Wanna help get me outta Traffic Ticket?

[Balgus]

I was driing over the grapevine in California (From Socal to Central Cal) and was driving 75-80 ish (speed limit 70 but no one drives less than 80)

Cop on the other side of the freeway makesa fatty u-turn and pulls me over. He writes up a ticket for 95 mph. I ask him for proof that i was speeding and he could not show me (radar gun, readout, nothing)

So I am planning on contesting it - but dont really know how. Any ideas?

Thanks a bunch.

Edit : this is Kern county - the place where everyone gets a ticket...

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Try this? (disclaimer: I have no idea the value of any of the information on the link)

 

[RithTheAwakener]

If I'm not mistaken, you can just go to the court hearing for the ticket. Most cops don't bother showing up to defend their ticket, so you can get off just from that, but if he does just say that he gave you no viable proof (which they're required to give if asked for IIRC), and you should be fine.


Note: I havn't done this, but a number of friends have had this happen, and have contested and gotten out of a ticket by doing this.

Edit note: this information was coming from Southern California, may not apply to "Kern County", or anywhere else. May cause upset stomach, diharea, or brain hemorrhaging.

 

[Torm]

I Am Not A Lawyer, and this is advice is represented as being worth what you paid for it - nothing. But:

1. I would highly recommend seeing if you can speak to your assigned judge ahead of time. Once in court in front of everybody, a lot of judges like to play hardball to make a good "we don't stand for that sort of thing here" sort of show. (In some places, judges are elected officials and this is even worse.) But in private they can be much more reasonable.
2. If you DO end up in the courtroom, request the officer's radar gun calibration records. Many officers won't be able to produce them or they will be outdated.
3. At all times when dealing with police or court officials, no matter what sort of plan or scheme you are trying to use, be as humble as possible and NOT SMARMY. In some jurisdictions I've experienced, it won't matter a bit how legally good an argument you present is if you do it in a way that annoys these people - they'll figure out grounds to ignore your argument or get you for something else anyway.
4. If this county is intentionally speed-trapping to supplement their funds, they may care more about the fine than anything else. Many jurisdictions will accept a plea of Careless Operation of A Motor Vehicle or similar, which is a larger fine but no points off your license.

Good luck.

 

[LightPhoenix]

If I'm not mistaken, you can just go to the court hearing for the ticket. Most cops don't bother showing up to defend their ticket, so you can get off just from that, but if he does just say that he gave you no viable proof (which they're required to give if asked for IIRC), and you should be fine.

Note: I havn't done this, but a number of friends have had this happen, and have contested and gotten out of a ticket by doing this.

While this works sometimes, depending on the judge, this is actually a myth that you can do this. The judge can simply postpone the hearing to future date and request the officer come in. It doesn't happen often, but don't take your chances, IMO.

My experience, and this is upstate NY - Cortland county, well renowned for tickets - so it may not match yours. Basically, there was a line of people, an ADA, and every ticket got pled down to a lesser charge, usually for no points. Heck, I actually was doing... well, let's just say FAST, down I-81, and between the ADA and the officer (who only wrote me a ticket for 19 over the speed limit... in NY, 20 is when you can lose your license) I got off with no points, but a pretty hefty fine.

This is why the no-officer thing usually works... most tickets usually get pled down anyway, so they're not going to bother. However, if they're determined to nail you, they will and can.

 

[Jdvn1]

This happened to a friend of mine; it was nearing dark, so he had his headlights on, but the guy passing him doing 15 over didn't.

I happened to be in the car, and we were actually looking at the speedometer as for some reason the we were actually talking about speeding, so I know he wasn't speeding. The cop apparently wasn't paying attention because he didn't see the guy speeding by (ironic, I guess), and pulled over my friend instead.

 

[Sidekick]

While I don't agree with the cop writing you up for 95 I'd not go there and try to say that you weren't speeding.

I'd go there, admit that you think you were driving at 80, which "yes your honour is over the speed limit" and you'd be happy to pay the fine for 80.

I'm guessignthat it's a lot less and hey - you were speeding after all!

 

[Umbran]

While this works sometimes, depending on the judge, this is actually a myth that you can do this. The judge can simply postpone the hearing to future date and request the officer come in. It doesn't happen often, but don't take your chances, IMO.

Rare is the court system that has the extra space on the calendar to take the time to hear traffic tickets multiple times. They really do have better things to do with their time. If the cop doesn't show up, and you do, the judge will usually dismiss. Of course, if the cop does show up, then you do have ot defend, so you need to be prepared.

 

[IcyCool]

You know, while you might be able to contest the ticket if the officer isn't there, I'm relatively certain that all the officer has to do is prove that you were speeding. He doesn't have to prove that you were doing 95, just that you were speeding. I could be wrong on that, however.

And to echo Sidekick, you were speeding, so you should probably go, admit that you were doing 75-80, and contest on those grounds. As an officer friend of mine used to say, "It doesn't matter if the guy in front or behind you was speeding, that has no reflection on the fact that YOU were speeding." When a string of cars would go speeding by, he would randomly pick one (he couldn't stop them all) and stop them (so it wouldn't matter where you were in the line, you could still be stopped).

 

[LightPhoenix]

Rare is the court system that has the extra space on the calendar to take the time to hear traffic tickets multiple times. They really do have better things to do with their time. If the cop doesn't show up, and you do, the judge will usually dismiss. Of course, if the cop does show up, then you do have ot defend, so you need to be prepared.

Also true. It's just that everyone holds this up as an absolute way to get out of tickets, and it's not really. If they want to nail you, they will. Especially in a situation like mine, where fifty or sixty people were in the room were waiting in line. If the very first person uses that defense, then everyone else who uses it will try to - better for them to prosecute one than let go fifty.

Not related, but all the cops I've met have always said it's always better to tell the truth, straight off, right from when you get pulled over. Apparently, officers aren't really fond of traffic duty any more than we are. When people make it a hassle, they tend to get annoyed, and come down on you harder.