Well I just recently moved to the KC area this fall for classes and was merging onto I35 from Overland Park KS after getting my oil changed. Traffic was pretty heavy so I left the car in 4th gear knowing that I would have the get up and go if need be. As I attempted to find a hole in traffic, about 100 yards ahead of the end of the merge lane was an official pulled over with his flashers and lights on. Assuming he had someonr pulled over in front of him I again merged further left into the middle lane. Sure enough though he was laying up against the passenger side of the car with his laser gun. Soon later he was in the cruiser and behind me with the flashers on burping the siren. Now parked onto the shoulder in near rush hour traffic I come to find out he clocked me at 86MPH and locked me at 84MPH. Honestly I was not paying any attention the speedo as I was merging, instead I was concentrating on the more important issues at hand which were to check the Xfire's enormous blind spots and not a miss a gear. Of course he did not give in much to these excuses. Not to mention the fact I was also trying to move as far to left as possible to ensure his saftey. Worse of all this portion of I35 turns out to be 60MPH zone. I was figuring that this would be a 70MPH considering the fact that I was still 10 miles south of downtown KC.

Most disturbing of all is the fact that I never cruise more than 5MPH over on the US or Interstate hwy systems.(back county roads are a different story) I was simply trying to find my place in traffic this instance. So now I will have 24mph over the limit ticket on my record, which I agree looks completley careless. Also sitting in my glove box is the $210 fine.

Well enough of my venting, i'm sure most of you can relate in oneway or another.
There is no disputing the fact that I was speeding but the manner in which they caught me I find to be a bit on the dirty side.

 

Man, that sucks to hear. I've found the police in MN to be pretty happy to give out tickets whenever they can. I got one for 79 in a 70 a couple years back.

On the other hand, I managed to talk my way out of a $400 ticket for 30 MPH over in a construction zone just outside of Seattle a couple weeks back while driving my Crossfire so I guess it's all just a matter of luck.

 

I just got my first ticket today too. Same way too! A semi was in front of me on the on-ramp going 30mph. Once we had merged I moved over to the left lane to go around him, as soon as I get around the truck I see a cop with his lights on. I ease on the brakes thinking he had someone pulled over and is trying to merge on the interstate now. No, he just follows me and pulls me over for going "75" in a 60 zone. It was also a construction zone. I still, even now, don't believe I was going 75 but wasn't going to argue.

 

Fortunately, I've never fallen into the "i'm busy so you can speed" kind of trap.

Maybe it's just a byproduct of living in the greater Detroit area..... I've always followed one simple rule..........


If you see one cop, there's another one close-by!

I don't care if I see a cop on the side of the road with his lights on, I automatically assume there's another right there waiting for ME!

I see some wicked speedtraps too..... work office is in Livonia Michigan, a city so notorious for sneaky speedtraps they recently made a national list.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100...423/1409/metro

 

One $210 ticket is not that bad. Obviously you are not used of getting them. But good job! the car just wants to go!

Its when you start getting a few tickets over $300 and a letter stating if you get one more ticket you will be required to attend an interview to explain why you should have a license. <-- I got this letter already and thats why I drive like a little ole lady


The top ticket 130 in a 100 zone was knocked down from 141km in a 100km zone and the 125km in a 100km zone was knocked down from 132km in a 100km zone. Still hefty fines but got off a little better than I should have

 

Go to court, there is a small finite chance the deal will go your way and or it might be lessened.

I took an accident to the court with airal photos, measurments and data, data. The accident was judged to the line crew doing work and all the mud they tracked into the turn lane. Got a judgement against them for $7900 and the ticket was dropped.

Also consider going to school to have points minimized on your record. If you dont your not going to have any better outcome.

Woody

Lawyers also may be a consideration to minimize the charge.

 

Good advice from Woody. I once decided to fight a ticket (65 in a 55). My speedo was broke and trafiic was light on a SoCal fwy mid day. The traffic ahead was actually pulling away and the other cars were far behind, so there I was by myself and the officer dinged me.

I got the speedo fixed and decided to fight the ticket (be prepared to lose a day to this). First thing in the AM Deputy District Attorneys tried to plea bargain the charges to something lesser with a minimal fine (they still get to keep up their conviction rate). I refused the plea bargain and with receipt for the fix in hand sat to wait my turn.

Key observation: NEVER ADMIT GUILT! I watched as time after time people were "tricked" into admitting "they might have done the infraction". In every case I saw that day, no admission of guilt resulted in dropped charges. Add a but or maybe and WHAM the gavel came down GUILTY!

I watched what appeared to be a professional ticket beater bring out reams of data showing measurements of distances, reported acceleration claims, charges of when did the officer calibrate his speedo or radar. Did the officer go over railroad tracks, were there other cars that could have been going faster that caused the radar to lock on the wrong car. More than once I saw people pull out anectdotal stories from magazines and newspapers that claimed radar guns reported stationary trees doing 60 MPH.

The only people found guilty were the ones who said "yes, but..."

In my case I was all ready to fight the system and was determined not to be tricked into any form of guilty statement. I settled down at the desk in front of the judge with all my papers and receipts in order when the Deputy DA stood and asked that the charges be dropped because the issuing officer was not present in court. My first reaction was "wait a minute, you knew he wasn't here but tried to get me to plea bargain anyway??? I had to sit through a whole day of trials waiting for my turn only to have the case thrown out because the officer didn't show??? No way, I want to fight this thing!!!"

Instead, I simply said thank you and got out of there as quickly as I could with a big smile on my face.

 

Fred has really lived a charmed life so far, I was doing 95 in almost that same spot today Blackbelt....I appreciate you running interference for me!!!!

 

I'm right with you, the only problem is that I'm in the midst of becoming a broke college student. It is going to be hard enough to just maintain the car during the school year. Fortunately I already have one oil change out of the way, but am in need of a new set of rear tires.

I just don't have the time or money to mess with court/lawyer fee's.

I will look into the possibility of attending driving school though to reduce points and possibly reduce the increase of my insurance premiums. (I just paid for 6 months beginning mid Sept. so at least I wont see those increased premiums for awhile.)

 

I have a few threads on here about this subject....I won't go into them now, but you might look them up. One thing is for sure, we never "lock", or should never lock in a speed...it has to do with the tracking history. Laser is the latest and the greatest now....but if traffic was as busy as you said, I would plead not guilty, set a trial date. It's always 50/50 from that point on. Just state to the judge you weren't going that fast. Don't admit to what you think you were going, just not going that fast. Leave it at that and see what the court does. Sometimes they just fine you court costs, and drop the other charges....good luck either way....

 

We have an interesting ruse here. A fully marked police car lights going, has another car pulled over with some poor fella getting a ticket. WAIT, WAIT<<< no? OH NO! SON OF A #$^@#&$&#^$%#^@&$#^$% That's an umarked car he has pulled over!

Devious little buggers are getting crafty.

 

I have said this once, twice and a million times. Our cars are cop magnets! I never got this many speeding tickets. I constantly get pulled over.... in bumper to bumper traffic and on roads in the middle of nowhere. They pull excuses out of a hat as a reason to stop me. They even stare at me looking for a reason. I am clean cut and present myself well.... so it is not I look like a shady character. Plenty of other cars around but I am always singled out.

Now I don't drive the crossfire as often. I drive 100+ miles per day on the same roads and pass a million cops in a "normal" everyday car. Driven past MANY speed traps. Not once have I been busted or singled out of the crowd. I still drive the same as I did in the crossfire. Nothing has changed.

Then I get in the crossfire that I haven't driven for over a month. I go a mile down the country road and the lights flash up!

We can argue and debate if our cars are cop magnets all you want. But I have the research to prove my theory! I am taking my crossfire for a nice long drive this weekend. We will see if I get pulled over!!! Give me a ticket.... I DON'T CARE! I can afford it. My immediate family are police officers but that doesn't matter. No professional courtesy. I don't care.... I am beyond this B.S. Just give me the ticket! It is worth the enjoyment of driving the car and part of the price I pay for fun. One day the favor will be returned to them I just hope one of my family members don't pull them over The two morons that wrote me are on a list... and next time my family pulls someone over in their department they will be written up and told which individual they should thank in their department.

 

I'd listen to Doc there Blackbelt. He has been the "Arresting officer" in the courtroom many, many times.

Good advice.
The way he drives, I suspect he might have been the "Victim" once or twice as well.


franc

 

3 points for "Crowding the drivers seat"?

What in hell is that?

 

I just got a ticket last Friday my first in along time. You ready to hear this...lol....79 in a 65...I honestly think he clocked this truck in front of me because I almost swear I had my cruise control on 75 and the truck right in front of me was gaining much ground,.but yet I am the one to get pulled over. A whopping $75 fine lol but still it's the point that I was doing real good for awhile no tickets or anything and then a semi long drive to Kentucky and I get this which again honestly don't think I did but it's not worth fighting it being that it's 4 hours away from where I live.

 

My last ticket was in the F250, 10 years ago, in Colorado. I was returning from picking up new brakes for the truck and a light turned yellow as I was coming to it... I didnt want to slam on the brakes on the brakes that I was getting ready to replace and end up in the middle of the intersection... policeman said I ran a red light, I said yellow....

Went to court and the Deputy DA threw out the running the red light and gave me a fix-it charge for having a cracked windshield.... no points....

I did have a Sheriff pull up next to me Monday at a stop light and roll down his window.... I roll my down to see what he wants and he says... 'Thanks for your service.'....... (I have Viet Nam vet plates).. that was a bit of a surprise.....

 

Yes... thanks for your service! Our politicians (our president himself) seem to forget and stomp on our vets... but the good American people still understand, respect and appreciate our vets.

 

Tickets suck.....but could be worse....you could live in Toronto. The speed trap capital of the North America.....
CTV Toronto - Toronto is speed trap capital of North America - CTV News

 

I have a hard time finding a place to speed in TO, the roads are so packed and you have to be on the look out for idiot drivers.
I have never been stopped in the Crossfire, but my '73 Mustang was a ticket magnet, I picked up three tickets in the first three months of 1973 and then received a letter telling me that one more and I may have to go for an interview.
But now my hair is Gray, I am a little wiser and probably luckier.
Age has a lot to do with being stopped, my son seemed to be stopped every time he went out, no tickets ... just stopped.WTF.
The last three times he has gone into the States his car was stripped at the border crossing, nothing found, just hassled and made to waste an hour or so. Maybe they get hassled so that no one can say that there is racial profiling at the border, even though that is unfortunately the most efficient method to pick out the bad seeds.

 

I ask again:

3 points for "Crowding the drivers seat"?

What in hell is that?