I know a lot of you have mentioned that you've taken tickets to court with great success. I would appreciate it if some of you informed "ticket fighters" could shed some light on my current situation.

I realize that I was speeding and speeding is against the law and I don't need any "you have to pay to play" or "speeding is bad" comments. If the consensus is I should pay, I will pay and I will not complain. I do however feel that I was wrongly accused anyway...

Here is the story...

I'm heading south on Cape Coral Pkwy (6 lanes, 3 each way), I've slowed to about 20mph for an upcoming redlight. There is a motorcycle beside me, about a car length back. The light turns green; I downshift to 1st and take it to 9,000. The motorcycle gives chase. I shift to 2nd and take it up to redline. By this point the motorcycle has a car length on me and I lazily shift through 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th. My radar detector goes nuts, I'd estimate I'm around 60mph in a 45. As I slow down he keeps pulling away. I see the cop's lights in my rearview mirror. We both come up to a redlight and I get into the turn lane to go left (trying to get away from the cop and the motorcycle I was "racing"). The motorcycle guy try's to talk some playful trash to me, "What happened man?" I give him a quick look and say "COP!" pointing behind us. The light turns green just as the cop is approaching us. The motorcycle goes strait, I make a turn, the cop follows me.

I pull over, turn the maplight on, and keep my hands up by the visor (I've heard they appreciate you keeping your hands in sight). The conversation is as follows...

Cop: "You can put your hands down. You know I can take you to jail for racing?"
Scott: "I wasn't racing."
Cop: "So you were just going 91 for the heck of it?"
Scott: "Uhh? Yeah?" (So much for not admitting guilt, although I definitely wasn't trying to, he totally caught me off guard! 91!?!?!?)
Cop: "Can I see your license" *I hand over my license, he goes to his car, comes back a few minutes later*
Cop: "What are you doing down here from Tallahassee?"
Scott: "I go to school at FGCU"
Cop: "I wrote you a ticket for 91 in a 45."
Scott: "Did you see the motorcycle that passed me?"
Cop: "All I saw was a little yellow car doing 91. If you're going 91 and a motorcycle passed you, doesn't that sound like you were racing? I WOULDN'T fight this one! You're lucky you're not going to jail"
Scott: "Thank you" *Present hand to shake*
Cop: *Looks confused (apparently no one's shaken his hand after getting a ticket), shakes hand, walks off*

At first thought, this is OBVIOUSLY something you'd want to contest, there is NO WAY I was doing 91. On the other hand, I do not consider pushing the car through 1st and 2nd gear and watching a motorcycle blow by me to be "racing" but it would not surprise me if the courts disagreed. I feel like taking this to court could very easily result in me getting convicted of going 91 in a 45 and street racing, with a much more severe penalty than my current $303 fine.

Note: I'm sure it's hard to tell from the conversation, but the cop seemed to be a decent guy. While his radar gun skills are severely lacking, he was certainly more pleasant than any cop I've ever dealt with before.

Any advise, or help you can provide is greatly appreciated.

 

youre right.

and its always their word against yours. it sounds almost to me like you were on the brink of racing. ive been at redlights with bikes before...i know how things go.

do defensive to keep the points off your license and it takes like 15% off the ticket.

and with that...id drop it.

 

fight it.

There's a good chance that cop picked up the motorcycle on his gun. Was it radar or laser? Do you know?

If there is any chance you going 91, don't fight it. Then he can get you for racing.

 

It was KA band radar, not laser. I completely shut down at the top of 2nd gear to start coasting back to the speed limit. There's no way I was above 65 (granted, that's still 20mph over).

As for the traffic class... it's going to be a couple months until I can take that again

I was just looking over the ticket and it says, "The county judge may impose a penalty not to exceed $500, or require completion of a driver improvement course, or both." Given that information it makes fighting the ticket look much more attractive!

Thanks for the help guys, keep it coming!

 

Dude I am at work cracking up, I think it is really funny you said thank you and shook his hand lol.

 

I guess that was kinda weird but the outcomes were looking like:
1. Jail and Lose License
2. Ticket
3. Get Off Free

Given outcome #2 or #3 I was quite leaving quite happy! A $300 ticket looks MUCH better than spending the night, or many nights, with "Bubba"

 

[QUOTE=Willie Gee,Jul 10 2006, 11:21 PM]fight it.

 

Do you have a clean record? When was you last ticket? If it's been more than 3 years and your record is not that bad you should take it to court. That's what the judge looks for.

If you're saying you were in 2nd gear then you can argue that point in court and explain that it's not possible for your car to go that fast in 2nd! 60 in 45 is a lot better than 91!

 

yea, I understand you wanting to be respectful and all, but after a cop has writen you a ticket theres no reason to be all kiss-ass lol, Goodluck with your ticket

 

Watch this video (the first part anyways) to see how to conduct yourself next time you are pulled over (does not work all the time but at least you will have a better understanding of your rights)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...47761350501823


next, talk to puddydad (ben) he has experience with fighting tickets

or

Talk to SpoonsportsS2k (nelson) his fiance is a paralegal at a law firm that specializes in traffic cases.