Lidar only works if the officer isn't moving, and from the guys story it sounds like they were going down a street with a copy moving behind them, so he prolly shot them with K band radar.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Barry WY Silver/Black '01
[B]If the officer testifies that he saw four cars traveling at the same rate of speed and they were traveling as a cohesive group and he timed ANY ONE of the SAME GROUP as 53, then he can stop and ticket all four.

 

Sorry to say, the burden of proof seems to be on you. I was going 70 in a 65 and the cop said I was going 83. I had people in my car to corroborate my story. I still got the ticket, but only had to pay for the 5 over.

My kid got a ticket for going 20 (or something) in a school zone (15). He swears he was doing 15, as did his passenger (wife.) Guess what? The judge believed the cop.

No attorney in either of these cases, though. Good luck.

 

Ten years ago I was following someone on the interstate with the cruise control on my Porsche set to 87mph. The speed limit was 55. A state cop pulled over both me and the Taurus I was following. He wrote me up for 87, which was correct but cut the Taurus driver some slack and wrote him up for 65mph. I went to court armed with a copy of his ticket and a statement from him that I was following him and maintaining a steady distance behind him therefor making it impossible for me to have been going that fast. They threw out the case.

 

hrmm... seems to me like you were just going with the flow of traffic.

Speed limits are recommended safe speeds, not necessarily the absolute.

Get a lawyer. Read that how to get out of tickets book.

 

No, Lidar can only be used when the cop is at a standstill. It is harder to aim with lidar, but gives quicker and more accurate results than radar. Shooting all 4 cars with lidar is more difficult than radar, esp with him moving.

This cop's haphazard way of writing tickets, while generalizing speeds, can easily be dismissed. He did not follow accurate procedures for clocking all of the cars. The most he can do is claim only one car was going 53, unless he had 4 radar readouts.

 

First, in NJ, always, always, always go to traffic court. Do not accept the ticket as written.

Second, theo99 is referring to 'discovery', which you can ask for, and provides all the information the police gathered for your ticket (I'm not a lawyer, I think this is right).

Third, I agree with most of the posters. I believe in NJ, every car must be clocked independently, and the officer needs to prove guilt.

Being this is still in the 1-14 MPH over category (fine + 2 points), I don't believe it will change if you plead guilty to 48 instead of 53.

I would expect based on my experience, that if you spoke to the prosecutor in court, it will be reduced to 'unsafe motoring' (is that correct?), or something else wihout points (the big concern, not the speeding fine is my guess), and end up being $40 fine, $5 court fees, $1 save the wildlife fund, $1 Vietnam veterans fund, $47 total..... pay the cashier outside. This way, the township/county still get their money, but the insurance company doesn't.

I have never, ever, gone to court and not had a ticket reduced in NJ. The only reduction for a 1-14 over speeding ticket is a non-moving violation and fine.

Check with one of the TV traffic lawyers in your area. If you wanted help on this one, its probably worth your time to give them a call.

My latest experience: (Not in the S... I got pulled over for running a stop sign in downtown Trenton NJ at 2AM mid week. My registration was expired by 4 days. Cop gave me a hard time, impounded my car, gave me the running a stop sign and an expired registration ticket.

Got the car back the next day after clearing up the problem with DMV, paying the towing costs, and visiting the police station twice.

In court, I got both tickets reduced to a total of '$47 fine, pay the cashier outside'. I saw a kid with a lawyer, charged with doing 50 in a 25 AND passing a school bus, walk away with fines. Again, worth the call to a lawyer to see what they say. You need to be comfortable in court, not me

 

unsafe driving fine is around $140 for first time after that around $180-$190. Well for me

 

How do we know the trooper was moving and not stationary until the vehicles passed him, then he pulled out and got them?

 

I may have the name wrong. I got one ticket in the past reduced from 82 in a 55 (4 points) to 'Impeding Traffic', no points ~$100 fine. I thought this last one was unsafe motoring, but I could be wrong. I get so happy to hear fine and no points that I stop listening at that point, and start thinking... point me to the cashier.

There are a few no point moving violations. Anyway, even ~$150-200 fine and no points is better than $50 and 2 points. You only pay a fine once, you pay NJ points for a while.