So when I was on my work today and in my opinion keeping up with traffic. I was on the phone with Darron and all of a sudden I see flashing lights in the mirror. I kinda freak out so I slam on my breaks a little bit and then he waves me on to the next exit. I pull off and pull over and the cop comes around and proceeds to tell me:
" We almost got rear ended just now did you see that?"
“No I am sorry officer I did not”
“Do you know what I clocked you at?’
“No officer I don’t”
“I clocked you at 76 in a 60 with a laser about 3 MILES back. And on top of that the blacked out license plate covers you have are illegal. In my opinion those are an excuse to run red light cameras”
I am thinking 3 miles back? What the hell!? " No disrespect officer but why do they sell the license plate covers if they are illegal?”
He replies this “Why do they sell beer? Its illegal to drink and drive but they still sell beer. When you bought these plate covers there was probably a warning on them stating that they are illegal” There was no such warning on them by the way…
“I appologize officer I did not realize that they were illegal or that I was going so fast. I am running a little late for work.”
“Where do you work at?”
“Mathews Ford”
“Really what kind of car is this?”
“Ford”
“Really?”
“Yes” Gosh what an idiot! It only says Ford on it!!
He proceeds to go to his car and write up my ticket, taking his sweet ass time. Finally he comes back…
“Here is your sitation. The court date is at the bottom. You do not have to go to court if you mail in the amount due before the date. You have a verbal warning on your license plate covers.”
“Thank you officer”
“You know how I knew it was you right? It was because of your blacked out license plate covers. I clocked you 3 miles back and it took me awhile to catch up to you because of traffic. There was alot of silver cars out there but I knew it was you because of those. Have a good day and good luck getting to work”
So I pull away after he gets in his car. Have a good day huh? Yeah you just ruined it. That is like half my paycheck right there. I got fined $113.00
This is the last thing I needed. Dude searched me out just so he could pull me over. Trying to catch me from 3 miles back is a little ridiculous in my opinion.
I am considering just paying it but Darron thinks that I should fight it. What do you guys think? With my luck it it will end up worse than $113.
Yeah…if there’s that much traffic he must be freakin’ searchin’ out. I’ve had plate covers since I got the car and been pulled over many times, but the bastards never said anything about it. Hence the verbal warning 'cause he new it was Hofflinger Gold. (Hofflinger is a type of horse ) I figure if traffic is that heavy it takes him 3 miles to catch 'er…and he has to look for a plate cover to remember what car he was trying to get…that’s some BS profiling. He didn’t even know what the heck the car was and he walked right PAST THE NAME! Retard…
Is it your first offense? If so, you should apply for driving school (the ticket doesn’t go on your record)
Was traffic moving at a similar speed? Were you in a lot of traffic WHEN he caught you?
I’d still take it to court. I had a $421 ticket, my first offense (I’m sure you read the thread) I just dressed nicely, spoked nicely to the judge, gave him no lip and acted professional, driving school. Not on my record, didn’t have to pay for it.
I got a ticket a year and a half ago but it is no longer on my record. So yes in a sense it is my first offense.
I was in quite a bit of traffic when he caught me. He said that that is the reason it took him a long time to catch me. I was looking at my ticket and he marked the traffic as moderate.
About my plate covers I am leaving those on. He was probably just throwing excuses at me. That probably is the reason that he did not write that up on the ticket.
KoiHoshi how do I go about signing up for that driving school? Is it free?
I don’t know guys…I still don’t know if I am going to fight it. I think I would just rather pay the $113 and be done with it. All I know is that today has sucked something awful…
So what I would say in court is that you were keeping up with the speed of the traffic, trying to adjust (sounds like that’s true) and that you didn’t realize you were going that fast. I’d not try to make it sound like you’re trying to get out of it, but that you are sorry, etc, judge likes to hear that.
Driving school is not generally free but is anywhere from $20-50 depending on your state. But look at it this way, the cost of $40 for a class that wipes it off of your record vs the insurance cost is far far less.
Don’t sweat it, dress nicely, fight it in court, listen to the judge don’t interrupt and apologize. You may also try what my friend tried (He actually wrote a sorry letter to the judge!) and when he got to court the judge pulled him up first and dismissed it out of court. If you haven’t already taken driving school before I think you’ll be eligible.
EASIEST thing to do, call up the court before you have to appear, maybe even today and ask them if you can take driving school instead, if it is your first offense in their eyes they’ll ask you to come down, fill out the papers and you’re done, worst case scenario they’ll say you have to appear to find out but it doesn’t hurt to ask the court.
Fight the ticket. Why should you have to pay 113$ for the cop targetting you. It took him 3 miles to catch up to you, and he even said in his statment to you that he only recognized the car by the plate covers. I seriously doubt your the only car in the state that has purchased those particular plate covers.
Your only lucky he didnt get you for being on the phone. He could have really got you with that. But none the less, you still need to fight the ticket, and let the court work for their money.
Regardless of wether you send them the fine upfront, or fight it out, your still paying a court processing fee. Make them work for it.
Well I am going to fight the ticket. I am nervouse as all get out about it though. I would like to see it get dropped to a seat belt violation at most but, I would love to see it get thrown out. My court date is Nov. 14th, a week from Monday. Wish me luck guys!! I will let y’all know what happens.
Oh yeah…Darron asked the cop that works in his store if the smoked plate covers are illegal here in OH. Turns out technically they are but, oh well I am still going to keep them on.
Best of luck to ya, no sweat. Like I said, dress nice, be polite, I gaurantee tehre are lots of people who will be dressed in almost their tighty whities and pjs, some will look like hobos, and some will look like they crawled out of a trash can. Judges hate that, it may be “Just a speeding ticket” but look good, dress nice and they’ll notice you have respect for the court and may go easier on ya, it goes a long way.
I’ll be praying for ya, I know how the whole court stress thing goes. Just go in calmy, keep a straight face, It’ll be fine either way.
So guys I have a question. Should I just plead “no contest” or do they even ask you to plead your case in traffic court?
My dad said something about pleading “not guilty” but to me that doesn’t make any sense because I know that I was speeding a little bit. I just did not realize that I was going THAT fast. Oy… :? My big day is the day after tomorrow. I know to dress nice and be polite but any other words od advice would be greatly apprecited. Thanks guys I appreciate all of your help!!
Well here’s the thing, the judge that I saw HATED excuses. I heard one guy who said “Well, not guilty sir I don’t think I was speeding enough to worry about the ticket really, that’s stupid!” big mistake, judge was mad, he apparently didn’t like the fact the guy was trying to weasle his way out of the ticket. Instead of admitting that he was in the wrong he tried to play it off as no big deal. He had to pay his ticket.
I plead guilty, they still gave me driving school. When the judge told me that there was no reason in his court to be doing 89 in a 55 i said “No sir. There isn’t, I shouldn’t have been going that fast, at all. I apologize your honor.” he said though because my driving record was PERFECT that he would let me off and give me driving school.
So, instead of trying to make an excuse for my speed, I just flat out admitted it and left it to the judge. I kind of came to a point where I pretty much was willing to accept my actions, though difficult because I didn’t know the outcome. I acted nice, polite, friendly and gave no excuses, only my apologies. If your driving record is perfect they want to keep it that way, they aren’t out there to nail you for speeding tickets and purposely get your record bad. Given the fact that YES they are a SIZEABLE income for the county, if your record is good they want to keep you that way because they’re all in it and they won’t let you go till they’ve all got a swing at you.
I would request from the DA (juts call the DA up) and ask if you can do diversion if it is available, they will either say “yes, come get the papers” or “no you’ll have to show up” it may even save you a trip to court.
If you plead not guilty you are telling the judge that the police officer clocked you, you don’t believe him and that you don’t think it’s fair, in which case he may see it as “Well, this girl obviously didn’t learn her lesson and just wants out of the ticket… tisk tisk…” because the whole point of a speeding ticket is to learn your lesson, if they think you’ve learned it and you show that you are willing to accept you were speeding, did a “bad thing” and are ready to take on your actions and are willing to take driving school they may give it to you. Don’t be afraid to ask! It’s your RIGHT in court to do so.
I would say NOT GUILTY in your case. On the ticket, it should mention or you might have to mention that you were clocked while in heavy traffic. You were moving with the flow of traffic, that’s all. The judge might ask you, “Why were you the only one pulled over then?” You could say, “Your honor, that is why I’m here in court to find out.” Then he would ask the officer or pose the question to you again. The idea is to not give the court the chance to hear your speculation, because you might incriminate yourself.
Your story:
“Your honor, I was driving on the highway. There were about 20 or so cars on the highway around me. One in front of me, about 20 feet. One behind me, about 30 feet. I was in the left most lane and 2 cars were on my front right and back left corner panels. There was no place for me to speed up or slow down. Then the people started to move over to the right because of a cop car coming, so I moved over with everyone else and that’s when I realized he was after me and waived me off to the next exit. I don’t understand why he pulled me over when I was moving at the same pace as everyone else.” <–Iron Clad
After that statement, the officer is screwed because he has no way out of it. Now it’s his word against yours. Best case, he throws out the ticket. Worst case, you pay the fine and court costs. You my friend might get a reduced fine or no fine with the statement I gave you.
Well guys, yesterday was the biggest waste of time ever. Lets put it this way, in Toledo it does not matter how polite you are or how nice you dress. At least it did not matter to the judge that I got. I actually ended up having to pay $15 more than I originally owed. Lets just say if it happens again I am not going to even bother contesting it. Which hopefully it wont because for now on I am just going to be more concious of how fast I am going. Hopefully I will get cruise control hooked up soon too.
I pled no contest. I did not plead no guilty because I would have been doing that by just sending the ticket in. I did not plead not guilty because well the cop clocked me with a laser and he could easily prove his case against me. Plus, I can’t afford to miss any more work.
I am just dreading to see how much my insurance will go up…
Thanks for all the advice and input though guys. I do very much appreciate it.
He said, “I’m a retarded A-hole…so you can pay a $50 fine instead of $35. So suck it Trebeck!” Or at least, that’s what I heard. I get to go to court for my ticket on Friday. I’m real stoked about wasting all sorts of time just to say, “not guilty” and sign crap.
He didn’t say a whole lot of anything. He just asked me how I wanted to handle my ticket. I explained what happened and then I pled no contest. Then the a$$hole charged me a $50 court cost on top of my ticket.
There was another chick that was there for speeding. He asked her if she had gotten anything else in the last two years and she said no. He had her consult with the lawyer that was there and then she got her points dropped. It had only been a year and a half since my last ticket or else I would have done the same thing. What I don’t understand is why it is on your record only one year when the cop checks your record when they pull you over but in the courtroom it is two. And then with insurance companies it is three. That is just so retarded. Why cant it just be the same for all three? THE INSANITY OF IT ALL!!!
) I figure if traffic is that heavy it takes him 3 miles to catch 'er…and he has to look for a plate cover to remember what car he was trying to get…that’s some BS profiling. He didn’t even know what the heck the car was and he walked right PAST THE NAME! Retard…
It’ll be fine either way.