Need help fighting a speeding ticket.

I got a speeding ticket. The officer said I was going 100 mph. I have a governor on my vehicle that usually will not allow the vehicle to reach that speed. The max speed on my vehicle is about 97 mph. Do I have a case?

Also, the cop said he paced my car going this speed (which he did not).

There is all the stress, risk and hassle in fighting it or you can just pay it and move on. If you do not enjoy legal battles then consider it a donation to your local police force.

If you get the governor independently checked and verified it is working correctly it will help your case.

a reply to: smithjustinb

How So? Fastest speed I know of is 75mph and one road in AZ 100mph. Go to court, check in someone will see you just before that and drops the fine 1/2. Might not get any points off, gotta be at least 3!

Or add costs on said ticket. cheaper paying or going minus lost work Hrs. Thats It! Use to be that way in 1999.

Peace

a reply to: smithjustinb

I guess you have a case cause he got your speed wrong, and I think when they pace they get an approximate, so if your were going say 95 and he paced your he might of thought you were going 100.
Sounds like you were speeding regardless but I guess it will all depend on how the judge sees the argument of the cop possibly getting the wrong speed.
Is that what your hoping for? That it will get tossed case he didn't peg ya down to the exact mph?

originally posted by: kwakakev
There is all the stress, risk and hassle in fighting it or you can just pay it and move on. If you do not enjoy legal battles then consider it a donation to your local police force.

If you get the governor independently checked and verified it is working correctly it will help your case.

I think $350 and 6 points on my license is worth the hassle if I can beat it.

a reply to: Sremmos80

Well I was also planning to get a trial by jury. So that wouldn't leave it up to a judge.

Please note that I'm not offering any advice. You can find that in websites on the internet, just do a search for them.

But my opinion?

Officer: Your honor, I paced defendant's vehicle and my speedometer indicated he was going 100 mph in a ______ zone.

smithjustinb: I couldn't have done that, your honor, my car has a governor.

Judge: All right, and to what speed is your vehicle limited?

smithjustinb: About 97.

Judge: Hahahahahaha! (If you're lucky) otherwise, "That's your defense? You're wasting the Court's time with that? If you don't have something better to offer, you're getting the full fine and points."

Again, just my reaction.

So what was the speed limit and how fast were you going?

Even if the "governor" on your vehicle limits you to 97........isn't hat still speeding?!!?

a reply to: smithjustinb

Trial by jury for a speeding ticket? You will spend more in fees then the ticket will cost I am pretty sure.
And it seems to be your only point is that the cop didn't get your MPH exactlyright.
Seems to me that you were still speeding regardless.

I think $350 and 6 points on my license is worth the hassle if I can beat it.

And wow... that sounds cheap.
I got a similar dollar amount for going 80 in a 70.
you could prob claim lenience and get the points taken off without the hassle of the fight

What speed were you going?

100+ is possible with a governor of 97mph. You could have been going downhill in relation to gravity even if the road didn't look like a decline.

Best bet is to write a letter to the D.A. that will be prosecuting the case asking for lenience due to financial difficulties. You will then appear in court where a judge will give you a plea bargain to a similar or lesser fine with NO points, and this will be almost guaranteed to work since by doing this, your fees will go to the court rather than the state, and that's a win for the judge.

Don't take it to a jury. Far too much hassle/cost. If you want to fight it, you'll have a far better chance arguing your case to a judge.

Not too sure on your local state laws regarding "pacing" as legitimate evidence (do some research, there are many online resources to help with this) but it seems like it would be your word against his. And we all know how that goes, since cops never lie.

But, if it had been radar based, a good bit of advice is to ask to see the radar calibration certificate as evidence. Sometimes, departments will allow these to expire unknowingly, as they have to be renewed (usually annually.) If it is not current then the radar reading would be inadmissible as evidence, voila, case dismissed.

You also have a very slim chance of the officer who issued the citation not showing up on your court date. Saved my butt once!

But, in all honesty... Come on man, you got busted doing, what, at least 20-25 over? I doubt you'll get much leniency.

a reply to: smithjustinb

So if I get this correct, in your country a policeman can drive behind you, check his speedometer and his observation is enough to give you a ticket??

That's rediculous!!

Where I come from one police officer in a car can never make a case because he would have to have an other police officer present to witness his findings. Also the violation has to be recorded by equiptment that is calibrated periodically and can only be executed on a straight stretch of road (because individual vehicle velocity differs in corners and curves).

Simply by requesting an official calibration report I have already avoided paying a couple of fines....

With the way your system works I'd say you are better off paying the ticket.

Peace

a reply to: operation mindcrime

Sad, but true. I've even had officers refuse to show me their radar gun readout at the time of initial contact.

While sitting in their passenger seat (standard procedure for any State Highway Patrol encounter in my state.) And it's far from an uncommon occurrence. Actually, two years ago I noticed while getting a seatbelt violation from a State Trooper, that they don't even hand write tickets anymore. The citation is printed out like a receipt you'd see from a cash register in a store. Unreal.

The one option you may have is to plead it down to a lesser moving violation.

Frankly you are lucky you only got a speeding ticket, some states and municipalities give reckless or unsafe driving for anything in triple digits.

So they will drop it down to ninety seven MPH. Great strategy.

I used to travel one long straight section of secluded highway on my way back home to Hancock from Sheboygan WI when I worked there at between 120 and 140 MPH. Never got a ticket, the cops sat in one spot so I slowed down there to seventy five. Almost everyone did over seventy five on that stretch, I bet they made a lot of money on that little corner on the highway...

originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: smithjustinb

Trial by jury for a speeding ticket? You will spend more in fees then the ticket will cost I am pretty sure.
And it seems to be your only point is that the cop didn't get your MPH exactlyright.
Seems to me that you were still speeding regardless.

I think $350 and 6 points on my license is worth the hassle if I can beat it.

And wow... that sounds cheap.
I got a similar dollar amount for going 80 in a 70.
you could prob claim lenience and get the points taken off without the hassle of the fight

I recall the OP mentioning that the police officer in fact did not pace him.

If you have a witness you will win hands down. If you had someone else in the car with you then confur with them and cooberate your story. Once you do that then simply appear in court with your story and its multiple people against one police officers story. You will win hands down.

Other than that you will lose ESPECIALLY if you signed the ticket. signing the ticket you are standing witness against your self


-Alien

a reply to: Alien Abduct

Cause no way the guy that doesn't agree with the ticket is lying to us about how the event went down.
Hard to say for a fact the officer didn't pace him, unless you just want to take his word as the truth no questions asked

a reply to: smithjustinb

The real question is: Just how fast were you going? Were I in a jury for something like this, I hate to say it, but I'd still ask that question.

Also, as much as I'd love to tell you to "stick it to the man", the facts are kind of against you at this point - the best I can see you getting is possibly a notch down on the speeding part, and that's if the lawyer is pulling all the right tricks. As for the cost, I guarantee that you are going to pay more for the person representing you than the actual ticket itself, unless you have a family friend that can help you out.

The danger of getting the jury involved is that you have to have evidence to support your claims that you did not meet what the ticket said you did. The police already have a one up on you, in that they have:
1. The printed ticket, time, and place.

2. Anything you said to them during the stop on record. Obviously, if you just answered the questions with the typical "Yes Officer...No Officer...I don't recall that officer", it will be better for you. Now, if you got combative, or starting saying things like "I didn't do this...but I can only go 95 in this car...etc".

Finally, to end my doom-and-gloom post, are you planning to use the fact that you have some kind of device to prevent you from going those speeds as your main argument? I can't see a judge accepting that as the sole piece (one could counter that if the speed gun were broken, then it's also possible that this device didn't work).

-fossilera

PS: You do realize that they could use this ATS post in court, if the police really wanted to get you nailed for the ticket, right? When you go to court, everything you post publicly is fair game.

originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: Alien Abduct

Cause no way the guy that doesn't agree with the ticket is lying to us about how the event went down.
Hard to say for a fact the officer didn't pace him, unless you just want to take his word as the truth no questions asked

Uhh... why would I lie?

I'm looking for advice. It would be in my best interests to give my advisors all the details about what went down if I want advice that corresponds to what went down.

originally posted by: fossilera
a reply to: smithjustinb
PS: You do realize that they could use this ATS post in court, if the police really wanted to get you nailed for the ticket, right? When you go to court, everything you post publicly is fair game.

Of course. But, I doubt they are going to do a ats or google search before the speeding ticket trial.