Biscuit141

This morning (well 2 am) I was coming home from a friends house when coming over a bridge a IN State Trooper coming my way nailed me with instant on. Of course my V1 went nuts but that didnt do me any good. He pulls me over and claims he got me doing 65 in a 40 (which I honestly thought was a 45 0r 50 mph zone oh well). Anyway the problem I'm having is that I WASN'T GOING 65! At the top of the hill I checked my speed and thats how I knew I was going 55 mph. Then the next thing I knew I was being nailed by radar. The ticket doesn't **** me of as much as the fact that I wasnt even going 65 mph. So would you guys contest a state trooper in court or just pay the ticket? Bad Luck

Fairfax 4.0T

You should have challenged the speed right then and there (asked the police officer to see the read-out). If he couldn't show it to you at the time of the incident, he probably made it up. Now, it is your word against his, and guess who wins that one.

STEVE2.7T

there are special traffic lawyers and traffic school so one way or another you can keep the points off you licence. Here you get bombarded with mail from the lawyers a couple of weeks after you have the ticket.

Jon C

I've done traffic court practice in 2 states and have been a judge in one. There is no requirement in most states that the officer show you a reading on his radar. That doesn't mean they don't make mistakes or even make it up sometimes.

Since he concedes he was doing 55, my advice is to find out what is the local court practice there and you can try to reach a deal (unless you insist on a trial, and there are reasons to do that tho' it may not please the court if you concede you were speeding): where I live (Va.) you show up and the prosecutor and cop are there: in this case, I'd offer to plead to 54-55 (54 in a 45 is fewer points in Va. than 55, 10-19 over is another category/fine) and see if they'll take the deal (first be sure the cop is even there, if he no shows you may win; where I live the prosecutor won't deal unless the cop says OK).

Regards,
Jon

ChrisS -2008 A6-4.2

1) How fast did you say you were going when he asked you? Your answer is typically recorded and used as an admission of guilt in court (if needed)

2) Are you solid with your insurance company, any prior tickets? You now have to live with them for 3 years before you can change affordably.

3) Can you afford to spend $350 on a lawyer and have the time, any teenage kids (boys) driving? it might be worth it to have a clean record

4) If you want to go it alone, 1) make sure you fill out your ticket correctly indicating you will fight the ticket 2) When called, plead not guilty and request supervision. <pause and listen to the judge> 3) Immediately tell the judge that you had just checked your speed prior to cresting the hill, admit that you were over the limit atand about to slow when the the officer turned on his lights. In this case 54 is a really good number.

You might get a pass completely, you are likely to get a reduction in the fine. A lawyer will ask for the calibration records for that gun, also if the trooper was qualified on that gun.

Good luck. BTW- there was a really good article in Maxim Magazine around July 2001.
I beleive there was a crash test dummy on the cover. Anyway it is required reading if you play cat and speed mouse.

poontz13

my advice would be to do what Jon C says. I've even written the judge a letter and he made me go to traffic school and he removed it from my record. Also you can always plead No-lo (at least in Georgia you can), you have to pay the ticket, but no points so it doesn't hurt insurance. Personally I have always gone to court and the judge has always been good to work with and those 3 times just dropped the ticket altogether. Good luck, I would fight it and insist that you were doing 55, it's not like they can throw you in jail for pleading your case, just do it in a respectful manner and I'm sure they'll work with you.

poontz13

This is true in GA, it's not a law, but they will show it to you if you ask

Hy Octane

<ul><li><a href="http://www.traffic-school.org/how-to-beat-ticket.html">http://www.traffic-school.org/how-to-beat-ticket.html</a</li></ul>

Biscuit141

Did the officer who isued the ticket show up in court? If so, what did he have to say?

duodallas

On a US highway? rural area?