Silver Streakin'

***(If you want the short version, go to the end.)

I was behind 4 cars in the 55 MPH zone and the lead car was some big, white Buick er Olds er some big a$$ car being driving by an old dude at 30-35 MPH. There were 2 passing zones that went by without anyone going around. 1 was clearly open and no one went around. Mind you, I'm driving out of my way to pick up my girl's Wrangler so that I can drive that instead of my A4 to keep the miles off of it, plus my destination was my girl's mom's house on Long Island and they're building an additional workroom/office/guest room(s)/garage and it's a mess then and now. So, the next passing zone comes up, no on-coming traffic, I drop back and take a good run at all 4 of them. The cars were broken up into 2 and 2 with plenty of room to get back in line, if needed. Well, I start to pass them in a .3 mile passing zone (measured afterwards for the trial), but it looked a lot longer to me. The reason why, at the end of the .3 is .1 of a no passing zone, an intersection (that you can't see because of trees, bushes, etc.), then .2 of a no passing zone, the road climbs and you can clearly see another .4 of a passing zone. So, if you can visualize this, when you look around the cars, it looks as if there's a mile passing zone...but it broken up by the intersection. oops. my bad. After getting to car #3, I could see that the lines were double-solid - yikes! I never saw the intersection, but I did see a gas station on the right, which is what I initally thought the reason why the passing zone was broken up into 2 parts. Well, I have 3 choices, (1) brake and go to the back of the line, which probably would've happened beyond the passing zone, (2) get to position #3 of the 5 cars, but I can't because that guy closed the gap when I pass him (fvcker!), or (3) I'm this far, might as well pass the old dude's car too and not try to squeeze in. I chose option 3. I continue on down the road for another mile or 2 and I can see flashing lights about a half mile back. damn! I knew it was for me. The cop was in the gas station and saw the whole thing. Ticket #1: passing where signs say otherwise for $75. Ticket #2: Not properly approaching an intersection for $104. great, there goes $179 to some bum fvck nowhere town in PA. So, I plead Not Guilty, as usual and get a court date. My last ticket was on the NY ThruWay for 87 in a 55, I think. I wrote to the Magistrate requesting the citation be amended to violations with no points for the same fines. I got a letter back saying that I if I paid the $25 court fee and a $15 fine for an inop speedo, the speeding ticket would be dropped. fine with me :-) So, I attempted to do the same thing here. No dice. She wrote back saying that they do not expect any exparte communications for pending trials. So, I went to court with no way of winning it, except the possibility of me fighting that the passing zone needed to end earlier because you can't see around the trees far enough. Thus, it would've need to be at least 900' in 55 zone from the intersection and it was only .1 mile which is 528'. Thus, making it too short to be a passing zone and I wouldn't have ever attempt the pass. This would've been a tough way to win. Anyway...the cop showed up for another trial before mine. So, I approached him, showed him my letter and her response and respectfully requested for him to except my plea. He said it was fine with him and we'll see what the Court has to say. Awesome! :-) Well, she only asked if I had a clean record. yes, I do have a clean record. So, both tickets were withdrawn and 2 new tickets were written for not following a sign correctly, er something like that, for the same fines. I even got my $6 court fee per ticket back because I technically won my trial and had the tickets withdrawn :-)

So, the short story/lesson here: always fight your tickets, write to the magistrate/judge/district justice, etc. requesting a non-point violation for the same fine and see what happens. I'm 4 for my last 4 tickets.

Solaris

Isn't it illegal to pass more than 1 car at a time in those zones?

Silver Streakin'

zone, how to pass and how a car in them should behave, which the cop did see that guy close the gap that I could have filled. That was my other defense. oops... forgot the mention that in the book that I wrote in the other post.

Solaris

and I find myself needing to pass at least 2 cars a lot. I know cops may not like that here in NJ (because I could swear back when I did read the manual, it said it was illegal)

Liam in Montreal

good job

Silver Streakin'

It may be, but I couldn't find the written code.

Silver Streakin'

thanks. I wanted to keep a clean record and keep my 5-year car ins. discount. if they only knew.

JAFO

17 car in one passing zone. on a 2 lane.

TristanP

Nice

[ej257]

Probably too late for me to write a letter about my 3 speeding tickets, but I wouldn't have an issue paying the full fine as long as they didn't give me any points.

I have a court date on August 11 for a 80/55 on the Long Island Expressway.