Need Advice on Fighting an Unjust Speeding Ticket

Speedtraps.org ^ | 29 December 2009 | 1st Sgt. J.C. Melvin

[bboop]

ha, the trucks had slowed down because there was a policeman? Makes sense.

I agree — she should pay it. I always think, when I get a ticket, that I deserve about 10 for every 1 I get. Or I deserve 100:1. You can take an online course and it won’t go on your record/ at least here in California.

[Georgia1]

If she didn’t pee down her leg, she will pay.

Tell her to do that next time and she’ll get off EVERY TIME !

[Agamemnon]

He did not even get the license plate number on our car copied down correctly.

If this is correct, you are not guilty as charged, period.

I own a 1970 Cadillac "Sedan de Ville," and it is registered in Virginia. Over the > 25 years I have owned this car I have received tickets before which have improperly identified my car as a "Caddy" a "Seville" or as a "de ville."

In each case the charge is wrong. Each ticket was thrown out by the prosecutor in a pre-trial meeting prior to the court session, because I contested that I was not guilty as charged.

First of all, the proper name is "Cadillac." I do not own a "Caddy" and if I was driving a golf caddy on the street I could be charged with other infractions, which at the time I was not, because I was not driving a "Caddy"!!

I do not own a "Seville." Cadillac did not make the Seville in 1970 and when it did so it was not until much later. Seville and Sedan de Ville are not interchangeable terms by any definition.

I do not merely own a "de Ville." In 1970 Cadillac made the 4-door Sedan de Ville, which I own, and the 2-door Coupe de Ville, which I do not own.

Conclusion: Your daughter is not guilty as charged. It may be that some other car was going 77 miles and hour and the officer dutifully clocked such a car, but just not your car.

Sounds like the movie,"My Cousin Vinny" doesn't it?

Bottom line: NEVER admit to anything, and don't play confessor to anything in an attempt to buy "reasonableness" in court. You don' have to. Rules of criminal procedure and rules of evidence demand that a charge be completely accurate. Or to quote Marissa Tomei in "My Cousin Vinny," "Dead on balls accurate." You needn't demean yourself.

It is worth the drive to fight it. A good lesson for your daughter too.

DON'T ROLL OVER ON THIS!! FReegards!

[libertarian27]

A few points in my 1 Million+ miles on the road so far....

Get a Handheld CB and listen to it on the highway.
(very informative for speed traps and accident information)
Always have a Pace Car.
Never drive a Red Vehicle.

I fought a ticket and lost, they reduced the charge - big deal/ The surcharges are the kickers.

PS Don’t bother over paying a ticket and not cashing in the check they send you back -to try to keep it off the books - that doesn’t work :)

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

No, I moved away in 1999, and never had to hire one there since I knew where all the cops sat with their radar guns. I also had a CB in my car and could talk to the truckers, who knew exactly where Smokey was cruising.

[dixjea]

I recently did this. I was annoyed with a ticket I got, although technically “earned”. So I made a list of all the problems with the ticket, like not written correctly, etc, not with the “system”, and I made an appointment with the DA. Technically I did a ‘plea bargin” and pled guilty with the reduced charges but I got $50 off a $120 ticket, not a bad days work.

[VeniVidiVici]

I got a ticket in almost the exact same place. I was coming out of WV, down the mountain on I-77 towards Wytheville, heading back to FL. Bright, sunny and early on a Sunday morning. Cool, crisp and best of all - zero traffic.

My foot wasn't even on the accelerator. I was going about 78 when Barney Fife from the local Sheriff's office nailed me.

Funny part is I usually drive 80mph-90mph but on this day I was just enjoying the morning and taking my time.

I paid the ticket.

[sunbeam99]

Keep in mind, traffic courts do not have anything to do with safety anymore. There are only there to generate revenue.

That being said, I fight all my tickets and have had about a 80% success rate in getting them dismissed. However, it does take more time than just paying it. The traffic courts do not want you to know it, however fighting a ticket is easier than you may think. You do not have to actually be “not guilty” to plead “not guilty”. “Not guilty” just means you asking the Prosecution to prove your guilt.

Prepare for your court date by writing down as many relavant questions for the trooper you can think of. I have had cases where the Prosecution conveniently asked the trooper to leave the courtroom early. He knew I was determined to go to trial. He did not want me asking him questions under oath.

If the trooper wrote down the wrong plate, you have a case because you can argue the trooper clocked a different vehicle and pulled over yours by mistake. Get a copy of something that shows what plates are registered to your vehicle.

Again, traffic courts are only there to generate revenue. Each juristiction is different, so it is hit or miss as to what type of court you get. Some completely ignore your Constitutional rights (i.e. Questioning your accuser, Speedy trial, etc.). I do not recommend lawyers. They are there to make money also. They do not do much other than having you pay the ticket, but keep it off your record. They will make it very expensive for you to do so.

I strongly encourage fighting it. If you lose, but take up a lot of their court time. You probably made them lose money on you anyway because they had to pay for so many people to be there.

Good luck!

[Hank Kerchief]

“She broke the law.”

Good for her. When a law is immoral, or even unreasonable, it is immoral to obey it. Some of the most evil things done in this world are done by “law-abiding” citizens. They are too stupid (or evil) do know there is a difference between legal and moral. They make me sick.

By the way you did not say if you were out of state or not. I used to regularly drive through New York and be ticketed for speeding. I lived in New Hampshire at the time. Just threw the tickets away. Never heard a thing.

Hank

[Buckeye McFrog]

Years ago I got a ticket for doing 42 in a 35 cornfield in Ohio. I had PA plates and they also stopped a guy from Michigan. All of the Ohio locals were breezing through at least at 50. An unmarked car was sitting in a church parking lot at the edge of town running radar, catching us as we started to speed up (the 35 zone ran another quarter mile into the cornfield) The cop had all of his lights off, which I later learned is illegal in Ohio.

Incensed, I took a day off work to go fight the ticket. I signed in and immediately noticed that I was 27th. in line to be heard. I was the only native English speaker in the courtroom. They started the first hearing, taking testimony through a translator. That took nearly an hour. Seeing how it was going down, I stopmed back out to the clerk and paid my fine. Won’t ever make the same mistake again.

[devistate one four]

Traffic court is truely the new kangaroo court.

[dalereed]

Suck it up, the same ticket in California would cost you 4 or 5 times that.

[proudpapa]

“She was going 77 mph in a 65 mph zone as claimed”

She sounds guilty! Hard to tell w/o any pics.

[Red Boots]

I now proudly call that “The Les Miserables” defense.

Protection against excessive fines and penalties is in the Constitution..., but a novel would probably be more well known to the judge.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

"I do not practice law but do have experience in receiving a ticket for something I was not doing."

The person complaining here admits that the young lady was probably doing the speed that the ticket says.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

It doesn’t take 77 to pass a vehicle doing 55. If she was indeed doing 77 in a 65 zone, the ticket is not illegitimate, regardless of how you feel that your daughter was singled out. It is really difficult for a moving cop car to pull over more than one vehicle at a time and you were the lucky winner. Pay up and move on.

[Vigilanteman]

You can pass a semi-trailer doing 55 at 56 mph. But the safe thing to do, particularly when there is a long line of vehicles riding your tail, is to get past as quickly as possible.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

You are relying on the old “everyone else was doing it” excuse. If conditions were so dangerous, why did she pull out in front of a long line of vehicles that were going to ride her tail? Is that what you consider to be the “safe thing to do”? Stop ... face the fact that she was doing 12 mph over the speed limit ... and pay the associated fine. Continuing to debate over whether or not the ticket was legitimate is not teaching this young lady a positive life lesson. It is teaching her to find the loopholes in life when you so something you shouldn’t have done.

[wildandcrazyrussian]

What is a “traffic court”? I was once stopped in what I heard later was a well-known speed trap small town, but the policeman didn’t saying anything about “court”, just “please sign here and mail in the fine”.

[Vigilanteman]

I don't think you read it very well. She was passing on a downgrade with a slow semi AHEAD of her. So was everybody else in the area. Because she is conscientious about obeying the speed limit insofar as possible, she moved back into the driving lane as soon as she was far enough ahead of the semi to safely do so. Everyone else sped on by in the passing lane. That's why she became convenient prey for this predatory cop.