Speeding Tickets

[Deneb]

Re: Speeding Tickets

No, signed the ticket in PA does not admit guilt, it even says on the ticket signing this line only acknowledges you were given a ticket, and not that you're guilty. In PA they passed laws, to prevent people from not signing, then just saying the cop never gave them the ticket.

The plea information is on the back, where they ask you to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.

[charvelguy]

Re: Speeding Tickets

ahh, sorry, I'm eatin crow again (and they ain't tasty). Statutes vary from state to state obviously.

[RacerX]

Re: Speeding Tickets

Just start wearing friggin' diapers you weirdo! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Ace]

Re: Speeding Tickets

If you don't sign the ticket in CA they haul you right off to jail. You can call your attonrey from there. Signing a ticket in CA is not an admission of guilt, just a promise to appear.

[shreddermon]

Re: Speeding Tickets

Last time I got a speeding ticket was about 2 years ago. Crappy speed trap to nail people just as their leave the little POS 10 mile-square town. Down on its luck-town. I was LITERALLY two car lengths from a sign for the higher speed limit he nailed me at. (45 in a 30. [img]/images/graemlins/eyes.gif[/img] ) Still wrote me up - an obvious town "revenue raiser" that had nothing to do with safety.

I tried to fight it. Had my bro-in-Law (who's a cop) call up the ticket writer and see if he'd cut me a deal. He seemed fair and said they'd try to plead me down. So I show up for court, wait 4 freakin hours with the dregs of humanity, and finally get my case called.

The corporations counsel (the town's lawyer, basically) pulls me into a side room and offers me a deal - plead it down to rolling through a stop sign (2 points, IIRC) and a $125 fine. I give him the story, connections, and he repeats the deal and says it's the best he can do. No negotiations, so I take it.

Wait my turn for the judge. The guy in front of me is wasted in the court. They go through his case. He was DWI (...surprise, surprise...), speeding, lost it, flipped his car on some dude's front lawn. Did hundreds of $ of property damage, fled the scene, but was caught quickly thereafter.

What does the judge give him? Rolling through a stop sign and a $125 fine!!! SAME f**kin' deal they just gave me for 45 in a 30!!! [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] Told the counsel he was a pr**k, and said he'd never see me spend a dime at any business in his town again and I hope they all dried up, went to hell, and took him with them becuase of the shitty way they treated people who visited there.

[charvelguy]

Re: Speeding Tickets

I'm suprised they didn't have him do a stayed sentence and pay a fine off in the workhouse or community serv. He got off waaay light. Maybe they were having a 2 for 1 on stop sign rolling that hour-hick town USA blue light special. It's probably cause you weren't a resident ya know. [img]/images/graemlins/nono.gif[/img]

[shreddermon]

Re: Speeding Tickets

Yeah, I live in the town next door, so they must've let me off light. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[charvelguy]

Re: Speeding Tickets

town rivalry then? [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[jeff300]

Re: Speeding Tickets

Sheesh! Just pay the ticket and do online traffic school to dismiss your points. It'll take like an hour or two.

[tmdiamond]

Re: Speeding Tickets

Signing a ticket, in Illinois, does not, in any way admit guilt. It only says that you will either pay the ticket or show up on the court date given. Your state may be different. But I can't imagine that any jurisdiction in the US would allow a police officer to take a guilty plea in the field. Everything I've ever read has indicated that having the alleged offender sign a citation is only as a promise to show up in court or pay a fine. It is true that the officer is not required in court for an arraignment. BUT, if you plead not guilty and request a trial, the officer is the sole witness for the state, so he or she would have to be present. I was a cop for 12 years and I wrote plenty of tickets. I hated writing tickets but our department had a "goal" system (read quota). In IL, I have had defendants ask me in court if I calibrated the radar. The radar usually must be calibrated by a certified technician every 3 or 4 months. The officer is supposed to have 2 tuning forks, one for each frequency of the doppler, that they are supposed to use both before they paint somebody and after. This is supposed to verify to the officer that the radar is giving a proper reading, based on the response that the radar gives to the sound of the tuning forks. This applies to RADAR only and Illinois only. If he got you with a LADAR, laser, or whatever they call it, I do not know what restrictions are established.
My guess is that most states would require that the officer has attended a radar certification class, usually given in the academy. If it was a small town cop, he may not have taken this class so ask if he carries a certification to use the instrument. Most states probably also require that the instrument be calibrated although they may not require that the officer check it before and after every stop. Truth be told, we rarely checked it on a stop by stop basis but I always did at the beginning of my tour of duty.

If your state offers "court supervision" a deal where you can plead guilty but, if you receive no moving violations in a specified period of time, the ticket is removed from your record completely, I'd look into that.
We allow minor traffic violators pay by mail and give them court supervision. Cuts down on the court docket.

The New England states really take speeding seriously and they are pretty damned strict up there. I'm thinking that if you plead not guilty and a trial is scheduled, the officer will make have many of his ducks lined up in a neat little row and it will be hard for you to win. But, he has to show up for you to lose and a compassionate judge may hear your situation and give you a break. If someone told me that they had to peel off a toilet candle really bad and they were to the point of crowning, I'd have let you leave with no ticket.
There's nothing that says "I GOTTA GO NOW!" quite like that "chicken skin" sensation. Just tell the judge, "Hey, my water broke and I was dilated 10 cm; I was simply trying to find a midwife as quickly as I could.

[atomic charvel guy]

Re: Speeding Tickets

i paid $6,200.00 to get my license back from several speeding tickets. 3 from the same cop. i asked him if i should start bringing him some coffee. he was not amused.
had an 80 in a 35, not to cool. also had a 110 m.p.h. in the carpool lane with a mannequin from nordstrom's with a wig on her head and a cigarette taped to her mouth.
just don't act like me and your life will be just ducky-lol

[horns666]

Re: Speeding Tickets

There is nothing you can do dude...plea Guilty...talk to the prosecitor and ask him if he can throw out the points and just pay the fines...don't contest it ...you'll lose..

Ace is right by his statement...refusing to sign is arrestable and your vehicle will be towed...it is NOT a admission of guilty ...just sign the ticket.

In Cleveland , if a friend of mine gets a ticket ..I call the issuing cop and tell him he's a friend of mine ..what they usually do is not show up at court so they just throw the whole thing away...

I'm sorry you don't live in Cleveland and that I can't extend you that coutesy...If I could I would.

for a small fee....just kidding ...good luck.

just go there like a gentlmen...don't argue ...explain your plight and commend the officer for doing his job and ask if they can remove the 2 points ...sometimes they do , sometimes they don't...but all they could say is no.

Bill

[Deneb]

Re: Speeding Tickets

Yeah, when I say "fight" the ticket, I mean, I know, Yes I was in the wrong, and maybe I should have just shat my pants, but man...I had to fuken go! I've no problem with the fine, and I'm going to see if I can talk to the magistrate when I get there, just say something along the lines of "I'd like to see if I can plead to a lesser charge, that does not involve points, but has the same fine."

It's not the fine, it's the damn points! I already pay a fortune a month liability, I can only imagine what it would be next!

[atomic charvel guy]

Re: Speeding Tickets

re-read my post and see how well off you are.
you're in the driver's seat, no pun intended.

[Deneb]

Re: Speeding Tickets

I know I'm well off compared to some people. It's not like I'm a damn criminal or anything, I try to make right anything I made wrong. I also understand they can't let everyone off because they have to crap. I just don't want the points [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I could care less about the fine.