got a traffic ticket

“i was in a 55 mph zone, going about 66-67 mph (honestly), see an undercover police car off in the trees to my right. slow down a little. i then see a police car enter on the highway from an entrance ramp, it follows me for over 1/2 mile, then pulls me over. tells me i was going 78.6 mph. they used vascar to clock me. i want to fight this, but the DJ will probably rubber stamp the cops. my word against theirs. i know vascar isn't totally reliable. any ideas? obviously i was going over, i'm willing to pay something, but not $151.”

“Sounds like a little Internet Research is in order. If you can demonstrate that Vascar is unreliable, I say go for it.”

“I've heard here and there that traffic tickets are relatively easy to fight in court, but I don't know any more than that. Do some research, and fight the power! Good luck.”

“Leave the house 10 minutes earlier and you won't have to break the law.... Baaa -

No really, fight it. The court costs are worth the risk.”

“I've known people who challenged radar readings and were able to get the fine reduced on hearing. It might be hard to convince anyone that the radar was 23.6 mph off, but 10 - 15 mph might be plausible.”

“but...do the crime, pay the fine.

Couldn't you have batted your eyelashes or you could have done what I always do...roll out of the car and fall face down in the dirt and start twitching and writhing, foaming at the mouth. That always works for me.

Good luck.”

“Stikmon - I was in an accident last year and the guy who hit us was having a seizure pretty much like you described. Also driving w/o insurance on a suspended license. Cops hauled him off and towed the car. No pitty at all.”

“man, garfum, i told you i was sorry bout hittin yer car....talk about holdin a grudge. .. . geesh”

“I would fight it in court. I know someone that researched the inaccuracies of rader and had his fines reduced in court.

He showed how the angle of the police vehicle is critical for an accurate reading.”

“My experience with traffic court is that if you go to court, humbly plead that while you were guilty, but not as guilty as the charges indicate, and that you promise not to speed anymore (yeah right), then the Court will almost always dismiss the ticket at costs. Still get hit for a "c" note, but nothing goes in on the record. Too many points on the DL and the insurance is the real cost.”

“Yah what Chili said.
If you go into court and said “well your honor I was breaking the law just not that much”. All he will hear is I was breaking the law. In my opinion if you speed you know the risks and since you are aware of the risks you should pay the fine and consider it a lesson learned and slow down. If you don’t like this method then ask if you can go to driving school instead of the points it will cost more upfront but it will save my much cash later. Speeding in a crime!
Speeding kills people!
Leave for a trip sooner and make the road saver for everyone.”

“NO LIE. Happend in SE Michigan to a close friend of mine about 7 years ago

She was pulled over ("waved" over) by a cop as he was standing OUTSIDE his car after finishing up a traffic ticket w/ another driver. She figured something was wrong w/ her car, so she obliged. When he walked up to her car and asked for her license and reg, she was very confused. Apparently, he could "see" she was driving too fast and waived her over to give her a ticket. She fought this ticket in court saying there was no way he could have known how fast she was going since he didn't have access to a radar. The magistrate told her that police are "trained to recognize speed w/ the naked eye" and she lost the fight.

My point... I wish you luck.”

“I think grunt is a cop in real life.”

“You even admitt you were speeding, so take your lumps. Nothing worse than someone whining about being punished for something they know they did wrong.”

“Do the crime......

Do the time.......

-or-

Do like OJ and hire a bunch of d@mn good lawyers.”

“gear slut, can't you read????

i wasn't going 78mph, i'm more than willing to pay a ticket, i'm not complaining, but if the police is gonna cite me, cite me for something i did. the difference is a lower fine and one fewer point on my record.

some people need a lesson in reading comprehension.”

“this speeding violation is not a criminal matter, and there is no time to serve.

geez, tough crowd.

guess most people here would just roll over without a fight.”

“jmitch...see my first post...I think I comprehended your message.

Second message strictly tongue in cheek humor.....I have a pretty good grasp of criminal law.”

“If this is your first offense beg the mercy of the court.”

“Your lucky the cop didn't pull you out of the car and give you the beating you so richly deserved!

Criminals. Sheesh!”

“Are you that certain that at the time you speed was monitored that you where not doing the speed stated? Believe me police do not wont to make traffic stops unless they have to and in my experience they ALLWAYS cut the stated speed some to give you the benefit of the dough and to account for the small margin of error inherent in all man made devices. The police would much rather be out taking drugs off the street and putting murders behind bars but they MUST enforce ALL laws and because so many people speed it gets a lot of attention and takes up much of there LIMITED recourses and time. Don’t speed let the police concentrate on the scumbags.

And if you are thinking it is victimless crime try telling that so some one who just lost a loved one because someone was in a hurry lost control and killed them.”

“A friend of mine who spends a lot of time in traffic court (long hair, new millennium) says that in his experience, he can always plea down 3 mph with the Prosecutor before his case is heard. Not sure that will help you though.”

“No I’m not a cop use to be an EMT. Brother is still one, as well as my best friend. Have many, many police offices I am happy to call friend and I have seen first hand what speed can and will do. Most people do not relies that you are not as in control of that 2-ton weapon as you think you are. Slow down obey the posted speed limit it is there for your protection. Remember the life you save just might be your own.”

“I don't care how fast you were going, you exceeded the posted the limit and that's enough. So you have to pay more than you think you deserve this time, write it off for the times you didn't get caught. Pay your fine and stop your whining.”

“no, i'm going to fight it. sure highway safety is a priority, but ticketing is also about money, and what a great cash cow it is. not everyone who gets pulled over deserves it, though i did, just not for that speed. guess it's our natural inclination not to challenge authority. the sheep need to stay in line.

gear slut, that's a poor justification, can't get more spineless than that.

chilli, you're right bud, i know you know the law, just sometimes tough to tell who's joking and who's not.

see you all on the highway!!”

“Total BS they nabbed you for more than you were actually going. Fight it! Here's to hoping you win.”

“I can't believe all the lame rationalizations. What a cry baby.

Suck it up Buttercup!”

“i drive a SATURN, they don't go that fast!!! it does 0-60 in about 4 minutes.”

“gear slut, you're wonderful. want to go hiking sometime??? i'll drive.”

“Jmitch, Read these case reports.


http://www.tipmra.com/”

“Seeing as how your browser doesn't seem to recognize the sarcasm font, I figured I should clarify.

I don't think they should have dragged you from your car and beaten you. A quick rap with a riot stick through your car window would have been sufficient.”

“Great site Griz,,,,I didn't have time to work down to the "pricing" page though.

Probably costs more than the ticket...lol.”

“You'd better do a little research before you do.

Speed Trap Exchange”

“'Believe me police do not wont to make traffic stops unless they have to ...'
grunt
11:10:39 AM

Not always, sometimes it is their primary job. When it is a money-generating speed-trap getting tens of millions of dollars per year from out-of-state drivers, like on I-65 in KY, it is operated as a business.”

“I admit that I speed almost all the time (only slow down when Newergirl is in the car). Heck, I drive 400-500 miles a week. On top of that regular weekly driving, I drive an added 600 miles about one weekend a month. With all those miles I've been pulled over 3 times since last fall. I got out of every ticket. All of them gave me warnings. I'll be the first to say that it is because I'm a girl. I think the highway patrol are always harder on men. Maybe I'm a gigantic law breaker (and I will pay any ticket I get, I would never argue it), but sometimes you just got places to go.”

“Gear SLUT, how much is the fine for solicitation? I only ask because you seem so knowlegable and violin's going to need that knowlege soon.”

“Nowslimmer
If the speed limit is clearly posted and the person in question is exceeding that posted speed limit then that person is a criminal. It is not a speed trap it is enforcing the law. And if there is enough tickets writing in a location to generate millions of dollars then they should be their writing tickets and slowing them down. If on the other hand the speed is not posted and you are ticketed then fight it because this is in dead a SPEED TRAP.
As far as the out of state drivers have you thought that because they are the majority of the users of this road it would reason that more out of state cars will be ticketed. Not bad cops just statistics.”

“Grunt, are you sure you're not the mayor of Waldo, FL?”

“Artex
just won the prize come on down we will hook you up with a great job busting out of state tourists. You get 15% of tickets and 80% of all your bribes. With a business like this we need all the help we can get.”

“Sorry I wouldn't know
For I am a slut
Not a ho”

“violin,

i see, i see, maybe i need the lesson in reading comprehension, or reading-in-between-the-lines comprehension.

i'd rather be beaten then raped by the system.”

“grunt - grunt - When 10 to 12 State Vehicles are all busy issuing tickets as fast as they can, and from the exact same location, I cannot help but call it a speed trap.

After a 67 mile road work area, the speed limit went from 55 to 65 for a short distance. Then it dropped again, on a downgrade and as the road curved a bit, the lazers were waiting. It was difficult to slow immediately without obstructing traffic and being endangered.

This site is a gold mine for KY. I would much happier pay a toll. And, yes, the road was travelled mostly by out-of-staters, who cannot vote the KY Politicians out of office, nor can they appear in court to protest, etc.

This was my first speeding ticket in 35 years, the second in my life. I have been driving for 55 years, 25,000 to 30,000 miles per year. I am not objecting to the ticket, only the manner and spirit in which it was issued. Below, it shows that the trap was in existance in January of 2001. From the activity of 10 cars operating 7 hours per day, it should generate 40 to 50 million dollars per year in this one location for the great state of KY.

Following the above link to the Speed Trap Exchange I found:

City: Bowling Green
Location: I-65 N & S
Time of Day: Any time
Level of Enforcement: High
Type of Enforcement: Radar
Date: 1/2001
From mile marker 14 to about mile marker 36 is heavily enforced especially in the construction zone from mile marker 23 to mile marker 30. This area also has stationary radar machines that alert you to your speed as you pass by them.”

“Compelling argument, NS. I would also agree that speeding tickets are generally used as a source of revenue for states and thereofre are not always handed out with the impartiality we would hope for from our law enforcement.

Sort of like the NBA officiating in game six of the western championship series.”

“When AAA first named Waldo, FL a speed trap, a report surfaced that 78%, yes SEVENTY EIGHT percent, of the town's income came from speeding tickets.

I don't call that a speed trap, I call that rape.”

“jmitch, VASCAR is a timing device and is supposed to be quite accurate. About the only chance to beat it would be to challenge whether it was synchronized right before the cop went out on patrol. It has to be set each and every time.
My other question would be your own speedometer. You can check it out on a road where you could travel 60 for a couple of miles by checking the mile posts. You would pass one every 60 seconds if the speedometer is registering right. If your speedometer checks out, then the cop probably didn't set things up right.
What they do after getting their VASCAR unit set up is measure a distance from one landmark to another. When a car enters the first mark, they hit a button. When it hits the second mark, they hit another button. That registers how much time it took for that car to traverse that pre-measured distance, which yields the speed the car was traveling.
Good luck with it.”

“I always use a jammer & R.Detector.

8)”

“Mike, you are my hero. I need one of those babies as much as I'm on the road.”

“They were great!!!!!

Jammers are hard too find but when you find one make shure it jams all bands!

And they are $$$$$$$

8)”

“I guess I shouldn't really worry about it. So far being a girl has paid off, but it does slow down a trip when you have to pull over and spend time getting all your info. out and chit-chatting w/ the patrolman.”

“Jammers and RADAR detectors don't work against VASCAR. VASCAR does not employ emissions like RADAR does. VASCAR is a timing device, plain and simple.”