drivers ed. The fine was still $131.50. Sorry, a bit OT.

[Russianwolf]

First I will point out that if you were doing over 45 before you passed the 55mph speed limit sign, then you are in the wrong. If you were after the sign, then you can always ask for a jury trial. Jury would likely give you a better shoot than just the judge if he's in a mood.

I've had tickets and been left off with warnings. Once I was ticketed for speeding while being passed by another car. Didn't think he got the right person, but I was technically speeding since I was doing 5 over. I also had one let me off and keep me in the car for about 20 minutes which probably saved a life that night as I was going to beat someone within an inch of their life if I caught up with them. I've always been respectful to the cop and never offered an excuse to the judge.

One time I was written up for 45 in a 35 and went to court. Listened to all these people "explaining" why they were speeding, etc. Judge was nailing every one for as much as he could. my turn came and it went something like this.

"Mr. Shue, you are charged with 45 in a 35. How do you plead?" Judge sits back.

"Guilty"

Judge looks at me for a minute. kinda waiting.

"Mr. Shue, I'm going to cut you a break. It's a two point ticket, but I'll cut the fee to just court cost."

"Thank you your honor"

(I was doing 70).

[Warren]

Pete:

Well?

[Cheeky]

Warren,

sorry for the delay

the justice system wasn't even tested, as the trooper failed to show up. the DA only talked to me for about 2 minutes, as i presented my receipt and letter i sent him. he subsequently offered to withdraw.

once again, thanks for your (and others') insight.

if anything, i was entertained for 1hr 45 minutes, as I watched a Larry David type judge in action

[Knottscott]

Cool! Justice was served!

[onedash]

When I was at Camp Lejeune I had two Marines get tickets from their home state of New York. They were spread over 8 months or so I think but they were both at Camp Lejeune on the days the tickets were issued. One was probably to blame on her sister who she thinks gave them here name. The other may have been the same but a friend or something.
I thought it was funny that you could get a ticket issued to any name you gave. We had the CO sign a letter and sent it in both times and one still got fined. I think one or both had a warrent issued for failing to appear in court and thats what started the whole thing.
I think we sent them to legal but I don't recall if the one actually paid the fine or not.

[Warren]

'Tis a facinating process. Officers failing to appear is always a problem. If my guys didn't have a good excuse, they got a day off without pay. The usual problem was that a higher court had them. That I excused. At $35.00 an hour for a 10 hour day they usually started going. I felt for them though, even with OT pay, court on your days off was a real drag on the family life. Court on your work day could easily result in a 14 hour + day. The court system up here wasn't interested in anything, but the comfort of the judges, so we didn't have night court until after I retired.

Night court and weekend court for traffic violations just seems to make sense to me, for the violator and the officer both. Most companies don't pay employees for traffic court appearences unless the citation was recieved in a company vehicle. Making a violator take time off from work to contest a citation is like fining them even if they're found not guilty.

Sorry! Don't know how I got off on this tangent. I'll shut up now and pour a Guiness.