Speeding ticket...need advice

[HarlansHollowFarms]

Quote:
You beat me to it!

It is amazing what you find out when you google! I mentioned the fact earlier in the thread that it was not wise to post such information, and was scoffed at. Maybe folks will start to think twice before they post, if they know it will pop up on a search engine.

 

[seismic wonder2]

I'm with the others, Pay the fine, Take the points, and stop speeding if you don't want to take the heat.

Part of the problem with the planet now a days is everyone is trying to "get out of..." everything in stead of being adult enough to say, "I really gooned that up, looks like I'll be paying for it."
Try to get out of a ticket by using a radar detector, then try to get out of it by citing some little technicality on the ticket, or the old trick where the talk and talk and talk then if the police can't remember the conversation the judge will throw it out.
I don't get it. If your only motivation is to not get a ticket, how about leaving 10 min earlier and drive the speed limit. Save the "tricks" for when the police pulls you over for no reason, and gives you a speeding ticket when you KNOW you were not.

Do I speed?--yes
have I run a red light?---yes
Have I run a stop sign?---yes
Have I made illegal turns?---yes

Did I ever try to get out of a ticket when I KNOW i'd been "busted" ??? Not on your life.


OK, I'm off my high horse now.

 

[Wildsky]

Quote:
I'm not gonna be popular either.

I personally think someone who has a radar detector speeds often! SLow down!

 

[cmjust0]

I haven't read the entire thread, but I just wanna say...if you go to court and say "I wasn't doing 36 miles per hour; I was doing 30 miles per hour!" is like saying "I didn't stab that woman 36 times; I only stabbed her 30 times!"

Yer still guilty.

The judge may drop a few MPH off the ticket for your honesty, but around here, that wouldn't amount to much.. The bulk of a ticket in Kentucky is the court cost; the exact miles per hour over the limit only account for a few extra dollars. I've gotten tickets in several different counties in Kentucky and it's always the same...so long as you're not doing more than 15 over (or even more, on a limited-access highway), it's basically not a big deal. I suspect it's much the same in Indiana. If that's the case, I'd pay the fine, go to traffic school to keep your insurance from going up, and watch more carefully for the next kojak with a kodak.

There's no way in heck I'd waste a day in court fighting over 6mph if I were actually speeding and if the extra 6mph didn't amount to an elevation of the charges against me, though.. Just not worth it.

And, yeah, I've been squarely in your shoes before. I was written up for doing 83 in a 65 on I-64 in Rowan County, KY by a DOT in like 2000 or 2001.. He admitted that he hadn't clocked me, but claimed that another officer did and that he was working off the other guy's radar. I knew it to be an outright lie. I also knew 83 was total BS because I was keeping it under 80 specifically so I wouldn't be more than 15 over in case I did get a ticket. I told him as much and he blurts out "What's the speed limit?" I said "It's 65, but..." and he cut me off by yelling "Good enough!" and smugly walked back toward his car.

...and LEO's wonder why people...oh, nevermind...

Anyway, as it turned out, I was still eligible for traffic school even though the ticket was written for more than 15mph.. Reason being, I was on a limited access highway. The fine wouldn't have been very much different at all to go from 83 (or whatever it was) down to the 78 I was actually doing, so I paid it, went to traffic school, and that was that.

Was it fair? Nope. Was it an abuse of authority? Absolutely.

That's life.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

As far as school zones go, all are not created equal. Some are needed because kids are around them. Some are almost a mile long an the school is almost a half mile down a cross street in communitys that kids do not walk to school. Because I do not knowing the details I'm not going to create a fuss over it being a school zone.

I will say that you already playing the system. You run 5 miles over all the time using the curtsy cops give for the chance of speedometer error. An you have a radar detector to help you break the law too. Pay the ticket. You deserve it. If not for when you got it then for another day you didnt.

 

[cmjust0]

The "(whatever) zone" laws are usually weird...like, here in Kentucky, it's a double-fine for speeding in a work zone, regardless of whether or not anyone's working.. I got one of those once. Turns out, the 'fine' part is just whatever they charge for the specific miles per hour over the limit. As I mentioned earlier...doesn't account for much on the actual ticket. I was expecting the work-zone ticket to be upward of $250 whereas most hover somewhere around $125-130, but it wasn't appreciably different from any other I've gotten. Like, $140 maybe? Whoopty do. Still got to go to traffic school, too.

And, FWIW...there were zero (zilch, zip, nada) actual human workers in this supposed "work zone." It was a Friday evening, pretty late, and everybody was cleared out. Still marked as a "work-zone/double fine" ticket, though.

Once again...oh well.


My favorite ticket was the one where the cop got me from the overpass. I mean, that was slick. He wrote it for exactly what I was doing, too. On the nose. I asked him "Where were you?!?" and he said "On the overpass. I clocked you as you came under." I said "Good job, man!" He just kinda grinned, said thanks, and went back to write the ticket.

Fair's fair, ya know? That particular ticket was well deserved and long overdue for that particular stretch of road.

And, yeah...I do get lots of tickets.

 

[WingingIt]

I didn't read all the responses, but here are some thoughts (they've probably been covered, but, just in case):

Here the school zone speed limits for some schools (smaller roads) are for the hours of the whole school day. 8-3
On the larger roads the school speed limit is only for the times that children are arriving or leaving school. 7:30-8:30 and 2:30-3:30
Find out which it is for that school.

Is there a difference in the money amount of the penalty between the 5 mph you admit to and the 16 he charged you with? What about points on your license for those? If there's not, you've already admitted you were speeding, so I might just pay it and take the driver's ed. class to get the points off. If there is, that's a reason to dispute the mph difference on the ticket (and motive for why he increased it).

Make note of anything wrong on the ticket - like the stuff he didn't fill in at all. Write notes so that you don't rely on your memory and forget to mention something (if you fight it, of course).

How old is your vehicle? I was pulled over driving my mom's car once and the guy was very nice and suggested I get someone with a new car to drive on the freeway with me and check it out and, sure enough, her speedometer was about 8 mph different.

And lastly, please stop speeding in school zones. I'm asking nicely and from experience. We had a child seriously injured in one of our old school districts by a woman who WASN'T speeding. The kid tripped and fell off the curb and she couldn't stop in time. She slammed on her brakes and the child did survive. I'm not sure she would have if the woman would have been going a little bit faster. Kids are unpredictable. You never know when little Johnny went with Mom to drop off big sister's lunchbox and might step out, you know?