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Off-topic TalkWhere overpaid, underworked S2000 owners waste the worst part of their days before the drive home. This forum is for general chit chat and discussions not covered by the other off-topic forums.
Hi there...I'm Mario from California. I'm in Oklahoma right now and will be moving to near Austin come next May. But for now, I'll tell you something about what happened to me the last time I saw Texas.
While driving through Texas I got a speeding ticket and I'd like to fight it. The offense was going 76 in a 65.
I'm in Oklahoma so it would be tough for me to make several trips down to see a judge but I'll do it if it gets me out of this.
Anyhow, I outlined my ideas. Think I have a chance? Any help you guys can give?
I. I wasn't going that fast
-I was making the long trip from Fort Lewis, WA to Fort Sill, OK and had taken a '95 Acura Integra to keep the miles off my S. I was driving through Texas just after midnight on the 24th when I saw a trooper turn on his red and blues behind me. When I first saw the lights, me and my girlfriend We looked down at the speedo thought he just wanted us to get out of the way. The trooper might remember that I hesitated to pull over because I didn't think I was speeding.
A. Automatic Integras are incapable of going that fast without some serious effort
B. I have a witness--girlfriend was in the car
C. Trooper was a sort of witness because he might have seen the hesitation
II. The speed limit signs were confusing
-In that part of Texas, the speed limit signs look like this:
where the first two lines have black text on a white background and the last two lines have white text on a black background
A. Split speed limits are confusing. Driving through nine states, I had never been in another place that had a speed limit like that. In Oklahoma--the only other place I've seen two numbers on a sign--the lower number is a minimum speed.
B. Black backgrounds look recessed and draw attention away from the contents--especially at night.
III. My speed was safe given the conditions
-In Texas, there are "presumed" speed limits which is to say that if I can convince the judge that I was travelling at a safe speed given the conditions then...Anyhow, the conditions could not have been any more safe. According to weather.com, the visibility that night was "unlimited" and the precipitation was 0. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, not a raindrop nor bit of fog on the ground. As far as the eye could see, there were no cars in front of me nor behind me. Furthermore, this stretch of highway had no hills and no curves--perfectly flat and perfectly straight. As before, this can all be corroborated with a witness.
A. High visibility
1. No fog and no rain mean easy to see
2. No hills means no cars hiding over crests
3. No curves means no cars around turns
B. Safe
1. No wetness means dry, safe roads
2. No curves means no difficult turns to make
If you got the ticket in a city, at least the size of Austin you should be able to find a lawyer that will handle it for you. However, they usually don't bother trying to fight the ticket, they just try to negotiate with the prosecutor. I've had it done a few times, but mine happend in a small town and so they couldn't work a very good deal. I ended up having to take defensive driving (which I had already taken), and pay "court fees" of $250 plus the lawyer's fee which was like $150, but it kept the ticket off my record. Also, Texas allows you to take defensive driving once a year to get rid of 1 ticket from your record for insurance purposes. Just call a lawyer in the area, but be prepared to pay. If it was in the city, you probably won't have to pay much other then the lawyer fees.
Originally posted by b0mbrman Nope...it was nowhere near the city
It was as much in the middle of nowhere as you can get.
You're probably out of luck then Most lawyers won't drive out there. You might make inquiries to lawyers in surrounding areas to see if they can try and plea over the phone. That's what I ended up doing, but it ended up costing me some $$$.
Where do you live? My last ticket was in Texas and I lived in California. They don't report to other states, unless this has changed recently. Pay the fine and you shouldn't have anything to worry about.
You don't usually need a lawyer to take defensive driving to keep the ticket off of your record. You can usually only do it once a year and there should be some sort of information on the ticket. At least there always has been when I got tickets when I lived in Austin.
Fighting a Texas speeding ticket. Can it be done?
