I have a court date sometime in feb. that I must attend. I was going 86 in a 55 (i slowed down. ) and speed trap. They (the court) completely forgot about my case, till my dad bugged em. The man from the court called back a few weeks later and said "we will drop all charges" because they forgot. I'm so happy. My license would have been suspended for one year. (I am 17, 16 at the time of ticket) Best of luck with your court date, and yes, I would protest it, those bastards.


Andrew

 

One thing to keep in mind...The justice system never forgets, no matter how big or how small the case...

Once, when I was 16, I was pulled over for doing 89 in a 45...The cop said I was actually doing like 93, but he knocked it down a couple mph, so it would not be double the posted speed limit...He said if I was clocked going double the posted speed limit that he had the option to take me to jail right then (This may vary from state to state) He marked the ticket "court" instead of payable...I went to court and stood in front of the judge, who basically asked if I was sorry and realized what I was doing...I said yes and that I was stupid, or what ever...He then asked if I would speed again and of course, I said no...So, he told me that I was to go to traffic school and it would not go on my record or insurance, because I have never been before...

I think I was lucky and the judge was being really nice to me, because like 2 weeks later, he retired!

My advice to the guy who started this thread, is to possibly get a lawyer and have them request you go to taffic school or something, if you have not already...

Good luck with everything though.

 

I suggest you request a rescheduling of your court date (come up with a good excuse), hopefully to occur after that cop's retirement. With each postponement, the odds should increase that he will not show. As others have said, in most cases, if the cop doesn't appear at the trial, the judge will drop the charges (of course, you must know that the cop is not there and plead "not guilty" accordingly). As part of this regular ticket-avoidance strategy, I generally request the maximum number of postponements (I think 2 or 3 here in Maryland). Good luck and Merry Christmas!

 

First, check to make sure that the court has the right to change the court date on you. My guess is that it was not the court but the prosecutor's office that made the request. In that case, you may be able to get the motion for the change denied (the prosecutor's office needs a waiver signed by you to make any changes to your court date). You have the right, I believe, to reject the change in the date since you have the right to a proper defense, no matter how long you require.

Second, contact the National Motorists Association ASAP to get a hold of their legal defense kit. There is a lot of really good information regarding your rights and under what conditions radar can/cannot be used. I do believe that police radar tracks the LARGEST target. If you're passing a bunch of SUV's the radar is reading their returns. Also, the officer is required to estimate your speed visually, etc. before he even looks at his radar.

The officers objections are irrelevant because procedures dictate that he does not lock the radar reading in (use of the auto-lock feature is prohibited - if he did, then he has no radar tracking info following the initial high value and his evidence and "training" come into question - found this out while dealing with a recent ticket). Again, the information provided by NMA really helps out here.

My guess is that your best bet rests with having the original court date reinstated since (depending on when you got the ticket and the "speedy trial" rules in your state are) you have the right to a proper defense. This means having sufficient time to issue subpoenas for the officer and SMD expert, requesting radar calibration records, etc. Also, hiring a lawyer really isn't expensive when you consider all of the costs involved, including insurance. With my last ticket, a good lawyer made one heck of a difference.

 

Not to take away from your story (actually, just to prove that cops often make up a number)...I was riding shotgun with a friend in a rental. He was afraid to break the speed limit in said rental. We noted the posted limit of 45 mph. He drove 42 mph.

As we approached a four-way stop, he broke ever so slightly late, but he came to a full stop. A cop coming the other way barely saw this. After we passed through the intersection, the cop turned around and pulled him over.

I (as a protective friend) asked to see the radar gun's read out. The cop said no and told my friend to return with him to the cruiser. I eventually went back there to see that the read out was blank.

The cop claimed 56 in a 45. In Ohio, 11 over the limit is some magic number (either allowing for higher penalties or disallowing easy dismissal).

My recommendation, arm yourself with everything you can. The cards are stacked against you. Afterall, your dealing with their revenues.

 

I've never fought a ticket, but I know what you are going through. Usually the county/city only wants money. They could care less if you were speeding or whatever your story is. If you want to keep the ticket off your record then maybe the info below can help. If you are trying to fight the system... Ever heard the song "...I fought the law and the law won..." ???

FYI... In Texas you are allowed to take Defensive Driving once per year to dismiss a ticket. The ticket will not go on your record.

If you receive two tickets in one year then you can also go to the prosecutor and ask for "Deferred Adjudication". Basically, you attend Defensive Driving (again), pay the fines, pay the court fees and then they put you on probation for a few months (mine was 6 months). During that time you can't get another ticket. After all of that the ticket does not show up on your record.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by SteveUCI
[B]If this is true, and I suspect it is after all I and others have experienced, we are in a sad state of affairs these days.

 

Here's hoping that my first S2ki post is informative for all.

I can attest to that statement. There is actually very little genuine engineering that goes into roadway design anymore. A design speed is set by roughly multiplying the proposed posted speed by roughly 25%. Once you've got the design speed, go straight to the manual for all the answers. For example, a 110 km/h curve (for some reason Illinois DOT requires metric measurement, even though this road was originally built to English specs, and will be posted in English units) can have a radius of no less than x meters with a superelevation (banking) of x% (sorry, don't have the manual in front of me).

The road could be overdesigned, but that would require purchasing more land, which is a no-no. All of the engineering has been previously done. No need to think about it, just cut and paste. Roadway drainage is another issue (an art, actually), but that's not relevant here.

The kicker is how these criteria were set. Apparently, there was a lot of tire testing back in the '30s and '40s to determine the "side friction" factor for various compounds of tires. According to my sources, many of these results are still used today! Since side friction is THE determining factor for super and radius design, the heart and soul of all highway engineering is based on ancient tire technology plus a factor of safety. Not only that, but the passenger car design vehicle closely resembles a Lincoln Town Car (at least in wheelbase)

But, in these days of massive liability concerns, the world's stupidest drivers, and remnants of "Speed Kills!", nothing is likely to change around here.

 

I'm fighting a reckless driving ticket down in Blount County, TN that I got at the Dragonball Run back in September. In fact, its me and one other S2000 owner fighting the citation. If the cop had gotten me on the Dragon, I probably would not have fought it, but we got the ticket within a few miles of the hotel.

The reason we are fighting the ticket is that we didn't do anything wrong! Its amazing that you can be pulled over and cited for something you didn't do. Hopefully we will get the ticket "deferred" and if we don't get additional tickets for 6 months it will be dropped.

Cost of doing this.... $950 each!!!!!!!!!

Damn small counites and their revenue generating cops!

OK, venting done...

 

Go file to have the court date changed to a future date, saying that you'll be on vacation. This is the first thing my lawyer did- move the date a month or so forward.

Also, you can call the prosecuter as they don't get nearly as fired up as the cops. Explain that you were in a crowd of cars, doubted that you were speeding, and when you asked to see the radar gun's readout, you were denied it.

Chances are the prosecuter will suggest a lesser plea so they get some money still. Remember, its a business to them- they aren't personally vested in the outcome of your ticket- only you are. Keep the emotions under raps and you may be able to clear it without a lawyer.

-B