Help Speeding Ticket

[imported_jar2187]

I need some advice, any at all would be great. I recieved a speeding ticket the night before thanksgiving. I was following my brother in law home, we were both doing 50 in a 25, the street is a long stretch for about a mile.(I know I still shouldnt have been going that fast, trust me I am beating myself up for it). Well anyway there wasnt another car in sight, untill all of a sudden I see headlights in my rearview mirror, could barely see them they were so far away. Then I see them gaining fast, I knew this could be good so I put my foot on the brake, big mistake right? The car gains on me about 5 car lengths away and puts his lights on, I pulled over. It was an unmarked green crownvic, red lights in grille and windsheild, RI State Police. Two state police men step out one comes up to my window the other to the passenger side, The officer on the passenger side shines his light all through my back windows looking around , all I had in the back was my detailing stuff. Anyway the officer that comes to my window starts flipping out saying " Are you ````ting me driving that fast" kept saying it over and over. Give him my license and reg. comes back and says I was doing 70mph. No way in hell i was doing 70mph, I dont even do 70 on the highway. My shocks are so shot in my truck that the littlest bump sends the truck rebounding for ever. I know for a fact I was doing 50mph, he gave me a ticket, that says I was doing 70 and that I need to go to court and attend "driver retraining".



The officer wrote he used radar to clock me. I think he tried to pass me and got to 50mph and assumed I was doing 70 cause i never gave him a chance to catch up to me.



I did some research and found that I can ask for a discovery for the measurement device he used, and the training records for him on the device he used or for the devices he was trained on. Using this information against him in court.



I am affraid they are going to take my license away, I am in college and have to commute 30minutes everyday to get to class. I will have to drop out next semester if they take it. This will be my third ticket, I was in an accident in the summer, wasnt my fault but missed the court date so I could plead my case, recieved a ticket for that, so this is my 2nd speeding ticket.



Should I get a lawyer or try to fight it by myself. Parents wont help, didnt tell them yet affarid they will disown me. Told my twin brother, he made me feel like a piece of **** about it, basicaly saying that I am going to cause the insurance company to drop us,(we`re on my mom and dads policy). Any support at this point would be greatful.

[White95Max]

70mph or 50mph, it was very stupid to go that fast in a 25mph zone. Even moreso in the dark.



You could have asked to see the radar gun if you didn`t believe his speed estimate. I don`t think using anything against the officer is going to help you. You were going at least twice the speed limit. The judge is not going to have sympathy for you whether you were going 50mph or 70mph or anything in between.



I can understand your brother`s point of view too. My older brother caused us to be dropped once, because he had two license suspensions and several speeding tickets. I ended up paying more money for insurance because the only company that would take us charged a lot more.



I`m sorry for you, but these punishments are designed to teach a lesson to people that break the law. You could try to get a lawyer. I got a 6pt ticket dropped once because I got a lawyer, but it ended up costing me $300 (ticket) + $700 (lawyer fees) = ~$1000! :(

Considering the consequences of the ticket/points on your record, a lawyer is often a good choice in the long run. I know I learned my lesson.



And yes, it was probably a bad idea to hit the brakes when the car was gaining on you. He probably caught up to you and estimated your speed, and then added 10-20mph on top of that since you were braking.

[pontman43]

Tell your parents!!! You remind me of my brother! It will be worse when they find out! I got a ticket for racing and the first thing I did was tell my parents. They were mad, but not as mad as they were at my brother for gettting a couple speeding tickets that he didn`t tell them about. Anyway I got a lawer, paid $1k, and he was a former DA so he had ties. I got off completely and didn`t have to pay and didn`t get any points. Well worth the money, especially since in CA, racing is a misdomenor (sp?). I was lucky he didn`t inpound my car and arrest me. BTW you might want to learn from your mistakes, if you already had a speeding ticket, dont do it again, or at least get a radar detector.

[MorBid]

jar2187:



First of all relax, I`ve been driving for 20 years now in several states and speeding tickets are bound to occur to anybody. A lady who lives next door to me got one for doing 5 miles over the limit.



Now let`s get our facts straight. I highly doubt you would loose your license over one speeding ticket for 20 miles over the limit (that is unless your state has some law like that).



Here in NYS we have a 10 point system where each violation counts for various amounts of points depending on what it is and/or how fast over the limit you were going. Rack up 10 points in a year and you will loose you license no question.



So your first stop should be the website for the DMV of your state and research on what they can and cannot do to you. I looked it up and you can start here (http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Statutes/TITLE31/31-41.1/INDEX.HTM).



Look at "Schedule of violations" and "Application for dismissal based on good driving record" and "Adjudication of Traffic Offenses"



Plead not guilty either by mail or in person, whatever it indicates on the ticket/summons and ask for a "supporting desposition".



Show up for the hearing and usually the DA or the Cop will offer you a ticket for a lesser offense before your docket number is called before the judge, if they do and you like it then take it, if they do and you don`t like it or they don`t then ask for the matter to go to trial.



You always have the option to go to a defensive drving course which will knock some points off your license.



Now for the insurance half. Again it is highly unlikely your insurance company is going to drop you for one stinking ticket, if they did we`d all be fvcked royally.



But your rate will go up though, and stay up till the ticket drops off (about 15-18 months or so). The more tickets you have the higher the rate. This is the sole reason if for nothing else you want to fight the ticket.



It`s not that your going to loose your license or insurance, which could happened if your a really bad driver but not for one cheesy speeding ticket, but it`s paying the fines and the extra insurance.



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Tell your parents. Your on their insurance policy so if things don`t go your way they will be getting a nice little surprise the next time the bill comes for renewing the auto policy.



Maybe they get mad at you and maybe they won`t. But if you wait till that bill comes I`m pretty sure someone is going to catch a fit and someone else is going to catch hell.



PS



I never tell my twin brother anything, he always "knows" everyting already :)

[C. Charles Hahn]

I was following my brother in law home, we were both doing 50 in a 25, the street is a long stretch for about a mile.



Told my twin brother, he made me feel like a piece of **** about it, basicaly saying that I am going to cause the insurance company to drop us,(we`re on my mom and dads policy).



Well first off, does your bro in law know this happened? Since you were following him, I would think you could argue he was at fault. Get a lawyer, and make sure he pays all your fees.



As far as your twin bro goes, tell him to be pissed at y`alls brother in law, not at you. It seriously pisses me off when I`m trying to follow somebody, and they speed like a maniac. Not only is it more dangerous/accident risk, but I don`t want to get a ticket in a situation like you did.



Oh, and yeah definitely tell your parents. I don`t know how old you are, but the two tickets I got were before I was 18, and the cop actually called my mom after he got back to the precinct. (Yeah, even for a 5-over ticket!) I had to call her pretty much right away if I wanted her to hear it from me and not "Sgt. So-and-so." You do NOT want them to hear it that way, especially with the story this moron cop will try to tell.

[Setec Astronomy]

Just my two cents here. I think Maxy went off on you a little (sorry Maxy); without us seeing the road and conditions I`m not sure any of us can say it was "stupid" to be going 50 in a 25, we all know roads that are under-posted and it`s safe to do 25 over. Second, at least here in NJ, 45 over the limit (which he wrote you for) is a BIG deal. As Morbid talked about, we have a 12-point system here in NJ, and 30+ over is 5 points, and you can sometimes be charged with Reckless Driving for going that much over the limit (another 5 points). It doesn`t sound like he used radar, but that won`t keep him from saying he did in court. I once got a ticket when I passed a cop coming out of a side street; I was going about 50 in a 25, but I saw him as I passed the side street, and by the time he came out, around the corner, and behind me, I was doing 25. He said "I`ll give you 40" and told me he had paced me (which was complete BS...and later they raised the limit to 35 there...see above comments :p). I should have fought that one (4 points). Anyway, here in NJ, 45 over is serious business, the judge has some sentencing latitude (in NJ the local judge can decide to pull your license for 30 days just because he feels like it) and as my cop friend says "don`t go to court without a lawyer".

[C. Charles Hahn]

Just my two cents here. I think Maxy went off on you a little (sorry Maxy); without us seeing the road and conditions I`m not sure any of us can say it was "stupid" to be going 50 in a 25, we all know roads that are under-posted and it`s safe to do 25 over. Second, at least here in NJ, 45 over the limit (which he wrote you for) is a BIG deal. As Morbid talked about, we have a 12-point system here in NJ, and 30+ over is 5 points, and you can sometimes be charged with Reckless Driving for going that much over the limit (another 5 points). It doesn`t sound like he used radar, but that won`t keep him from saying he did in court. I once got a ticket when I passed a cop coming out of a side street; I was going about 50 in a 25, but I saw him as I passed the side street, and by the time he came out, around the corner, and behind me, I was doing 25. He said "I`ll give you 40" and told me he had paced me (which was complete BS...and later they raised the limit to 35 there...see above comments :p). I should have fought that one (4 points). Anyway, here in NJ, 45 over is serious business, the judge has some sentencing latitude (in NJ the local judge can decide to pull your license for 30 days just because he feels like it) and as my cop friend says "don`t go to court without a lawyer".



That system sounds very similar to MI.... in fact it`s almost the same. My very first ticket, I got damn lucky on, too. It was a 3-lane, median divided road, where I was on a non-residential, pretty much non-anything section of it, and it was posted at 35. It was basically like a chunk of highway, so I (stupidly, at 16) decided to blast thru it. I got nailed by a cop doing 76 in the 35, just as I was comming to the end of the chunk and I was going to hit the brakes. Instead of charging me as Reckless, he decided to go with Careless driving, and it was a 3-pt. ticket instead of I believe an 8-pt. ticket. Never did that again :doh

[Setec Astronomy]

A lot of those places that are under-posted are used as speed traps, where the cops sit waiting for people to drive a "reasonable" (and illegal) speed. I am frequently annoyed when this happens, when the cops enforce the speed in "safe" places, where it is easy to give tickets, while ignoring truly dangerous intersections etc. I always try to be careful where I`m not familiar with the roads.

[White95Max]

Just my two cents here. I think Maxy went off on you a little (sorry Maxy); without us seeing the road and conditions I`m not sure any of us can say it was "stupid" to be going 50 in a 25, we all know roads that are under-posted and it`s safe to do 25 over.



I guess you could say I did. Regardless of whether it`s a "safe" road to do that on, it`s still "not very intelligent" to go 50mph in a 25mph zone, and even less so in the dark.



And in WI, I believe 20 over is reckless driving, and double the limit is called something else (reckless endangerment maybe?)



And yes, you should tell your parents. Go ahead and put the blame on your bro-in-law if you want if that will reduce the fit that your parents might have.

[Setec Astronomy]

I believe that reckless endangerment is a misdemeanor, rather than a moving violation, and around here at least, is reserved for when you try and run from the cops (at least in the speeding ticket context).

[White95Max]

I`m pretty sure that running from the cops is called "evading a police officer" around here.

[C. Charles Hahn]

I believe that reckless endangerment is a misdemeanor, rather than a moving violation, and around here at least, is reserved for when you try and run from the cops (at least in the speeding ticket context).



Nah, reckless driving is a misdemeanor, I believe reckless endangerment is considered a felony (since a 90-180 day jail sentence can result)



Here, they`d call running from the cops "resisting arrest" or "obstruction of justice" if I`m remembering correctly.

[Setec Astronomy]

Yes, same here, but when you run, they usually charge you with everything--evading, reckless endangerment, and any traffic laws you broke while running (failure to stop, failure to signal, passing in no-passing zone, speeding, etc.)



BTW--we`re hijacking this poor guy`s thread.

[boywonder]

I think you`d do best to get a lawyer for your particular situation. If this was IL, you`d be screwed because 3 tickets on the same offense is an automatic suspension of up to a year. Fortunately, IL is not a points state. Also, (in some cases) speeding 25 over is considered reckless driving and 40 over is considered felonious speeding and you would have been arrested on site.

[az57chevy]

Go to court. Maybe the cops won`t be there and you`ll get a dismissal.

If his radar showed 70 MPH you can see the calibration records for the unit, his training and verify that he used the tuning forks before and after your ticket.

You can try to argue that the other car was caught on radar but....



Tell your folks I`d ground you and yell but Xmas is around teh corner



It is awful hard to argue with sincerity that 25 over the speed limit is still reasonable and prudent. Your vehicle doesn`t sound the safest and IF there are no other cars in the area why didn`t you see the sedan coming out after you? Lots of scary things happen in the dark.



Pick the right times and places to go full speed